East Coast Shellfish Growers Association June 2024 Newsletter
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<strong>East</strong> <strong>Coast</strong> <strong>Shellfish</strong> <strong>Growers</strong> <strong>Association</strong><br />
The <strong>East</strong> <strong>Coast</strong> <strong>Shellfish</strong><br />
<strong>Growers</strong> <strong>Association</strong> represents<br />
nearly 2,000 shellfish<br />
farmers from Maine to<br />
Florida and the Gulf states.<br />
These proud stewards of the<br />
marine environment produce<br />
sustainable, farmed shellfish<br />
while providing thousands of<br />
jobs in rural coastal towns.<br />
The ECSGA informs policy<br />
makers and regulators to<br />
protect a way of life.<br />
111 Myrtle St.<br />
New Bedford, MA 02740<br />
admin@ecsga.org<br />
Executive Director<br />
Bob Rheault<br />
(401) 783-3360<br />
bob@ecsga.org<br />
President<br />
Jeff Auger<br />
Vice-President<br />
Chris Matteo<br />
Secretary<br />
Alex Hay<br />
Treasurer<br />
Ben Lloyd<br />
Connecticut ..... .Brian Yarmosh<br />
Delaware ......... .Mark Casey<br />
Florida .........Adrianne Johnson<br />
Gulf <strong>Coast</strong> ........ .Terry Boyd<br />
Maine ............... .Dan Devereaux<br />
Maryland ......... . Tal Petty<br />
Massachusetts ..Mark Begley<br />
New Hampshire . Brian Gennaco<br />
New Jersey ...... .Bill Avery<br />
New York ............Matt Ketcham<br />
N. Carolina . Katherine McGlade<br />
Rhode Island .... . Matt Griffin<br />
South Carolina .Trey McMillian<br />
Virginia ............ .Chad Ballard<br />
Equipment Dealer<br />
Heather Ketcham<br />
<strong>Shellfish</strong> Dealer<br />
Chris Sherman<br />
Ex Officio<br />
Gef Flimlin, Ed Rhodes,<br />
Leslie Sturmer<br />
Editor: Ann Kane Rheault<br />
From the President<br />
Warmer Days Ahead<br />
President<br />
Jeff Auger<br />
Spring has sprung! It’s the<br />
best time of year to be on a<br />
farm, with food in the water<br />
and growth on our shellfish.<br />
Every year I look forward to<br />
the signs we see all up and<br />
down the coast, confirming<br />
that we are heading into the<br />
months of sandals and shorts.<br />
Worm hatches, baitfish in<br />
the water and osprey in the<br />
air are signs that waters are<br />
warming and the growing<br />
season will soon begin.<br />
Unfortunately, ocean temperatures continue on<br />
their upward climb over historical levels and warmer<br />
waters are now the new normal. Working on the<br />
water and being so connected to our ecosystems<br />
gives us a first-hand look at how those ecosystems<br />
have been changing. In Maine we are seeing black<br />
sea bass in the river and blue crabs on the flats. It<br />
also looks as if we are headed for a warmer summer<br />
in <strong>2024</strong>: NOAA just released their official summer<br />
forecast (July, August and September) predicting<br />
above-average temperatures for the Northeast.<br />
Hot summers are great for vacations, but they can<br />
have adverse effects on shellfish farms. I want to<br />
Birds on Gear Still a Pressing Issue<br />
by Robert Rheault,<br />
ECSGA Executive Director<br />
Over the past 20 years we have<br />
seen a proliferation of floating<br />
gear types for oyster culture.<br />
With its clear advantages in<br />
terms of better shellfish survival,<br />
improved product quality and<br />
ease of maintenance, floating<br />
gear is a game-changer.<br />
The downside is that birds like<br />
to perch on the gear, and when<br />
they fly off they invariably leave<br />
a little something behind. In<br />
2015 authorities in New York<br />
took water samples around<br />
floating gear deployed next to a<br />
bird sanctuary and found eyepopping<br />
coliform levels, forcing<br />
them to close the harvest area.<br />
When the Interstate <strong>Shellfish</strong><br />
Sanitation Conference (ISSC)<br />
revised the Aquaculture Chapter<br />
of the National <strong>Shellfish</strong><br />
Sanitation Program (NSSP)<br />
in 2019, the Food and Drug<br />
Administration (FDA) insisted<br />
on addressing the issue. The new<br />
NSSP language mandates that<br />
if your gear may attract birds<br />
or mammals, you must have an<br />
operational plan describing the<br />
measures you will use to deter<br />
them, so that water quality and<br />
shellfish sanitation are protected.<br />
In 2021 eight oyster consumers<br />
in Rhode Island ended up in the<br />
hospital with Campylobacter<br />
illnesses traced to cormorants on<br />
floating gear. This really caught<br />
the attention of regulators!<br />
States reacted in a variety of<br />
ways, and growers scrambled to<br />
