Page 11 - World Trade Center Delaware - 2019

COULD THE WORLD BE OUR OYSTER?
Delaware aquaculture businesses eager to reach global market
After eight years of work, Delaware Cultured Seafood has just started selling farm-raised oysters to restaurants in Delaware and Pennsylvania and national distributors – and it’s looking to sell in Europe.
World Trade Center Delaware is a great resource to reach
a global marketplace, connecting companies, government agencies, academic institutions and nongovernmental groups.
“We keep getting assurances that reopening trade with the EU is right around the corner, but at this point it doesn’t look good,” said Bob Rheault, executive director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association. “We have been hearing that we are three to six months away for over two years.”
Aquaculture is a new venture for Millsboro-based Delaware Cultured Seafood, but oysters are not. Owner Mark Casey’s great-grandfather harvested wild shellfish in the Inland Bays. Casey has invested $250,000 in the business, which also helps restore the Inland Bays’ ecology and economy, hurt hard by oyster diseases. “Oysters are the best way to remove algae and help the bay regenerate itself,” he said.
He got help, too, as he worked through “hardship, angst and NIMBY resistance.”
State officials had to legalize aquaculture, and they also agreed to act as an intermediary in leasing the subaqueous land from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The University of Delaware’s Sea Grant College Program used two federal grants to develop a brand: “Inland Bays oysters — a southern Delaware delicacy.”
He would like more help in handling workers compensation insurance, which, as a marine business, falls under the jurisdiction of the federal Jones Act.
Casey, who includes his two children and their soon-to-be spouses in the business, is the president of Delaware Cultured Seafood and of the Delaware Aquaculture Association, whose 20 members collectively lease less than 100 acres in Indian River, Rehoboth and Assawoman bays.
Delaware Cultured Seafood leases the maximum five acres, enough for 900,000 oysters. It is selling two brands: Blue Hen, golden with a mild level of salinity; and Delaware Salts, salty with a smooth buttery finish, it says on www.delawareoysters. com. The firm extends its brand by providing support services to other growers, such as seed oysters, culling, tumbling, farm setup and disassembly.
Our family farmers take pride in growing the freshest, highest quality fruits and vegetables Delaware has to offer.
www.DelawareGrown.com
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