Good Oysters Begin With Good Relationships in the U.S. Northeast

A skinny, salty oyster farmer is crouched down on one knee on a floating dock, reaching elbow deep into a bucket of fresh spawn. He pulls up a briny heap, gleaming in the sun, which seems to fill him with excitement. “Just the viability and consistency of these oysters is some of the best I’ve ever seen,” he says, before giving me a handful. “Ah!” I squeal. “They want to stick to my hand. They’re alive." Keeping them alive is this man’s entire modus operandi. He is Stephen Wright, General Manager of Chatham Shellfish Company, the exclusive grower of Chatham oysters since 1976. For him, and the 287 other farmers with private aquaculture licenses in Massachusetts, the task is to nurse spawn from thumbnail-sized crustaceans to viable 2.5-inch, adult oysters destined for your plate. It’s a difficult business, given that at least 50 percent of the spawn will die before reaching adulthood. If they make it, the market is robust. In Cape Cod alone, aquaculture (the practic