Resources Database

After purchasing used shellfish production equipment, it is strongly recommended to thoroughly clean and disinfect the gear prior to use to limit the risk of introducing disease or invasive species. An easy-to-use process is as follows:

If you have been around this business for a while, you’ve probably watched some of the newcomers make the same mistakes you did when you were getting started. ECSGA Executive Director Bob Rheault decided he would try to think of as many of these common pitfalls as he could to help new growers avoid making the same costly blunders. Through the years he has continued to add to the list.

When submitting a LPA application one of the details that can make or break your approval is your mooring system. Understanding and installing moorings that work for the load that aquaculture gear generates is crucial and creating an accurate and readable mooring system design in your application is key for your approval.

There are several ways in which birds interact with shellfish aquaculture. Birds can cause significant damage to crops through predation. Some birds fall into the category of protected resources and farmers have been variously accused of interfering with foraging, (either attracting or disturbing or both) and interfering with hunting. Birds can be attracted to aquaculture structures for roosting or foraging and their guano can impact water quality and trigger the need for growers to develop management plans under the National Shellfish Sanitation Plan.

This non-profit organization helps export Northeast food and agricultural products overseas since 1973. They provides a wide range of services to facilitate trade between local food suppliers and importers around the world including: export education, self-paced training & expert advice, customized export assistance, new market analysis, international marketing &branding, facilitate meetings with international buyers, and a cost-share funding program.

The report provides information on commercially relevant aspects of oyster production gear associated with each equipment type employed including, BST™ Crosshatch, BST™ Longline, OysterGro, Rack and Bag, & Seapa™. They tracked oyster survival, growth by season, shell morphology, worm presence, and cost estimates.

Oyster aquaculture, like any agriculture operation, has inherent risks with perils beyond growers’ control. However, coastal waters present challenges for oyster farmers in the form of tropical storms and hurricanes.

Developed to help growers tap into selling to the foodservice market. Most small growers don’t have an advertising budget, but there are a number of marketing and public relations strategies that can be used to grow sales.

An overview of oyster production techniques including nursery and husbandry, common gear used, and oyster biology.

Reviews quality, consistency, cleanliness, food safety, shape, flavor, year-round availability, timely shipping, attractive packaging and a nice name.

Reviews tide–flipped bags or baskets ability to produce a more attractive and commercially valuable Eastern oyster for the half–shell market. Found that flip-bag oysters grow slower but had a wider fan, deeper cup, heavier shell, yielded more meat, were less fouled, and required less labor to maintain.

Reviews the keys to running a successful business; the four P's of marketing, wholesale distributors, risks, and sales.

Video of a workshop that goes over niche marketing for raw bar cultured oysters, differentiating your product on qualities and adapting your marketing pitch, how to target key buyers and get maximum return.

A study compared how oysters grew in floating cages versus bottom cages that determined that generally oysters grew faster and survival and condition index were higher in floating gear.

In depth document created to provide the information and a framework that will enable a shellfish farmer to write a comprehensive Best Management Practices document focusing on gear/operation and maintenance, user conflicts, permitting/siting, and environmental concerns.

Discusses what marketing is and why it is important including developing a marketing plan, market outlets, and personalizing the products and the business.

Use this to create your own farm-specific Best Management Practices (BMP) document use this template, a Microsoft Excel file in macro format.

The intent of the Lentz system is to grow a superior quality oyster while utilizing less labor that will enable significant operation cost reduction and this presentation describes a large trial grow out study of this system.

Reviews business management skills, such as finance, record keeping, marketing, and personnel management. More aquaculture businesses fail because of poor management than poor production practices.