A Word from our General Manager Randy Cooke
Welcome to Howard’s Cove Shellfish Ltd. First, I would like to say I’m extremely excited to bring you our website that provides our viewers a look into our company and the high quality shellfish products that we offer. Secondly, I would like to say, “We are passionate about our oysters”. Our World Famous East Coast Malpeque oysters (Crassostrea virginica) are considered by many to be the gold standard by which all other oysters are judged. Our Malpeques Oyster and Quahaugs are the product of the cool, clean, nutrient rich, pristine waters of North-western, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Over the past 20 years, Howard’s Cove Shellfish Ltd. has developed a reputation for providing our customers with the finest and tastiest, highest quality shellfish products. Our fishers and our employees make our business a success with most having been with our company since our start-up. They all take personal pride and care in every oyster or quahaug they handle. If you are looking for superior shellfish, whether it be oysters or quahaugs, I think we will have what you are looking for. Thank-you for taking an interest in our company and our products and we look forward to hearing from you. We urge you to try our shellfish. You will love it.! Satisfaction Guaranteed! Please enjoy our site. Any feedback or inquiries are very much welcome and feel free to contact me directly from our Contact Us Page.
Brief Company Overview
Located in beautiful Freeland, North-western – Prince Edward Island, Canada, we are a Canadian federally registered molluscan shellfish processing facility that went into operation in 1993. We source and process only the finest Molluscan Shellfish Products for market which include; many brands of Malpeque Oysters and the Northern Quahaug). Our 200 acre shellfish storage and fishing lease makes it possible to purchase large quantities of shellfish from fishers throughout their respective Island shellfish harvesting seasons, sort, grade and wet store it which allows us to have fresh product available throughout the year for our customers. Malpeques can grow naturally on the lease, but the bulk of our oysters are purchased from the spring relay fishery, private lease holders and from the fall, clean public fishery. We only source the best through rigorous selection and they are all of marketable size when we purchase them. We strategically manage our own lease that is ideally located directly behind the processing facility in the clean, pristine waters of the Conway Narrows. The scenic sand hills which border to the North make this a popular spot for adventurous tourists to explore during the summer months. The benefit of our lease is that it provides a place for short term and long term storage of our shellfish and allows us to provide year round availability. The line of sand hills behind our facility has a natural opening to the ocean that allows cool sea water to enter and flush our lease daily with fresh nutrient rich, and briny sea water during changing tides. This natural flush system produces the plumpest oysters with a clean, crisp briny sea taste and produces our popular unique brand taste. They are delightful! Our Malpeques are famous for taste and quality and are hand tonged, which includes labour intensive ice harvesting in the winter months. This allows us to provide our customers a fresh, selection of Malpeques brands all year round. The staff at Howard’s Cove Shellfish Ltd. take great pride in every aspect of shellfish from raw material selection through fishing, handling and processing. Quality, Shellfish Safety and Customer satisfaction is key to our success.
Our Commitment to Shellfish Quality and Safety!
Howard’s Cove Shellfish Ltd. is committed to providing only the safest and highest quality shellfish products to our customers through rigorous Quality Management Practices, stringent shellfish regulations which include; (Fish Inspection Regulations (FIR’s), Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program (CSSP) and by adhering to the world recognized principles of HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) and Risk Management every day. Our QMP or Quality Management Program is regularly updated in-house and audited by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Our oysters are only harvested from Open and Approved, PEI Shellfish Harvesting Waters as determined by rigorous testing and strict monitoring through Environment Canada (EC), Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO). We also perform random shellfish testing of our own products by using the services of an accredited laboratory.