Lourdes Gant, Bill Collins
Lourdes Gant 0:05
As a business owner of an aquaculture company, how can you take the first step to be profitable and sustainable at the same time? That’s what we’re going to be talking about in this episode. Hello, and welcome to the business of agriculture podcast. This is the podcast for the Sustainable Business movement in the Aquafarming and ocean ranching industries. This podcast aims to amplify the voices of entrepreneurs addressing the United Nations global goals, aka Sustainable Development Goals. Number 14. To conserve and sustainably use the oceans and the seas, listening to fellow business aquaculturists in their journey in this new model of food production, of making their business sustainable, and help the ecology of the ocean, while also making a profit all at the same time. Get inspired to learn how even small to medium businesses can make an impact, save the seas, leave a legacy, and have a better quality of life. One of our goals is to take away a nugget of wisdom that will help your business move from the industrial revolution to business 5.0. Our vision is that of collaboration in the aquaculture industry. I’m Lourdes Gant your host.
Lourdes Gant 1:25
As an agriculture business owner, how do you tackle the balance between being profitable and sustainable at the same time? That’s what we’re going to be talking about in this episode.
Lourdes Gant 1:35
Welcome to Episode Three of The Business Of Aquaculture. In this episode, we have Mr. Bill Collins of Cascadia Seaweed. Bill’s career spans almost 40 years and evolved from success in international science to success in the business on the world stage. Bill was trained as a geologist and received a Master of Science Degree from Memorial University. Since moving to the Victoria area in 1994. Bill has been responsible for bringing a locally invented sonar system to the world stage including sales to more than 20 navies and government institutions. As part of the ownership group of an award-winning high-tech company, Bill has failed many corporate roles, including merger and acquisition activities. Bill has a passion for creating and executing sound business plans and a strong belief in Vancouver Island business growth opportunities. So listen in and I hope you enjoy this episode. If you listen to our second episode, I interviewed Mr. Tom Bradley was one of the pioneers in the shellfish aquaculture industry in Canada, you will gain insights into the top trends that he has been seeing in the agriculture industry. Welcome to the show, Bill. Thanks for being here.
Bill Collins 2:50
You’re more than welcome, Lourdes. It’s great to be here.
Lourdes Gant 2:52
I’m glad that you were able to grace us. As you mentioned a while ago, entrepreneurs don’t have a holiday. It’s Easter today. And you’re here with me. So thank you. Excellent. So let’s get this all started. So my first question is how did you get into the agriculture industry specifically in the business of seaweed aquaculture?
Bill Collins 3:12
Yes, I took a contract from the Vancouver Island Economic Alliance. And the idea was to identify business opportunities specific to Vancouver Island, but to coastal British Columbia in general, where the business would have a global competitive advantage. So we started off with about 50 options and narrowed it down to four as part of that report. One was cleantech because of the critical mass of engineers that are available. One was cultural tourism because we were leveraging and this was pre-COVID. Obviously, we were leveraging the opportunity for coastal peoples to tell their stories. And to gain economic development by attracting tourism from Europe in particular. The other one was value-added forestry products. There’s a ton of wood that gets cut in British Columbia every year on Vancouver Island. Did you know that about 30% of the wood that gets cut down on Vancouver Island actually remains on the forest floor?
Bill Collins 4:13
Wow. So this was a travesty in our view. And so we searched for value-added opportunities where these, what would typically be considered waste wood were actually utilized. And then, of course, the fourth area which brings us closer tobacco culture was certainly on our list. When I look at the GDP that agriculture contributes to British Columbia, it’s a big number. And that’s manifests through employment, business development, and economic development opportunities for coastal communities. So it is very important. However, one of the big drivers behind becoming global and delivering a global competitive advantage is attracting if you can foreign direct investment. So if I’m a South Korean entrepreneur, I’m looking to invest in a business on Vancouver Island. And if the business was aquaculture, I would Google Vancouver Island aquaculture. And what I would more than likely end up with was some discussion about open net-pen salmon farming versus not and sustainability. And you would say, Okay, I’m not going to invest any money in this business, there’s just too much controversy.
Bill Collins 5:26
However, when you peel back the layers of the onion, and you see that aquaculture is a three-legged stool, one of which is finfish. aquaculture want to shellfish aquaculture, and the new kid on the block seaweed aquaculture. And if you were to try and focus specifically on seaweed aquaculture, there represents a tremendous undelivered opportunity to add strength to that stool. So we opted to suggest to the population and through this report that you know, what you should consider putting aside the challenges that aquaculture has in sustainability and look at the economic development opportunity. And ask yourself the question, if we do this right, in harmony with the planet, can it make money? And can we have a global industry based here in Vancouver? And the answer is most definitely yes. So that’s why we decided to take it on. More importantly, the opportunity was so great. I just couldn’t leave it to somebody else to do so very quickly, a team was assembled with some really knowledgeable folks. And that team is what’s delivered Cascadia seaweed.
