Maryland, which once had 2,000 oyster-shucking houses (most in Baltimore and 19 on Kent Island), has only one remaining full-time year-round operation. It's been in operation since the 1930s.

Oysters are always blown in large-scale oyster-shucking. Blowing refers to washing oysters in fresh water, agitated with air. There's not much shelf-life to oysters dry-packed, and they may not meet health standards. (Weights are regulated by the U.S. Office of Weights and Measures. Fair Packaging and Labeling Act relates only to the net quantity of contents.)

This processor almost always buys oysters. They do some private-label shucking (using their FDA Interstate Shipper's number), but to large, established customers.

They shuck ~400 gallons/day. Shuckers receive $8/gallon (piece work). On a "good" day they shuck about 20 gallons. The result is salaries above minimum wage. Shuckers are mainly Mexican seasonal workers.

Custom shucking is still available in Maryland and Virginia. Most of the other shucking houses buy their own oysters, and are seasonal. They include Buddy Harrison on Thilghman Island and two in Crisfield, MD. Healy (?) charges $10-15/gallon.

The volume would need to be adequate for this company to break even---they may be too big for CCWA growers. Some of the other shuckers in the area include Bay 100, Cool Ice, Buddy Harris, Tucker Brown (Western Shore).

The size of bushels varies. Louisiana bushels, for example, are ~100 lbs. Yields depend on the meat content of the oysters, which are low post-spawn and higher in the winter (Nov to May). They rarely get a gallon from one bushel when they dry-pack oysters. It takes over 7 lbs. of drained oyster meat to make a dry gallon. Paying $10-$13/gallon for private-label shucking sounds cheap.

Sources include Connecticut, New York, Louisiana and more recently North Carolina. Currently, most of their oysters come from CT and Delaware Bay. MD oysters are not yet fat enough, so for now those go to the half-shell market. These are not cultured oysters, and this is not the high-quality half-shell market. They are less expensive than cultured oysters. They pay $40/bushel for what they're shucking now.

MD oysters are at their best from Thanksgiving to May, although the state of the water and other factors determine the precise season each year.

On Nov. 1 they will start shucking more to anticipate demand. The shucked product has a long shelf-life---an 18-day sell-by date---when stored on ice. They can last another ten days, too.

On Oct. 24, 2011, they were paying $32/bushel for wild oysters. It's $40/bushel in summer, down to $20/bushel in Sept.

Historically 95% of Patuxent River producers have sold directly to consumers in roadside stands.

They used to run trucks to Solomons, MD. Not currently as there is not enough supply.

They to get most of their own oysters. They send their own trucks to pick up oysters in CT and Delaware Bay. If there's enough product from Patuxent growers, they will send a truck down there as well. Their smallest truck can hold 100 bushels.

One owner suggested that growers concentrate on growing. Leave the sales and transport to others.

July-Oct. would be an excellent time for shucked product, particularly triploids that have a higher meat to shell ratio and do not spawn. Diploids yield only four pints (0.5 gallon) per bushel. Growers would receive $40/bu. Triploids, though, would yield 10 pints (2.25 gallons) per bushel. Growers would receive $50-$60/bu.

September 15, 2011 discussion with the VP for seafood of a premium retail supermarket chain

This chain has about ten supermarkets in the DC area. They opened their first store in this region seven years ago. Since then, they've seen a tremendous growth in retail whole oyster sales. In fact, their oyster sales have created a large interest in this chain in general. They have a "category merchant" for oysters in their corporate HQ. (He has several other categories, too.)

Several stores have seafood "pods", sit-down areas where chefs prepare dishes and appetizers, including oyster dishes, for shoppers to purchase and eat in the store.

They hold oyster fests, maybe half a dozen in this area each year. Their suppliers, such as Rappahannock River Oysters, bring in shuckers and run the events. They do similar fests in New England, but less frequently.

They realize that they haven't gone beyond the tip of the iceberg. Their whole oyster sales have increased 50% a year since they began.

They pay about the same as other buyers [probably less for some; see "Varieties," below]. The story is important. Salinity? He likes them salty, but most customers like them a little less salty.

We called one of the stores on Sep 22. They were selling Blue Points (Long Island Sound), Gerrish Islands (from Spinney Creek Shellfish in ME), and two from the Cherrystone, VA group: Watch House Points (medium salinity, grown at the southern point if the DelMarVa Peninsula) and Misty Point (high salinity, grown north of Chincoteague, near Toby Island Bay). It appears that they stopped buying from Rappahannock River Oyster Co. last year.

