Aw, Shucks!
By Will Sabel Courtney
Oysters are serious business for William Young.
As if running a six-acre oyster farm alongside his girlfriend, Allison Paine, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, wasnt enough mollusk-related activity, the 42-year-old Young who prefers to go by Chopper also competes in the upper echelon of professional oyster shucking competitions. Last year, he became the first American in 32 years to win the world oyster shucking competition in Ireland.
Im a shucker, Young says in his thick New England accent. Ive been shucking my whole life.
Hes not exaggerating. Born and raised in Maine, Young migrated to Wellfleet at age 15 to learn the sea from his father, a local fisherman. Since then, he estimates hes opened hundreds of thousands of oysters.
In that time, hes become an expert on all manners of oyster farming, as well. After years of catching wild oysters, he opened his first farm in Wellfleet ten years ago; however, he says the water was too deep for the farm to be very successful. He moved to his current location five or six years ago, he says, and been more successful.
While its possible to farm oysters using bottom culture that is, to spread the eggs along the bay floor and let them grow naturally Young uses a more complex method in order to increase his yield. Baby oysters are rooted in cement on circular platforms called hats, and allowed to grow; after they reach an appropriate level of maturity, they are broken off of the hats and, along with their cement foothold, placed into baskets hung from lines. There, they grow to legal size three inches across along their long axis and are placed into trays to await sorting.
Of course, the oysters require a steady supply of water, so all of this is submerged twice a day by the tides. Young, like other oyster farmers, tends to his flock only at low tide.
While his farm isnt as big as some in other parts of the world which can approach 100 acres Young says his oysters, like all Wellfleet oysters, have an ideal taste due to the high levels of fresh water runoff in the area. Too much salt water, and they become briny; but in Wellfleet, they grow sweet and succulent.
Its in tribute to the towns long history with oysters that Wellfleet hosts its annual Oyster Festival every October and it was there Young first professionally demonstrated his oyster shucking skills. After winning the OysterFest shucking contest in 2002 and 2005, he went on to take the National Oyster Shucking Championship in Maryland in 2007 and 2008.
His 2007 victory allowed him to compete and win in the International Oyster Opening Championship in Ireland last year, flawlessly opening 30 oysters in 2 minutes and 47 seconds. Thanks to his 2008 national victory, hes headed back to defend his title in the world championship next month; however, he says he wont be headed back to the nationals again this year, as he needs to stay in Wellfleet and sell his own stock.
We have a lot of oysters, and the markets tight, he says. So far this year, he says hes sold around 6,000 oysters; he hopes to sell another 15-20,000 at this years OysterFest. Not that he seems unhappy to remain in his hometown and support the festival the OysterFest has sponsored him in his competitions, allowing him and his family to travel to and from them. Theyve been really good to me, he says.
You can meet Chopper and Allison at this years Wellfleet Oyster Festival, October 17-18 in Wellfleet, MA: http://www.wellfleetoysterfest.org/
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Oyster Aquacultureby StateMaryland4,542 views
Hey , how much do you sell them for ? thanks
barbenH 4 months ago
trust me, it only starts right up in warm weather, lol.. it has a choke, and it mystifies me! he says it's sexy!
allisonpaine 1 year ago
there are a lot of those in wellfleet. mine is an 84' 1-ton. chop's Chevy starts right up too. runs like a champ.
mrwildman1 2 years ago
nice setup, nice oyster but most of all nice chevy!
ecr125x 2 years ago