Lourdes Gant 6:33
That’s amazing. I was just telling some of the people I’ve been interviewing, it’s so good to be able to do this firsthand because I don’t know the story behind how people got into the industry. So thank you for hearing that. And you already mentioned, it’s one of the most promising industries that’s coming online is green tech, you mentioned cleantech, I know there’s dematerialization. And finances are happening as well, including med-tech, and some of the things that have happened in the education industry. So we’re basically at the precipice of some interesting progress happening in the business, especially after COVID. So thank you. Yeah. So my second question then is, what are the pros and cons that you can see in the industry? I know you mentioned already something along the lines of the controversies around agriculture, but maybe you can name some more.
Bill Collins 7:27
Yeah. Number one, an hour review is an alignment of the regulatory approval process, with the economic opportunity. And this is one of our biggest challenges. Governments have a very important role to play in making sure that any commercialization of any natural resource is done to the benefit of the population of Canada, which we all know now includes doing things in harmony with the environment. And ocean environment is a particularly challenging area because there’s a mess. We know way more about terrestrial commercialization than we know about the impacts of commercialization in the coastal zone. And in water, that understanding adds another dimension to the challenge of ensuring that we’re doing this and executing this business correctly.
Bill Collins 8:21
So that’s obviously what the government’s role is, from our perspective. One thing we are quite categorical in saying is that the government demands industry innovation. And we all know what’s good in support of the productivity goals of Canadians in general. We’re now suggesting that government has to innovate in the way they’re tracking the regulatory framework, specifically around seaweed. And that’s our biggest challenge is we have a growth opportunity. We can finance it, there’s a lot of folks very willing to write checks to an industry that finds itself at the intersection of climate action, food security, and coastal economic development in general, and specifically an opportunity for economic development, First Nations. So there’s a tremendous number of impact investors that see me cultivation is really important in all of these three factors. What’s really going to be challenging is to allow firms to go in the water at a scale-up that will meet the demands in the marketplace. And this is the biggest challenge that we have.
Lourdes Gant 9:29
Are there some promises in terms of how it can be addressed the sooner I’m saying this based on experience, one of our tenures took actually more than 10 years before it got approved. Is there some progress along with that arena? Does that seem to be hopeful in terms of what changes are going to happen?
Bill Collins 9:51
Do you think, by Cascadia coming on board and raising the awareness, there is definitely a willingness at the moment. Bill levels of government to support the growth of the industry. There’s no question about that. However, willingness doesn’t necessarily translate into action and regulatory change. We believe that clearly, we’re out front because we haven’t, we’re attracting the investment and we’re making the applications to put infrastructure in the water. We’re at a funny time, because of the multiple government agencies that are required to manage these applications. The public is demanding more accountability, which you would think would translate into higher levels of scrutiny, and perhaps even higher levels of regulation. So we’re seeing governments, for example, a federal government pushing more for a better understanding of what’s going on and the impacts, obviously, it’s being demanded, because do no harm and the precautionary approach, which is embedded in DFO, for example, is very important for the people of Canada. So we do see and expect a higher level of scrutiny.
Bill Collins 11:06
At the same time, the federal government through commitments such as Undrip, are required to heavily consult, which is the right and prudent thing to do when we’re working in multiple government jurisdictions, including government, with First Nation to our federal government, or our provincial government for that matter. So there’s a higher level of scrutiny required to make sure the process is being managed correctly, and that everybody has a say in the development. So you have the federal government DFO. Transport Canada, for example, is now asking for higher levels of consultation. And transport, by the way, is also now asking where we think there’s overlap between DFO for example, infrastructures going in the water, the safety of navigation is to a traditional place that the transport has been now they’re asking the questions about sanitation entitlements, for example. So there seems to be a lot of overlap, and where that all will land, it leaves a big question mark for companies such as ourselves, that they follow the science says there’s more benefit from seaweed cultivation, then there is a negative impact.
Bill Collins 12:20
The opportunity for carbon in the future is high for carbon sequestration, as we decarbonize the atmosphere and re-carbonize the biosphere seaweed cultivation does provide a significant opportunity in the future to do this. We know with climate change, we’re losing seaweed biomass. As seaweed cultivators, our goal is to improve the biomass, without negatively impacting biodiversity. We believe we’re improving biodiversity because we have very strict protocols where we can introduce different genetics. And we have the beautiful advantage here British Columbia, having access to 630 species means there’s been a tremendous history of biodiversity in seaweed with to climate change that is becoming less and less so. And we believe through seaweed cultivation, we can start to put back the clock a little bit in this biodiversity, not to mention other ecosystem services that Cal cultivation has in improving water quality, reducing ocean acidification, for example, and providing habitat. The other thing I’ll mention is that science has to be shown. But we believe strongly that the improvement of kelp, in its natural environment will improve the outcome for seminars as they’re moving out and growing. So for many, many reasons, scientifically based, we believe CBD cultivation is good for the planet and good for coastal BC. This has to be matched with the opportunity that government sees for economic development against the regulatory framework. And this is where we’re asking for all parties to innovate. Because one thing is clear, the clock is ticking, and we can’t wait to change the planet.
