Rhode Island Sustainable Aquaculture

or ... why I should have raised oysters instead of chickens during my 'back to the land' phase.

Suppose you could indulge in one of your favorite foods and not only would it be good for you but it would also be good for the environment as well as supporting the continuation of an historic trade and a sustainable foodway?

Until a few days ago I thought chickens (and their eggs) were the closest anyone could come to that idea. But I have since discovered that if you like oysters then there is a much better proposition. This liberating insight occurred to me just as I had finished reading The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell and A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur's Guide to Oyster Eating in North America while my daughter, having just read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life (P.S.)
was looking to by local sustainable foods, and S.D. was lining up a tour of Rhode Island aquaculture sites.

For various reasons aquaculture has gotten a bad name. But like agriculture which includes both the destructive practices of agribusinesses with feedlots, disease, and inhuman working conditions and sustainable, organic farms growing high quality produce for local markets so too does aquaculture range from high density feed pens (mostly foreign) to sustainable, locally run farms.

Oyster aquaculture falls soundly into the latter category. But unlike raising, say free range chickens or beef, oysters don't even need to be feed and they improve local habitat. They spend their lives removing excess nitrogen from the water. Historically, waters all along the coast were remarkable clear (explorers repeatedly, literally, remarked on the clarity). Scientist attribute today's murky waters to increased run off both from unanchored soil and excessive suburban lawn fertilizer (especially from coastal properties) and the absence of the giant oyster reefs that existed all along the seaboard and cleaned millions of pounds of nitrogen per year. Folks are trying to restore the oyster reefs that were decimated over a hundred years ago but in the meantime oysters are mainly grown in floating rows of wire cages that look surprisingly like lobster pots. Not only do these chains of cages clean the water around them but they also provide a safe house for small fish, which in turn feed the bigger fish.

So instead of raising chickens, worrying about where their food came from and what it contained, as well as having to clean the pen and compost the waste and worst of all encounter mice, rats, opossums and weasels I could have grown some adorable little spats (I dare you to watch the video and not say "awww" when you see the baby oysters), set them out in a beautiful coastal bay, rowed out occasionally to check on them (all the while working on my tan) and then harvested the best food ever. (No offense to chicken eggs, which remain an essential part of my daily diet.)