Shellfish shoreline tour with Croagh Patrick Seafoods
By Tom Gillespie
A UNIQUE shoreline tour of the rich oyster beds of Clew Bay is being launched tomorrow (Wednesday) by one of Ireland’s top shellfish producers.
Croagh Patrick Seafoods supply fresh Clew Bay native oysters, award-winning Pacific oysters, mussels and clams, each with their own unique flavour.
For over a quarter of a century Padraic Gannon has been supplying shellfish throughout Ireland, the UK and Continental Europe.
When I visited the site a consignment of fresh oysters were being packed for dispatch to the French market.
All the shellfish are home produced from their prestigious mari-culture sites at Roslaher, Kilmeena. These sites are fully licensed with the Department of the Marine.
Summing up the business, Padraic told me: "The oyster is our world. We have built our business up gradually over the years, and we are now one of the main wholesalers to the catering trade in Ireland, supplying many leading hotels, restaurants, supermarkets and fishmongers.
"We pride ourselves on reliability to our discerning customers, including after hours deliveries, through our renowned shore-to-door service.
"Daily harvesting from our Grade A oyster beds ensures freshness. Preparation of individual orders in our EU standard dispatch centre guarantees a quality product which is delivered within hours locally and next day nationwide."
Padraic originally had 20 cows on a small 13-acre dairy farm. But between regulations and not having enough acreage he had to make a decision as to his future.
Padraic told me: "One morning when I was letting the cows out after milking I met a French man in a camper van.
"He asked if I was making a living on the few cows. I said no, I was struggling. I said I have no more land so I can’t have any more cows. He said I had plenty of acreage out there, pointing at the sea, and said I should farm that.
"He put me thinking. I made enquiries with BIM and the Clew Bay Oyster Co-Op. An aquaculture course became available and I was lucky enough to get on it and the rest is history."
Padraig hopes to transform the old farm buildings into a visitors' centre. He said: "I have been granted planning permission to redevelop the farm buildings into a presentation and information area based on the history of the oyster.
"There is a lot of history around the oyster. It was the food of the common people centuries ago and it was the seashore that kept them alive during the Famine."
Back in the 1970s and ‘80s Clew Bay, he said, used to come alive in November/December with the boats dredging for the wild oyster. "I remember seeing 300 boats out there. It was great for 10 to 12 years but then it became overfished."
The food for the shellfish is in the water and Padraic’s biggest input is buying the seed annually from a hatchery in France.
Padraic continued: "Since we started I had two disastrous years - 1995 and 2018. They were all associated with real hot summers when the oxygen levels in the water depleted.
"When we lose the seed, as we did in 2018, it puts you back a full three or four years as you have to start from scratch again. The first initial three years is the hardest. We put the seed out at high stocking rates at first and they are thinned out over the following months and are eventually finished off with 150 to a bag.
"This is a unique site as there is a great current going through it so we get a very good meat content. It is a natural purification bed as well. The oysters are Grade A which is a great asset when it comes to marketing."
Referring to the shoreline tour, Padraic said: "I have developed a one kilometre pathway back along the shore where I conduct a one-hour tour. I will tell visitors a bit of the history of the oyster and my own life story.
"When the tide is out we can go back and see the oyster beds at low tide and the whole cycle of the oyster. On completing the tour the visitors can taste the produce and get some refreshments."
Croagh Patrick Seafoods installed an advanced depuration system which purifies the water and guarantees the highest water quality no matter what external factors come into play.
This ensures that the shellfish produced are of an exceptionally high quality, and in recognition of this fact the company was awarded the Oyster Grower of the Year Award by BIM in 2003.
Oysters can be bought by the dozen or by weight with the following grading - grade 1 (90g-110g); grade 2 (70g-90g); and grade 3 (50g-70g) - and delivered to destination by courier.
Croagh Patrick Seafoods offer two convenient products to retail customers. Mussels are sold in a handy 1kg net bag, just enough for dinner. Oysters are attractively packed in dozens, on a bed of seaweed in a rustic light wooden presentation case.
Padraic Gannon delivers personally to restaurants in the local area so they can guarantee their customers the freshest and tastiest shellfish from local waters.
His refrigerated van is a daily sight on the highways and byways of Westport and south west Mayo.
Croagh Patrick Seafoods is available from SuperValu in Westport and Clarke’s fish shop, Westport.
The oyster farm tours commence tomorrow (Wednesday) and run from Wednesday to Sunday daily at 12 noon and 4 p.m. The cost is €25 per adult and children under 16 go free. Tours must be booked on https://www.croaghpatrickseafoods.ie/tours/.