Harvesting shellfish is a hard job.

Now, imagine harvesting shellfish in winter...

Single digit air temperatures... 35º water temperatures... The risk of your boat getting stuck out in the water...

These are all considerations shellfish harvesters have to think about doing their jobs.

Around this time of year, customers tend to see more "NA-ICE" on our price lists, and that is because many of our suppliers are battling icy and potentially dangerous conditions. For the harvesters that are willing to bare the extreme cold, they still have to break through the ice to get to their oysters.

Some use their boats to blaze a trail...

And others use a power saw...

To each their own! And even if our harvesters can get access to shellfish, sometimes the air may be so cold that it freezes the product once out of the water.

At the end of the day, we owe a huge thank you to our harvesters and growers for weathering cold winds and treading through frigid waters to supply product to our customers. We ask for our customers' patience and understanding because harvesting shellfish is a hard and unpredictable job.

Hear Ben's firsthand experience dealing with ice or scroll through the photos below to see some Canadian ice fishing in action. Leave a comment below to thank all of our shellfish fishermen, and we'll make sure to pass them on personally!