Market Growing For
Maine-grown Oysters

by Mike Crowe

Enormous shell middens mark former native settlements along Maine’s coast. Among the shellfish of choice for Native Americans was the oyster. The wild American oyster harvested by Native Americans for millenia was native to the East Coast from Prince Edward Island to the Gulf of Mexico. The Whale midden on the Damariscotta River was originally 30’ deep, 1,650’ long and 1,350’ to 1,650’ wide. It was excavated for use in fertilizer and as a chicken feed additive.

Colonial era overfishing and the failure to recognize the need to protect the water from tannery effluent and the sawdust deposits from countless sawmills led to the collapse of the oyster resource in Maine.

By 1875 these once-abundant oysters were no longer native to New England. By the late 20th century most people in Maine had forgotten that oyster was ever a local food. But the waters and habitat were still there when some Mainers set out to try their hand at raising oysters 30 years ago.

Today there are several leased sites where oysters are being harvested.

Oyster operations in Maine are typically family-owned, small-scale businesses. For example, lobsterman Adam Campbell has raised oysters at his North Haven Oyster Company for 16 years. Campbell said oyster cultivation’s steep learning curve has recently delivered marketing results. At one time, he said, he was attempting to sell product locally to consumers unfamiliar with eating oysters. Today, he said, the product is going to white-tablecloth restaurants in New York City. One major factor in this demand shift, he said, is the quality of the product, due to clean water and good location.

JP’s Shellfish in Eliot buys and ships Maine oysters to wholesalers. The company has seen the demand for quality oysters increase annually across the United States, according to company information. According to the company, demand is especially strong for Maine oysters, due to its clean-water environment and quality image. JP’s Shellfish ships oysters to California, Florida and Texas, among other states. Market demand and the growth of local Maine product have gone hand-in-hand, according to the company.

During the 1960s, a Russian-born scientist with the Sea and Shore Fisheries Department, now the Maine Department of Marine Resources, brought a Dutch oyster to Maine. It was bred and became the oyster variety used by the pioneering oyster farmers in the 1980s. At about that time, European oyster farms were hit with a devastating disease. The disease got into the Maine farms and rapidly wiped them out in the 1990s.

The original American oyster (Crassostrea virginica) was re-introduced for its resistance to disease. Thanks to cross-breeding, its disease-resistance seems to be holding. The oyster is also selectively bred to accommodate its environment, and for shell shape.

Campbell’s oysters are in a 16-acre salt pond behind his house on North Haven. Above it is a 90-acre fresh water pond that flows into the salt pond. The salt pond flows down into the tidal inlet beyond. High tides in the inlet perk through the outflow pipe in the man-made dike that crosses the lower end of his salt pond. The net effect is a balance of salt, fresh, and brackish water that is constantly renewed. The mud the oysters grow in also affects their characteristic local flavor.

Oyster growth rates vary depending on genetics, water temperature and habitat. Some require 6 to 7 years to reach market size. Damariscotta oysters, with a longer growing season, mature faster than those at North Haven, for example, and Louisiana oysters can fatten up in 18 months. In Maine, said Campbell, 200,000 market-size oysters grown from 600,000 seed oysters over a four-year period represents a good output.

“Make no mistake, this is farming,” Campbell said. “The learning curve is steep and littered with curve balls.” The process involves putting 3/8" grow-out seed in fine mesh bags and suspending that in sea water, where they feed off algae, for three weeks to a month. Water is gently pumped up from the bottom of the mesh bags. One year, he said, starfish spawned below the dike in the tidal inlet. Their larvae drifted into the salt pond and into the mesh bags, where they grew. Over time, two starfish ate 2,000 developing oysters.

The daily routine includes cleaning algae from filters, moving seed oyster from 3/16" mesh bags to 3/8" mesh and grading the final product. Campbell said he is most proud of water quality improvements over the past 20 years. At that time, septic system overflow proved problematic. The situation was corrected. Today, the pond’s test results are perfect. Campbell said he and fellow growers are proud to announce the origin of their product with labels on every bag of oysters.