Southold Bay Oysters began as a small hobby when Ben and his husband Dave joined the Cornell Cooperative Extension's Suffolk Project in Aquaculture Training (SPAT) to learn how to grow oysters. After two years of tending to their floating bags containing hundreds of baby oysters, they enjoyed their first harvest and began shucking their bounty at dinner parties and family events. In hopes of moving into a commercial oyster farm, Ben and Dave applied for a 10-acre aquaculture site through the Suffolk County Aquaculture Lease Program. After completing the application process and obtaining numerous required permits, Southold Bay Oysters began growing their first crop of commercial oysters in 2016. Throughout the first growing season, the greenhorn oystermen attended to their oyster cages using a retrofitted 19' Mako scallop boat named El Pulpo that they purchased from a retired local bayman. Much of the process was figured out along the way with the helpful advice of other local o...
