Partners
Collaboration
COLLABORATION NETWORK
Our Joint Venture Partners
Manatee Holdings Ltd. has built a network of experienced partners across aquaculture, dive fishing, shellfish production, innovation, and project management — all sharing a commitment to responsible, sustainable operations.
Gordon Baker
President, Emerald Sea Farms Ltd.
Gordon Baker brings extensive experience to the dive fishing and aquaculture industry that ranges from the ocean floor up. In 2000 he began as a commercial diver harvesting urchins, geoduck, and sea cucumbers. He has made a significant investment into Emerald Sea Farms Ltd. to develop a geoduck tenure to bring a sustainable food source to the world. Gordon has over 17 years of management and development experience in the aquaculture industry, specializing in sub-tidal farming. He is also co-owner/operator of an active inter-tidal shellfish lease in Comox Harbour. In 2011, he brought innovation to the industry by developing an open-ocean geoduck clam nursery system and has continued to advance sub-tidal aquaculture with other advancements in farming techniques such as the Arc system. Educated at the University of Alberta with a Business Commerce degree in Marketing and International Business, Gordon has over 25 years of project management and industry marketing experience.
Allan Hertel
Long-Term Partner — 30 Years
Allan Hertel has been a partner with Manatee for 30 years. Born in 1967 in Ottawa, Ontario, he completed his commercial diver training at Seneca College near Toronto in 1988. He relocated to British Columbia and started working in sea urchin, sea cucumber, and geoduck fisheries, skippering dive vessels within a couple of years. He also became involved in geoduck aquaculture in 1994. Mr. Hertel has been working steadily in dive fisheries and aquaculture ever since. He lives near Victoria, BC with his wife of 25 years and two children.
Stellar Bay Shellfish Ltd.
Shellfish Partner — Vancouver Island, BC
At Stellar Bay Shellfish Ltd., the team is dedicated to supplying oysters that are superior in quality, consistency, and freshness. Located in British Columbia on Vancouver Island, they offer ideal growing conditions in the pristine waters of Baynes Sound, in the Strait of Georgia. Stellar Bay's oysters are served as a delicacy in high-end restaurants and oyster bars around the world, available in the United States, Canada, Japan, and China. Products include Kusshi's, Stellarbay Golds, and Chef Creeks in a variety of sizes — all available year-round. From May through October, Manila and Savory clams are also available.
Philippe Delespesse
Innovation & Creativity Facilitator
Philippe Delespesse has been instrumental in facilitating the workshop 'Developing Creative Thinking and Innovation' for Manatee. He holds a Bachelor of Business and MBA from the Solvay Business School (Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium). He worked in the marketing departments of the Unilever Group and Henkel Ibérica before assuming the post of Director of Movendus.com. He has been president of the Creativity and Innovation Committee of the Marketing Club and is a professor of Innovation and Creativity at LaSalle's International MBA.
Dan Bowen Consulting Services Ltd.
Land Development & Project Management
DBCS has extensive experience and knowledge in the field of land development and project management. With over 35 years of working in both the public and private sector, Dan and his team cover all phases of the development process — from pre-assessment evaluation, application process, and preliminary approval stage, through the construction phase to the final approval of zoning or subdivision.