One of Toby Island's wholesalers, he is also a Chesapeake grower. He toured Morgan State's hatchery and met with Tommy Zinn, Jack Fringer and Kelly Clark on July 26.

Rather than selling to processors, a shucking house does private-label shucking for his bottom-cultured oysters. These he sells directly to restaurants in the DC area.

Shucking houses charge $10-$13/gallon to shuck oysters. They are paid by the pound (whereas shucked oysters are sold by the volume). That price includes the container ($2 for a gallon container), but not the stickers, which cost an additional $0.50 each.

After shucking, the oyster meats are placed in a stainless steel vat and soaked in fresh water for part of a day, stirred every hour ("blowing"). This cleans debris and plumps the oysters. Then they're placed into gallon (or pint, or quart) containers.

He sells oysters to restaurants for $82/gallon (standards) to $87/gallon (selects).

Whereas oysters cost $6.25/pint if bought from a shucking house, they should sell for ~$13/pint at farmers' markets.

He offered to take me to the shucking house he uses, James E Headley Oyster Co in Callao, VA.

August 19, 2011 meeting with the seafood coordinator of an upscale retail supermarket chain

They are now making a greater market push for oysters and other seafood. He thinks that, in the seven years he's been back with the company, oyster sales have increased by ~25%.

Marketing aside, he thinks the greater demand for varied, high-quality seafood is due to this region's transient population, as well as to cooking shows.

He agrees that they pay about the same for oysters as area wholesalers do, $0.40-$0.80 ea. They sell all oysters for $0.99 ea, however. They make more money on some than others.

He agrees that oysters are becoming more mainstream, that there's a desire for new varieties, and in particular, that there is a strong desire for local products, which they promote throughout the stores, not just with seafood.

They, unlike wholesalers, can't really push more than eight or varieties. Their marketing becomes too diluted to push more.

This year they are pushing local oysters only. They sell Blue Points from Connecticut and one or two West Coast varieties (Kumamotos, I believe), but those sell themselves.

Appearance and consistency is key, especially in a seafood display case. They sell low-salinity oysters (including Choptank Sweets, from Marinetics in Cambridge, MD) for the same price as higher-salinity oysters.

Financially, they're doing great. They are expanding rapidly regionally, nationally and, now, internationally.

They plan to start recycling oyster shells this year, with the Oyster Recovery Partnership.

The overall live oyster market in the region is probably well over 10 million a year. Within the past few years, this company expanded their oyster market 1.5X (although some of that may have come through taking business away from other wholesalers, especially on the Eastern Shore).

Since June 1 they sold 124 100-count bags of Stingrays (see below), which are the biggest sellers outside of Blue Points and other local oysters.

They sell around a few hundred thousand oysters a month. In June and July, they sold 767 100-count boxes of standard local oysters, and 764 100-count boxes of Blue Points.

The number of varieties has probably doubled or tripled over the past three years. Wholesale prices have stayed about the same, at $0.45-$0.95 ea. Farm-gate prices (what wholesalers pay growers) are $0.40-$0.80 ea.

"Specialty" oysters come from anything not local, or from Blue Point or Malpeque. There are specialty local oysters, however, including Rappahanocks and Stingrays (grown by Rappahannock River Oysters in a slightly saltier area, Ware Neck, with about 19 ppt).

Local non-specialty oysters sell for $0.26 ea. Flavor is probably the distinguishing factor. Locals---Chincoteagues aside--- are less salty. They wholesale Stingrays for $0.76 ea.

Oysters from cages sell better than "sand-grown". They won't carry James River oysters. They're too muddy and too inconsistent. Many have double shells. They pay more for Blue Points (which are also wild-caught), but those look cleaner.

This company sells oysters to over 100 establishments. They carry over 50 varieties from the East Coast, plus a few from the West Coast.

The oyster Renaissance is still going on. Many new restaurants with raw bars are opening.

There's no chronic shortage. Rather, there's a desire for new varieties, and a new desire for local products. Relatively few local oysters are available. Only a small percentage of oysters in the local half-shell market are local. Most come from New York (Blue Points) and PEI.

Salinity is not the issue. Choptanks and Rappahannocks sell well. What's key: clean oysters of consistent sizes.

The price range today is the same as it's been for some time. $0.62 is the price point to most restaurants, which is $0.50 to wholesalers, delivered. Any higher, and fewer people buy them.

There are well above 2,000 restaurants that sell raw oysters in the U.S. In this area, hundreds, if not thousands, of restaurants sell raw oysters.