Lourdes Gant 14:05
Very well said very well said. I love the way that you mentioned biodiversity. And maybe you can elaborate a little bit. How does that support in terms of integrated multi-tropic?
Bill Collins 14:18
Yeah, so this was some work done, pioneered somewhat on Vancouver Island probably a decade ago, where the idea is to play out culture. Species variation in a more holistic approach may be something that mimics more of a circular ecosystem. The theory being that if you have finfish and both affluent and nutrients and other things that are flowing out of an open net-pen, if downstream of those you could grow shellfish aquaculture because the shellfish can utilize some of the excesses that may come from a finfish firm of which you’re getting less and less excess materials, but you would see an advantage for growing shellfish by next to finfish aquaculture operations, and then if you go further down in the food chain, then the next one would be macroalgae or microalgae for that matter, but macro algae seaweed kelp. Specifically, if you grew that downstream of shellfish firms, then both the seaweed and the shellfish would be better off because of that symbiosis and synergy between those two species growing close together. So the science behind multi-trophic aquaculture suggests that it be beneficial. We know for example, anecdotally, that they see me that we’re growing next to shellfish operation seems to be doing better in close proximity.
Lourdes Gant 17:22
Thank you. And my last question to you is, what are the top three trends that you’re seeing in the industry?
Bill Collins 17:32
I will see in the food business, what we’re seeing, in general, is a conversion to plant-based food. So in the bigger picture for Cascadia seaweed, because we plant like we’re algae, we’re not a plant, but we’re plant-like. So that’s important for us that trend and there’s been a lot of investment in things like beyond me to an impossible those kinds of things. So that really helps us in terms of the aquaculture business, we see technology trends, will continue to grow, not only to support claims that the future of agriculture will be one of him using technology to reduce or mitigate any negative environmental effects that are brought to bear. So technology can really help drive and technology should also be able to help improve margins. So there will likely be more technology. And to be honest, I don’t know too much about the finfish aquaculture business.
Bill Collins 18:33
But I in talking to folks, I know there’s been a tremendous investment by this industry in supporting technological improvements to mitigate any negative impacts just how far they’ve gone, and how far that will be acceptable to the general public and governments who are trying to regulate all of this, I can’t say what we do is we say the more seaweed you grow, the better it is for the planet. It’s one of the few industries where the more you do it, the better it is for the planet. And so it’s that sustainability. In fact, at Cascadia, we no longer want to be just sustainable, we want to be climate positive. We want to be the model for industries that can come to the fore and demonstrated through our actions, that we are better for the planet. And the more we do with the better it is. That’s our starting point. As we grow, we’d like to continue to contribute to the body of science that proves this. At the same time as continued to deliver economic development opportunities for coastal BC and in particular are First Nations partners, which are on our critical path to success, their full true partner in what we’re trying to do. And we’d like to see that continue and grow and prosper.
Lourdes Gant 19:43
Thank you very much, Val. So maybe you can give our audience how they can get in touch with you and you can promote I know that the seaweed festival days are coming.
Bill Collins 19:52
Yes, they can reach out at info@cascadia.ca or CB days calm. If you want to know more We’re about the seaweed festival. And our doors are always open, particularly to talk about impacts on climate and climate action. This is at the core of what we do. So we’re always willing, able, and ready to talk about those things.
Lourdes Gant 20:13
Thank you again, Bill. My biggest takeaway from this episode is I love what you said about seaweed not being a plant, but it’s plant-like and it’s rich in calcium. I’m lactose intolerant. And so I love knowing that information, but also the way that you’ve spun in terms of the word sustainability, which is slowly getting into the generation in terms of what the quantitation is, but spin that into being climate positive. So thank you once again, and really appreciate your time. Thank you for listening and I hope you are inspired by these episodes. Do take a moment and share this with your friends and colleagues and rate and review the podcast wherever you go get it. In our next episode, I will be interviewing Mr. Jim Gibbons of shadow shellfish, which is one of the pioneers in the gooey duck aquaculture industry in Washington State. He will talk to us about the success of his company in attracting investors who became his shareholders, plus inviting ideal partnerships that makes his business sustainable. Thanks again, Bill.
Bill Collins 21:13
Thank you Lourdes.
Lourdes Gant 21:19
Thank you for listening, and I hope you are inspired by this episode. Do take a moment and share this with your friends and colleagues and rate and review the podcast wherever you get your podcasts. I’d love to know what your biggest takeaway from this conversation has been? What are you going to do differently? Please share thoughts across social media and tag us for links and Show Notes for this episode, visit our website www duck sustainable aquaculture.ca slash podcast. Thank you again. I hope you will join me on the next episode and together we can help create a better business in agriculture.