Lagoon Island Pearl Farm

[pattye]

Oh so exciting, Dave!

Just checked and it is roughly 11 hour drive from Portland Oregon, plus a few pit stops. Not that far!!

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

okay, so how do you start a pearl farm?

I held the lease several years ago. Much of my research is done, but there are always things to learn. I suppose in a perfect world, a good farm site is one that has natural recruitment the target species.

Then of course, you have to deal with government and regional districts by satisfying environmental, navigational and cultural requirements.

Fees, fees, fees.....

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Things at the farm are progressing nicely. The gatehouse (which is really a tent cabin) has been built at the lagoon.

The entrance to the lagoon itself is an archaeological site, where hundreds of years ago, natives trapped fish. There are also several rock structures known as "canoe runs". These were logs which were weighed down at either end with large stones. This allowed the natives to drag canoes to the high water mark, thus avoiding mud flats and allowing canoes to be launched during any tidal heights.

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

The lagoon is a rich marine resource. Much of my time is spent documenting biomass inventories.

Not the best photography, but these pictures capture some of the diversity in the intertidal zone or water column. In fact, some areas of BC's marine environment have more species per unit square than anywhere in the world.

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Just a few more scenic pictures of the sound.

[Caitlin]

Those are way scenic! Looking forward to the developments in this story!

[GemGeek]

Wow! Uber-diverse, I'd say!

[Chameleon]

How exciting! Beautiful places and pictures!

[Tango]

Wow, amazing pictures.

They look similar to the south of my country, very similar.

That´s a place to live.

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

Wow, amazing pictures.

They look similar to the south of my country, very similar.

That´s a place to live.

I've heard this before too. Mountains meeting the sea with estuaries and fjords, are a similar environment.

We are long overdue for earthquakes, though.

[Nora]

They look similar to the south of my country, very similar.

I know what you mean Tango. I've been there....... so beautiful........sigh.........

[Tango]

Hi Lagoon,

my wife is from BC, such a beatiful area, the ferry trip to Victoria Island is great.

Here I post a couple of pictures of kayak trip to the south of Chile, you can see how similar they are.

[pattye]

Tango and Dave,

Indeed, similarly beautiful areas! Loving the photos always!

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

It's not everyday we get to put something back into the ocean. This morning, we released 25,000 Chinook salmon into the Cypre River system. For more than twenty years, the Tofino Salmon Enhancement Society has been stocking local streams.

[CortezPearls]

Nice photos and thanks for posting... but... what kind of creature will you use to grow pearls with???? Abalone??? It's too cold up there for the more tropical pearl oysters...