Who might pick up oysters at Solomons? United Shellfish and Harbor House are competitors of the Jessup wholesalers. Try Sea Cap or Sea Best in Jessup. Pray Trucking as well. Maybe ProFish, too. [note: none of these panned out]

There are 18 wholesalers in this area, including seven in Jessup, and others such as Samuels and Son, River Glen and Sea Best. All handle oysters.

Use a Community Supported Fishery (CSF). Growers can take orders a week ahead of time, or even up to a day before by email.

Carol Bean of Talbot County harvests wild oysters, sells them to a shucker, buys them back and sells them at a CSF and farmers markets on Tilghman Island.

Another suggestion: Rappahannock River Oysters sells 12-count bags to retailers.

The primary focus was to quantify the time spent on traditional wild-harvesting of oysters, as a basis for how much time (and money) would be spent doing bottom culture.

During oyster season, watermen can harvest public grounds from sunup until 3 PM. Oyster season is usually Oct 1 through Xmas. After that, it's too cold, catches decrease by 40% and they take a post-Xmas price cut (although there's a price bump in February). Watermen who crab often do not start until November. They are allowed to harvest five days a week (M-F); on private leases, six days a week (M-S), and until 6 PM. There are separate health department regulations for harvest times (in refrigeration by 10 AM) and time-to-temperature in summer months.

They motor out to the beds within half an hour (usually 10 minutes), drop anchor and begin tonging. It's a one-man operation.

After each day's harvest, they spend two hours wrapping up: delivering the harvest, cleaning the boat, refueling.

Over the last several years they've harvested 10-12 bushels/day/person. [HOW DOES THIS COMPARE WITH A TYPICAL SPAT-ON-SHELL BOTTOM CULTURE HARVEST? Tommy's group did a sample tong last year, and got 6-8 bushels, but there were lots of dead oysters. It's hard to extrapolate.]

Because most of the oysters go to Virginia shuckers, little shell comes back to Maryland.

Public grounds: Patent tongs. Shaft tonging is mostly phased out. On the St. Mary's River, power dredging is permitted. On the Wicomico River, shaft tonging only.

Private leases: Any kind of gear is permissible. Tommy plans to shaft tong on their leases, which they may modify with scraping.

Equipment: Weekends are spent on maintaining hydraulic pumps, cylinders, hoses, pulleys, bearings, etc. Average is three to four hours per weekend. They spend about $1,000/year (one orbit motor/year @ $300; one set of long and short hoses (@$3/ft) every two years @ $500, etc.).

Boat: If on a maintenance schedule, the engine gets rebuilt every 3.5-4 years (5,000-7,000 hours). If maintained well they spend four hours a week maintaining their boats. In the last five to seven years, watermen have been doing it on the cheap---guys are patching up motors rather than replacing parts.

The CCWA has ~50 members. About five are interested in oyster farming. Ten are real, full-time watermen; they made their money years ago, have waterfront property and inherited gear. A lot of CCWA members don't have waterfront property--- an issue with cage culture. It's much harder to do without waterfront property.

Participants included Molly Chen (TEDCO), Jack Fringer (CCWA treasurer), John Farrington (Johnny Oyster Seed)

According to Tommy, most growers applying for grants are not full-time watermen. Rachel Dean (Simon's wife) is a teacher with salary and benefits. Most of those who will take advantage of the program are not watermen.

The younger generation? Mostly do outlaw operations, working in closed areas. Others are leaving the water. In Dorchester and Calvert counties, there are many hard-working young watermen, but this demographic is where most violations occur.

Hourly wage: based on Tommy's experience, $20/hr (not $30/hr) is a reasonable hourly wage.

Walk-in refrigerator on Solomon's Is: It's there. It works. It needs a door gasket. They built the 8' x 10' frame. It will be open to all CCWA members. They envision putting bushel baskets into the cooler.

Refrigerated trucks: United Shellfish comes to Solomon's. As does Harbor House [a client of Toby Island Oysters]. They mostly unload, and would probably love to take product back. [Not so, it seems]

What Jack Finger meant by the need to earn $31,000/year oyster farming? [We didn't get into details beyond what he said last time we met]

Participants included Christine Bergmark (Southern MD Agriculture Development Commission), Andy Buck (CCWA member and prospective cage-culture grower), Molly Chen (TEDCO), Kelly Clark (Morgan State), David Farkas (formerly with Morgan State [now our research assistant]), Jack Fringer (CCWA treasurer), John Farrington (Johnny Oyster Seed), Kelly Slagle (Calvert County Economic Development)

Andy, at least in the first go-around, thought that he would work for free. We suggested he factor in his own and his family's time.

