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By the time they are 3-inch harvest size, there are about 800 in a cage. “When we get them, we get them at about ¼ inch, or a little smaller, we’ll put 5,000 seed in a cage. “Oysters are density dependent,” Schwab continues. In Nova Scotia, Canada, it can take almost two years to get to harvest size. growing season, we get a large chunk of our crop being ready in about 10 months. Matt Schwab of Hold Fast Oysters explains the culling process and the hibernation of the oysters: “With the extended N.C. “Some oysters are just slower than others. “It’s genetics, where you got ’em,” Gadow says with a laugh. One batch of seed could take three or four months, another could take three 3 years. The length of time for growing out oysters varies. It’s also used for tracking wild oysters, to see how a certain area is producing.” “If you are leasing, it shows you are hitting your quota. “Whenever you harvest any form of shellfish, you have to fill out trip tickets, which adds a paper trail of harvesting and selling,” Gadow says. “And like having more land, with more water you have to manage it properly to be able to grow.”Īquaculture farmers have to meet a certain quota to retain leases, and the state rules are stringent. “Most oyster farmers have 5 acres of water they lease from the state we have over 63 acres,” he explains. They have close to two million oysters in their waters. The Gadows have a big farm on both sides of Permuda Island. “People have this idyllic view of what we do, that we swim around in the water taking care of oysters, but it is a lot of hard work,” says Evan Gadow of Three Little Spats Oyster Company. The oyster farming industry has a lot of similarities to dirt farming, and a lot of the terminology is similar with seed (1/4 inch or less sized baby oysters) and grow out (raise to maturity) as examples. Any non-licensed fishermen are allowed a bushel of oysters per day for personal use.

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He has noticed while cleaning this summer that the wild oysters seem to be making a strong comeback, and says the season, which runs about October 15 through March 31, looks to be a good one.Īnyone wanting to try their hand at tonging some wild oysters is free to do so. He estimates that so far, the clean-up crew has hand removed more than 224 tons of debris, most of it hidden in the woods of barrier islands. “We’re picking stuff up from Fran and Bertha from back in the late ’90s off these barrier islands,” he says. He says there has never been a cleanup like this before. It hurt the oysters too, but they survived better than the clams.” “I used to have a clam house open, but 80 to 90 percent of our clams died here in New River on account of the storm, because there was so much rain water. “We had 20 to 40 inches of rain here, and the river was closed after Florence,” Huie says. Coastal Federation tried to hire fishermen for the clean-up to help them out following crop losses after Hurricane Florence. Huie has put his oyster tongs aside to work the last year and a half for the state in cleaning up hurricane debris.

They look like a stick of butter in there.” “The outside will be as big as your hand, and inside they look creamy. When the temperature drops, the oysters start to fatten up, Huie says. He noted that last year a bushel out of the boat sold for around $50. “I remember Daddy would catch 50 bushels of oysters a day and would get $1 to $1.25 per bushel in the mid-’60s,” Huie says. Another local oyster house, Grant’s Oyster House in Snead’s Ferry, has been selling them, with a host of other seafood, since 1939. Huie says the good reputation for Stump Sound oysters probably dates back to the 1950s and ’60s, from Davis Oyster House at Tar Landin (now defunct).

I’ve eaten oysters out of Texas, out of Maryland and Virginia, they just can’t compete with these Stump Sound oysters.” I’ll put Stump Sound oysters up against any oysters growing in the United States. “They are a real fat oyster, and they have a unique taste. “It has got to be the salinity of the water and the type of bottom they grow in,” he adds. “It’s because they’re so fat,” says commercial fisherman and lifelong Snead’s Ferry resident Joseph Huie. Is that folklore or is there some truth to it? Oysters grown in Stump Sound are often featured in seafood restaurant menus and have bragging rights for being the tastiest on the Eastern Seaboard. In the famous Stump Sound and waterways beyond, local oyster farmers are contributing to the growing oyster industry in North Carolina.