On the Shores of Cape Cod, Where the Oyster Is Their World

Flip bags containing oysters in Cape Cod Bay. The bags roll around with the tide, tumbling the oysters and producing a hard, rounded shell.


THE WORLD THROUGH A LENS

On the Shores of Cape Cod, Where the Oyster Is Their World
Pollution, development and overharvesting have greatly diminished America’s natural oyster habitat. Aquaculture and adaptable farmers have changed the game.


Flip bags containing oysters in Cape Cod Bay. The bags roll around with the tide, tumbling the oysters and producing a hard, rounded shell.Credit...


Photographs and Text by Randy Harris
Published Aug. 10, 2020Updated Aug. 12, 2020






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At the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, with travel restrictions in place worldwide, we launched a series — The World Through a Lens — in which photojournalists help transport you, virtually, to some of our planet’s most beautiful and intriguing places. This week, Randy Harris shares a collection of images from the shores of Cape Cod.

When I first met Chris Crobar, he was a half mile from the shore, on the tidal flats that stretch far out into Cape Cod Bay. It was 5 a.m., and I was out for a walk at low tide. From a distance, I saw what looked like little black sails in the water.


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Chris was a spectacle: alone with his boat and table in the middle of the bay — like an artist with his easel, painting a fiery sunrise. He stood there fastidiously scraping the barnacles off his oysters, then tossing them back into the cages where they’ll sit for a couple of years on the floor of the bay.




ImageChris Crobar at work with his boat and table. He has a two-acre farm grant in Cape Cod Bay.




Image
Sizing oysters for the market.


Before the arrival of the Europeans, the native people of Cape Cod, the Nauset tribe, had an abundant supply of oysters. Crassostrea virginica, known as the American oyster (or the eastern, Wellfleet, Atlantic or Virginia oyster), was naturally flush in coastal areas and estuaries, where the rivers meet the sea. Oyster reefs were America’s coral reefs; oysters filtered the water — some adult oysters can filter 50 gallons a day — and fed a range of other sea life.

barnacle, oyster seed, “petite” or “cocktail” oysters, “select” oysters

With oyster knife in hand, Chris scrapes barnacles off an oyster.






Chris buys oyster seed — measuring 15 to 20 millimeters — from Aquacultural Research Corporation.

After obtaining his oyster seeds from A.R.C., Chris initially grows them in mesh bags, using the French rack-and-bag system. Later, the oysters are transferred into metal grow-out cages, where they sit on the bottom of the bay from one-and-a-half to two years — until they reach 2.5 to 3 inches, to be marketed as “petite” or “cocktail” oysters, or 3 inches or more to be marketed as “select” oysters. (He also digs for wild razor clams and quahogs.)
keelhaul
(KEEL-hawl)

verb tr.
1. To haul under the keel of a ship.
2. To rebuke sharply.

Etymology
From Dutch kielhalen, from kiel (keel) + halen (to haul). In the olden times this form of punishment was inflicted in the Dutch and British navies. The punished sailor was tied to a rope looped under the ship and thrown in the water. Then he was dragged along the bottom of the ship to the other side. The result was either severe injuries from brushing against the barnacles on the ship's bottom or death from drowning. Thankfully, in modern times keelhauling is performed only metaphorically


barnacle

音節bar • na • cle
発音bάːrnəkl
[名]
1《貝類》フジツボ目の海産甲殻類の総称（◇フジツボ・エボシガイ）
2しがみついて離れない人［もの］
3《鳥類》カオジロガン（barnacle goose）（◇北欧産）