From Shore to Table Workshop on Cortes Island

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Max Thaysen and Erik Lyon led a shellfish harvesting workshop in Mansons Lagoon on Thursday January 9, 2024. This was a free event sponsored by the Cortes Island Community Foundation, Decoda Literacy, and the Cortes Island Food Bank. Cortes Currents interviewed Max a few days prior to the workshop. 

“ I would love to support people to get more of their food from our local environment in a way that is ecologically sustainable  and invited my friend Eric Lyon to join me in  presenting the glory of shellfish to anybody who hasn't yet heard, or felt comfortable accessing this food,”he said.

“I think eating wild local food makes life more meaningful. I am hoping to encourage people to develop this relationship that I find so meaningful.  It defines part of who I am , and  makes my life  beautifully intertwined with the ecosystem. Eating the place that we live  is a way to love and need the place that we live, in addition to making life more affordable and healthier.”

“I also plan on talking a little bit about the impacts of climate change, which are strongly felt in the shellfish community.”
“Clams exist all around our coast.  Manila and Littleneck are the easiest to find and the ones that I'm most familiar with. Then of course, there are oysters. Both of them are super easy to harvest even in not a very low tide, more like a medium low tide.”

“They are pretty accessible, delicious, abundant and super nutritious in ways that lots of other foods that we eat are not. Like healthy sea fats, which are rich in brain food and also important for heart health and immune function.  So shellfish are pretty amazing, if we can figure out how to work it into our lifestyles.”

 Cortes Currents: How do you know where to find the clams? 

Max Thaysen: “They're pretty common. If you're not sure, you can go to the beach and just start poking around. Certainly finding shells on the surface of the beach is a good indicator that there's clams around.   Manson's Landing,  also known as Clytosin, is the place that I'm most familiar with. There's shells everywhere littering the surface, indicating that there's clams everywhere under the surface. They're about an inch down.” 

“Oysters live on the surface, so they're visible. You can find them almost everywhere.”  

Cortes Currents: You didn't mention  mussels. 

Max Thaysen: “There are some wild mussels around, but  they don't get as big as the commercial variety in most of the places that I've been. They tend to be quite small. While I have eaten them, I haven't usually bothered to harvest them.”

“If you find yourself somewhere where there's big mussels and they're safe to eat, then that's pretty premium stuff. On the west coast of Vancouver Island there's some really big mussels that are quite delicious.”