The Jersey Oyster Company was yesterday given the go-ahead to build a large salt-water lagoon and 12 purification ponds at its headquarters in Grand Route des Sablons.
The lagoon and ponds will allow stock to be protected should Grouville Bay become temporarily polluted and will also give the company the chance to control the quality of the seawater used in the oyster’s final cleaning stage.
The changes also mean that the Jersey Oyster Company can create a nursery for the shellfish.
Under the plans, which were approved unanimously by the Planning Applications Committee, the business has also been given permission to add an extension to its processing unit to improve facilities for staff and the transport and packaging of oysters, as well as building a new pumping house at the site.
After receiving permission for the project, Jersey Oyster Company managing director Chris Le Masurier said: ‘This is essential for the business to be able to mitigate any risk of pollution in Grouville Bay.’
The business currently sells oysters to wholesalers who package the produce before selling on to retailers. The Jersey Oyster Company’s improved facilities would allow the business to treat and package their own produce, enabling them to sell directly to retailers.
Just one person raised questions about the scheme during a recent public planning meeting.
Islander Nick Donald, who lives next to the Jersey Oyster Company’s headquarters, said he was concerned that the plans represented an ‘industrialisation’ of Grouville’s green zone.
He asked the committee: ‘How much noise or humming will be created by the new pumping station? Will there be lights around the development day and night?
‘How much excavation is needed to create this lagoon and how much disruption will there be and for how long?’
Mr Donald concluded by calling on the committee – chair Constable Juliette Gallichan, Constable Philip Le Sueur and Deputies Russell Labey and Jeremy Maçon – to ensure that the hedging and planting around the proposed development be completed as per the planning application.
Architect Jon Dyson said that being able to keep oysters in man-made ponds would also mean fewer trips by vehicles to and from the beach.
Shortly before voting in favour of the scheme, Mrs Gallichan said: ‘We understand the reason for this application as there is a threat of pollution in the bay. This would also open up direct retail to supermarkets given the business more strength to continue.’
Mr Le Sueur called the company a ‘quality ongoing operation’ that the committee had to support.
And Deputy Maçon said: ‘It is a thriving business and I think we should look to support it.
- The Jersey Oyster Company was formed in 1973 as Le Socite des Produits Ostricole Jerrais.
- The company has farmed shellfish on the south east coast of the Island since those early days.
- The Jersey Oyster Company is owned and run by Chris Le Masurier, a third generation Jersey oyster farmer, who has been involved with the business since 1998.
- The Company’s shore based activity is conducted within a short distance of beach production areas, at the property where Mr Le Masurier’s grandfather commenced an aquaculture business over 40 years ago.
- According to The Shellfish Association of Great Britain, the company is the largest oyster growing business in Great Britain.
- Taking advantage of the exceptional natural advantages for oyster production in Jersey, the company exports over 700 tonnes of the finest quality oysters to France and the UK each year.
- The Company also produces mussels grown on upright wooden poles, known as ‘Bouchot’ mussels, and these are harvested in the spring.
- Since 1999 the Company has undergone an intensive expansion programme and now maintains over 35 hectares of ‘beach concession’ areas, located off Jersey’s south-east coast.
- The construction of a new purpose-built shellfish processing plant in 2011 has enabled the business to build on its reputation as a supplier and exporter of the highest quality shellfish. The new facility allows produce to be processed and packaged in accordance with the latest EU regulations and meet stringent standards of hygiene and product traceability.
