Massachusetts Shellfish Aquaculture Data

One of the questions that we have had trouble answering is 'how large is the oyster business in Massachusetts? Data has been surprisingly hard to find. 

A friend of MOP sent us a newspaper article with data on the industry. The data is from 2008 and it is fair to say that some growers have taken off since then such as Island Creek and Big Rock. There also are some wild caught oysters that don't fall into the aquaculture category. . These figures also may include some other types of shellfish. Our guess- the Mass oyster crop might be $9 million in 2012.

As we think about the industry, we should remember the other related jobs it supports from hatcheries, wholesalers, distributers, and equipment purveyors, etc.