BCBusiness

14 BCBusiness may 2015 istOcK largely thanks to the growing popularity of oyster bars in North America and a develop- ing taste for the bivalve among a burgeoning middle class in China and Southeast Asia. Those flagging production numbers, however, are only going to get worse with the gradual rise in ocean tem- peratures. "There is excellent evidence from labs that oyster larvae don't do well when seawater is acidified," says Chris Hall, associate profes- sor of zoology at UBC. That seawater—acidified by high concentrations of carbon dioxide and pushed from the depths of inlets and sounds by increasingly intense summer upswells—stunts the shell- forming process, slowing the oyster's development and, in some cases, starving them to death. With climate change, those upswells are becoming more frequent. The industry imports more than 90 per cent of its seed from hatcheries in Washington and Oregon, which have largely found workarounds to the acidifying seawater. "We don't fill the tanks when the north wind comes," says Margaret Barette, executive director of the Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association. But the seed is expensive —according to the Centre for Shellfish Research in Nanaimo, only half of growers have enough seed to fill out their tenure and meet projected demand. For many growers, however, the biggest challenge they face these days is not environmental but regulatory. Prior to 2012, B.C.'s ministry of agriculture managed the industry's rafts and processing plants. A court decision in 2009 struck down that arrangement, granting Fisheries and Oceans Canada (the federal authority known colloquially as DFO) respon- sibility as regulator. "When "You get in Vancouver a lot of good food, but you're not getting exceptional food," says Uwe Boll, the industrious silver-haired Ger- man filmmaker over an espresso at Gastown's Milano Coffee in February. "The craftsmanship is way bigger in Europe." Obses- sive, even. Like: "cut that broc- coli in that form, and they check the 10 broccolis, and if they don't look exactly the same, they kill you. You're a fucking loser." Boll moved to Vancouver in 2006 to be with his wife, a Kelowna-born TV producer. Now, in a strange plot twist, the 49-year-old auteur—best known for his critically panned, self-financed action and horror flicks—is bringing his entre- preneurial zeal to a high-end restaurant with contemporary spins on German classics, reflecting a region and price point seldom seen in Vancouver. The key ingredients for Bau- haus: a great location (1 West Cordova), a seven-figure renova- tion and, most importantly, a star chef—Stefan Hartmann from Berlin, whose Michelin- starred former restaurant, Hartmanns, attracted a glowing review in the New York Times. "I am deep in the hole," says Boll, laughing. "But I talked to various restaurateurs in Vancou- ver, and everyone who's suc- cessful told me go big or forget it." He says small restaurants are only profitable when owner and chef are one and the same, citing Vikram Vij as an exam- ple. Plus, he wanted to bring something new to Vancouver: a level of fine dining that's grown A Boll Move Filmmaker Uwe Boll aims to shock a new audience: vancou- ver's fine-dining snobs by Trevor Melanson H o s p i t a l i t y 0.15% Percentage of oyster seed that survives to maturity B.C.'s shellfish aquaCulture harvests (by wholesale value, 2013) Oysters $24.6 million GeOducks + Manila claMs $11.2 million scallOps $5.3 million the province gave away finfish farming, they also gave away shellfish farming," says Roberta Stevenson, executive director of the B.C. Shellfish Growers Association, who counts at least 12 federal, provincial and local bodies with some say over green-lighting a shellfish farm. The overlapping regula- tory bodies are confusing, to say the least. DFO oversees licensing and environmental reporting; Transport Canada reviews applications for rafts and buoys to ensure they don't make the water un-navigable; the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has jurisdiction over shellfish sanitation and process- ing; the provincial government is responsible for authorizing lease arrangements of aquatic Crown lands; and then, in most cases, proponents have to clear their proposals with municipal zoning offices and local First Nations. As Stevenson sees it, the complex rules are turning people away from the business: "We don't see B.C. attracting new investment because investors come here and they see the extreme regulation." Many industry observers point to B.C.'s $475-million farmed salmon fishery as both a model and a cautionary tale. Five companies—only one of which is headquartered in Canada—now control 80 per cent of that fishery's production. With slimmer margins than the wild fisheries, high upfront costs and a labyrinthine regulatory approval process, the fishery proved unattractive to tradi- tional lenders in the late '90s, while the regulatory regime left local salmon farms unable to compete. Eventually, all local players were squeezed out. "British Columbians should be proud that B.C. has water clean enough to grow shellfish," says Stevenson. "Our growers have invested a lifetime of work and saving in making their farms. We can't just give up." • tion and, most importantly, a star chef—Stefan Hartmann from Berlin, whose Michelin- starred former restaurant, Hartmanns, attracted a glowing review in the Boll, laughing. "But I talked to various restaurateurs in Vancou ver, and everyone who's suc 0.15%

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