Striving for a Zero-Carbon Footprint

From the beginning, one of our priorities at Sanctuary Oysters has been to become leaders in building a sustainable oyster operation with a zero-carbon footprint. We believe that each individual action builds upon the last, consistently moving us toward this goal and we are thrilled to be able to highlight the latest improvements to the farm: solar energy and desalination.

While keeping a large biomass of oysters on the farm is an important way to fix CO2, we find that it is necessary to work on all parts of the operation where CO2 is generated, such as producing the energy needed for the whole oyster farming operation. Naturally our facility location, the desert climate of the remote western coast of the Baja California Peninsula, where the sun shines almost every day of the year, lends itself perfectly to the utilization of solar energy.

We had previously installed a photovoltaic system, also known as a solar power system, at Casa Sol Azul, a place where up to twenty-two of our treasured farm workers live throughout the season and felt the next step was to expand into production. The grading, cleaning, and packing of oysters are the main consumers of electrical energy at the seafarm, making the investment in the photovoltaic system of utmost importance to provide the energy needed for year-round production of clean energy as well as clean oysters.

With our energy needs met, our next goal became reducing the carbon footprint created by trucking in fresh water from San Ignacio, a town 75 km (46.6 miles) away. The solution was to create a desalination station, completely powered by our photovoltaic system, to cover all of the farm and Casa Sol Azul needs. Mother nature has blessed us with the energy source (sun) and the raw materials (ocean) and we feel that it is our duty to utilize the technology in order to carry out any action that helps to reach the goal of zero greenhouse gas emissions.

We have been given the incredible privilege of fulfilling our purpose of creating joy and nutrition from the ocean with a commitment to the health of the Earth by upholding our core value of caring for people, planet and community. We truly believe that every day is Earth Day at Sanctuary Oysters. We are well on our way towards our envisioned future where through our innovative and sustainable breeding, hatchery, farming, and marketing techniques we are creating high-quality, great tasting and healthy shellfish while maintaining our pristine environment and utilizing renewable sources of energy.