Jack said that watermen need to net $31,000. That's considered a livable wage. The work could be full-time, five days a week, from Oct 1 through May 31. They would harvest bushels. In this community, no one would be hiring kids to help.

According to David's surveys, watermen consider $30/hr a minimal acceptable wage. Labor should be year-round, more intensive in the summer, less so August through April. They would need to work one day a week in summer.

Jack and Andy felt that watermen could do that on the one mandatory off-day per week from crabbing.

Kelly's group, whom David surveyed, received 160,000 seed oysters from Stan Allen @ VIMS.

Jack said that spat-on-shell prices are $8-$9/bushel for wild-set, plus $2/bushel for transport. Plus time and labor for putting it into the water.

Jon's triploid spat-on-shell sell for $10-$20/bushel. They have a 2,000 spat/bushel count, and average 5 spat/shell.

Harvests begin in two years (Jack: two-and-a-half). Harvests finish in four years.

He will make cages from Chesapeake Bay Oyster Co kits. Each cage will hold 1,000 adult oysters, or 4,000 seed oysters.

Participants included Andy Buck Andy Buck (CCWA member and prospective cage-culture grower), Kelly Clark (Morgan State), Simon Dean (CCWA), John Farrington (Johnny Oyster Seed Co), Bill Watson (Morgan State).

Andy lives on Broomes Island. He inherited 15 acres of lease bottom on which he would like to begin cage culture. In the past he's always harvested off public oyster bars and sold to shucking houses.

He's dredged to move the shell around, to provide a better substrate for cages. He began the permitting process in 2009. It's now on hold.

He would like to start with 170 cages, and half a million seed oysters. He's trying to determine the seed size, and whether to use bags (since the cages will be 1/2" x 1/2" mesh).

He's interested in upwellers---with which Jon Farrington can help. Jon can also provide seed oysters.

Andy can use Morgan State's tools, and will buy coated wire from the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Co.

The 80,000 oysters: On hold. There's no plan. The two watermen haven't culled them. They're not overly motivated.

There was some question about who needs what kind of MD DHMH/HACCP certification. Kelly believes it's the buyers, not all of the producers. We are trying to clarify with Erin Butler.

Andy Buck is a dues-paying but inactive CCWA member (according to Tommy). He's also a Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant employee, about to retire. And an heir to the former Denton shucking house on Broomes Island, now part of a restaurant. Andy has a 15-acre hard-bottom lease from his family. He wants to start a large-scale operation, with ~1,000 cages and an upweller, but hasn't started. He appears to be awaiting state approval and a MARBIDCO loan approval. He already developed a business plan, which MARBIDCO requires.

The December harvest: Six CCWA members went out on two boats last month to harvest six bushels of their oldest oysters. These were planted three years ago last August. But they were hard to get off the bottom. They sold three bushels for $50 each---a good price---to a wholesaler who probably shucked them. They were not pretty. The rest went to the watermen. About 30-40% were dead, [and another percentage was cat tongues (skinny)]. Of the good oysters, half were desirable [how defined?], and half were clustered. [Clarify these percentages and categories]

In a few weeks they will try again with a bagless dredge to loosen the oysters on top. They will also drege another area, planted two years ago, where some are still undersized. These may be prettier [why?]. If they can get the next harvest broken up, they can probably get a premium price, at the end of March.

Refrigerator update: They're trying to put a community walk-in refrigerator at the community dock at Solomons Island, which they plan to use it for crabbing bait, too. They may get a donation from a closed school. It's OK with the Chesapeake Bay lab director. The CCWA is (or soon will be) running electricity lines.

Additional project funding: Tommy asked that we not approach their Annual Watermen's Festival sponsors, so as not to dilute their funding. He suggested the Southern Maryland Oyster Society, which has funded one of their sponsors. Also Dominion LNG, Constellation Energy (Andy Buck's employer), Mid-Atlantic Marant(?) and Walmart. [Ed note: An LNG consultant told me that his industry, in general, may want to become more involved in oyster restoration. This could be a good start, right in their backyard.] All donations could come through the CCWA, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

[i] Wieland, R. 2006. Operating Costs in the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Fishery. http://www.mainstreeteconomics.com/documents/HarvestCostReport.pdf

[ii] Gempesaw, C.M., D.W. Lipton and J.R. Bacon. 1996. Aquasim PC: A financial risk management tool for aquaculture farm managers. Proceedings, 6th International Conference on Computers in Agriculture