BioNovations Incorporated

Spring… It’s the time of year when the air is saturated with the damp, earthy smell of growth and rain, and grocery stores are flooded with lobster-hungry Nova Scotians seeking to satisfy the shellfish-cravings they’ve suppressed all winter long.

Picture this. You peer behind the cold glass tank, wet with condensation, at the delicious delicacy that will be your dinner in a few short hours. You’re so busy trying to tame the wild beast that growls in your stomach that you don’t think about the subtleties of the situation.

For instance, why is this tasty morsel sold still alive, wiggling its legs and struggling to free itself from its rubber bindings, when all the other meat products at the grocery store are packaged and prepared? And what exactly is this lobster-swimming-pool all about, anyway?

BioNovations Inc. is an Antigonish-based company that builds live seafood holding equipment, like the tanks that hold lobsters in grocery stores, retail stores, wholesalers and hotels.

It also builds seafood holding equipment to-go, meaning lobsters can be transported in vast quantities over great distances and, most importantly, arrive alive.

Nova Scotia boasts the world’s largest lobster fishery. We produce far more lobster than we could ever eat – even though there are many people out there who would devour it morning, noon and night!

The problem is, to stay fresh and edible; lobster must be kept alive until the moment it’s cooked. How, then, do we make use of our creepy, crawly, yet delicious asset? How do we export the product to an excess of 400 million consumers across North America?

The answer is simple: we transport live lobsters to their end destination.

But it’s easier said than done.

We can’t just sit them down, tell them to buckle up and enjoy the ride. They need to be submerged in their natural habitat: cold and wet.

That’s where BioNovations Inc. comes in. BioNovations has the technology to transport vast numbers of lobsters over long distances, efficiently and effectively.

Their service goes one-up on the competition.

According to Joe Boudreau, owner of BioNovations Inc., “Right now, anyone can put a lobster in a Styrofoam container with a gel pack and ship it across the world. But if the product doesn’t arrive in 24 to 48 hours, there’s a chance it may spoil (the mortality rate of the lobsters increases when air dries out their gills). By then, traveling the conventional way, the air will dry out the lobsters’ gills for sure.

“On the other hand, our innovative technology allows us to control the environment the lobsters travel in. We control the temperature and we operate a unique spray system to keep the lobsters wet,” says Boudreau.

“And that, ultimately, makes for a fresher, more natural product. What’s more, with our system, you could drive for several days without spoiling the lobster. So there’s virtually nowhere we can’t deliver.”

So, why don’t we just take the lobster tanks from the grocery store on the highway?

Well, there’d be some problems with water splashing around, and that’s a lot of weight for one truck to carry – too much, in fact.

BioNovations’s system conquers that problem and increases traveling time from 24 to 48 hours by the conventional method to several days. Not bad.

BioNovations Inc. started in 2005 by setting up new innovations to develop cutting edge seafood holding technologies.

“We started off with live holding systems, and then we moved into live transportation,” explains Boudreau. “And we’ve seen tons of success since then. We’re opening the world to transporting live seafood.

“And our innovative spray systems are the most energy efficient technologies in the world,” he adds.

BioNovation Inc.’s live transport systems are so efficient that they’ll likely change the industry for the better on a global scale.

“Our system will change the way the seafood industry operates. It will open doors for transportation of live shell fish. It will increase the value for fisherman,” Boudreau says.

Think about it this way. According to Boudreau, many grocers and restaurants on the west coast of Canada choose not to carry lobster because they can’t get a decent, fresh product on a consistent basis. Restaurants don’t want to print it on their menu because it’s too unreliable. Grocers don’t want to deal with the headache of inconsistency.

But, BioNovation’s live transportation systems will increase Nova Scotia’s ability to ship lobster, consistently, to stores on the west coast.

Moreover, BioNovation’s technologies offer a solution to a global problem.

“In other parts of the world, there is definitely a demand for a live transportation system like the one we’ve built,” explains Boudreau. “Norway, for example, has troubles getting their vast amount of product to their consumers in Spain, England and France.”

In March 2010, Boudreau and his team traveled to Boston for the annual Boston Seafood Show where his notions about the global demand were confirmed. “There seemed to be a lot of interest in our spray technology at this international event,” explains Boudreau.

It comes as no surprise that Boudreau, a Nova Scotian and a descendent of a long line of fisherman, implemented this product.

“Nova Scotians were one of the first people to start holding live fish,” he explains. “And lobster was one of the first sea foods held in any volume.”

“I’ve been commercially fishing lobster since 1968,” he adds. “In 1980 I took over my father’s fishing business. Before that, my grandfather fished at sea for a living, too.”

“And since I’m knee-deep in BioNovations now, my sons will be taking over my lobster license this spring.”

That’s one long line of lobster fishermen!

No wonder, then, the wisdom of generations’ worth of experience has contributed to a technological advancement that’s poised to change the seafood industry as we know it.

More power to the province. If Nova Scotia can ship more lobster to more consumers, it’ll have a very positive impact on the provincial economy.

The only downfall: with all that lobster being shipped across North America, Nova Scotians may no longer be able to gloat about the delicious delicacies to our friends on the West coast.

They’ll have the same access to home-grown, stomach-growl-inducing, drool-provoking fresh lobsters as we do here in Nova Scotia!