Fanny Bay is a small hamlet in the Canadian province of British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

. It is located on Baynes Sound

Baynes Sound

Baynes Sound is the channel between Denman Island and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The sound is a narrow western off-shoot of the Strait of Georgia that separates Vancouver Island from the mainland of British Columbia. The area is actively harvested by the local oyster industry, as...

 on the east coast of Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island

Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...

. In 2001, its population was listed as 744. It is best-known for its fine oyster

Oyster

The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....

s.

Origin of the name

There is no consensus on the origin of the name "Fanny Bay" and none of the various explanations — comical, romantic, local or historical — can be considered without scepticism. The name first appeared on British Columbia maps in 1913 and was officially adopted by the government in 1923. This adoption was based on British Admiralty charts of the 1860s, taken from surveys by Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 Captain G.H. Richards

George Henry Richards

Admiral Sir George Henry Richards was Hydrographer to the British Admiralty from 1864 to 1874.-Early life:Richards was born in Anthony, Cornwall, the son of Captain G S Richards, and joined the navy in 1832....

. However, if Capt. Richards knew who "Fanny" was, he did not record the information. Geographer A.B. McNeill wrote in his book Origin of Station Names, Esquimalt and Nanaimo Division that "...Fanny Bay was named after a sea captain who lived in this vicinity". Alas, like Capt. Richards, McNeill provides no dates or any other supporting information. A popular and persistent local theory holds that Fanny Bay was named by Captain George Vancouver

George Vancouver

Captain George Vancouver RN was an English officer of the British Royal Navy, best known for his 1791-95 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of contemporary Alaska, British Columbia, Washington and Oregon...

 in 1792. However, Capt. Vancouver's nautical charts and journals only describe the east side of the nearest body of water, the Strait of Georgia

Strait of Georgia

The Strait of Georgia or the Georgia Strait is a strait between Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is approximately long and varies in width from...

 (including Texada Island

Texada Island

Texada Island is the largest island in the Strait of Georgia of British Columbia, Canada. Its northern tip is located about southwest of the city of Powell River and west of the Sechelt Peninsula on the Sunshine Coast. A former mining and logging area, the island still has a few quarries and old...

). He had nothing more than a rough outline of the eastern shore of Vancouver Island between Nanaimo and Comox

Comox, British Columbia

Comox is a town of 12,000 people located on a small peninsula in the Georgia Strait on the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The warm dry summers, mild winters, fertile soil and abundant sea life attracted First Nations thousands of years ago, who called the area kw’umuxws...

, and his charts omitted several nearby islands and other features. Therefore, it seems highly unlikely that Capt. Vancouver would have been able to proffer this name.

Shellfish

Fanny Bay is well-known as a source of farmed

Aquaculture

Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...

 shellfish

Shellfish

Shellfish is a culinary and fisheries term for exoskeleton-bearing aquatic invertebrates used as food, including various species of molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Although most kinds of shellfish are harvested from saltwater environments, some kinds are found only in freshwater...

, specifically Pacific oyster

Pacific oyster

The Pacific oyster, Japanese oyster or Miyagi oyster , is an oyster native to the Pacific coast of Asia. It has become an introduced species in North America, Australia, Europe, and New Zealand.- Etymology :...

s (scientific name Crassostrea gigas), manila clams (Venerupis philippinarum

Venerupis philippinarum

Venerupis philippinarum is an edible species of saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk in the family Veneridae, the Venus clams.The common names of the species include "Japanese littleneck", "Manila clam", "steamer clam", "Filipino Venus", "Japanese cockle", and "Japanese carpet...

), savoury clams (Nuttallia obscurata) and mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), for both domestic and global markets. Fanny Bay, BC was first seeded with oyster

Oyster

The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....

 and clam

Clam

The word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...

 seed after World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 (circa 1947) by a pioneer in oyster aquaculture, Joseph McLellan. McLellan imported his first batch of oyster seed from Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

and seeded the beach areas around Fanny Bay - Mud Bay, Ship Point, Buckley Bay and Denman Island. His work started what is now a primary industry in the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada, employing over hundred people and contributing significantly to the economy of the Baynes Sound region.

His descendants, the McLellan family, still own and operate the oyster and clam farm located in Fanny Bay, Mac's Oysters Ltd.. A fourth-generation family shellfish farm, Mac's Oysters Ltd., is the only shellfish processor situated in Fanny Bay, though there is another company by that name, located in Union Bay approximately 11 km to the south. A meaningful discussion of Fanny Bay would have to involve Mac's Oysters Ltd, as they are a significant player in the Canadian farmed shellfish industry, processing approximately 34% of all of British Columbia's farmed oysters and clams from this area.

Within food circles Fanny Bay is synonymous with oysters. Interestingly enough, manila clam seed was inadvertently included in Joseph McLellan's initial seed shipments from Japan. Today the harvest of the succulent manila clam is as important as oysters to British Columbia's shellfish economy.

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