try anything that might deter the<br />
birds from landing on their gear.<br />
Naturally, some approaches<br />
are more effective than others,<br />
and birds tend to acclimate to<br />
various tactics so growers are<br />
forced to mix it up and usually<br />
need a number of tools in their<br />
deterrence toolboxes. The aquaculture<br />
committee of the ISSC<br />
was able to develop guidance<br />
for state regulators, allowing<br />
them to consider growing-area<br />
conditions such as tidal current,<br />
remind all shellfish growers to monitor, follow and<br />
help police their local health and sanitation rules,<br />
especially state Vibrio regulations. Keep your shellfish<br />
cold! Our website has some great information<br />
on Vibrio risks and effects 1 , and also on what you<br />
have to do to ensure you’re sending safe shellfish<br />
into the market.<br />
Warmer temperatures also can lead to stronger<br />
and more intense storms. Currently we are seeing<br />
record-breaking temperatures in the Gulf of Mexico<br />
and the Atlantic, which has led NOAA to predict<br />
an above-average hurricane season for <strong>2024</strong>. We<br />
all have seen the devastating impacts these storms<br />
can have, and the ECSGA has useful guidance to<br />
help growers prepare for hurricanes and storms in<br />
our 2023 Best Practices Manual 2 (and especially for<br />
floating gear 3 ). It’s worth taking a look to refresh<br />
your memory and get ahead of the curve well before<br />
bad weather hits.<br />
I hope you all enjoy the upcoming warm months.<br />
Just remember to keep your product cold, your farm<br />
prepared and your crew hydrated (with water, of<br />
course)!<br />
Hyperlinks<br />
1. ecsga.org/vibrio-resources<br />
2. ecsga.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ECSGA-<br />
BPs.pdf#page=26<br />
3. ecsga.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/ECSGA-<br />
BPs.pdf#page=36<br />
MARTINA MULLER/UNIV. OF R.I.<br />
Floating gear has been a boon to<br />
aquaculture, but birds like to perch<br />
(and poop) on it. To protect water<br />
quality and shellfish sanitation, new<br />
regulatory language mandates that<br />
if your gear may attract birds or<br />
mammals, you need an operational<br />
plan describing the measures you’re<br />
taking to deter them.<br />
seasonal prevalence and re-submergence<br />
to purge oysters that<br />
may have been exposed to bird<br />
guano. This guidance should be<br />
—Continued on page 19<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 1
Member Profile:<br />
Ben Lloyd, Pangea <strong>Shellfish</strong> and<br />
Standish Shore Oysters<br />
by Robert Rheault,<br />
ECSGA Executive Director<br />
It was a treat to catch up with<br />
Ben Lloyd recently and to hear<br />
about how his shellfish dealer<br />
business in Boston’s Seaport<br />
District has been doing. Ben<br />
and I go way back to when he<br />
worked on my farm while he<br />
was a student at the University<br />
of Rhode Island. After graduating<br />
in 1998, Ben left Rhode<br />
Island and started working for a<br />
Boston area seafood wholesaler,<br />
where he learned the ropes of<br />
buying and selling seafood to<br />
area restaurants. He remembers<br />
that at the time, “you could feel<br />
the oyster industry starting to<br />
blossom. More farms were being<br />
permitted and the restaurant<br />
industry was demanding a larger<br />
variety of high-quality oysters.”<br />
In 2001 Ben founded Pangea<br />
<strong>Shellfish</strong> Company, where he<br />
was one of my best customers<br />
for many years until I sold the<br />
farm. He recalls that he saw an<br />
opening to focus on what he<br />
knew best, setting out to become,<br />
“the best Boston-based<br />
shellfish wholesaler [specializing]<br />
in providing high-quality<br />
oysters from all over the U.S.<br />
and Canada. That’s us in a<br />
nutshell.”<br />
Through the years Ben and I<br />
have been able to check in with<br />
each other briefly when I visited<br />
his well-stocked booth at<br />
the Boston Seafood Show. But<br />
with all the distractions at the<br />
shows, we never were able have<br />
in-depth conversations about the<br />
business. That all changed earlier<br />
this year when Ben stepped<br />
up to become the ECSGA’s new<br />
treasurer. His laid-back affect<br />
and cheery disposition belie the<br />
huge number of irons he has<br />
in the fire, so I was pleasantly<br />
surprised that he agreed to take<br />
on the role.<br />
In addition to overseeing the<br />
ever-growing dealer operation<br />
in Boston, Ben has been running<br />
Standish Shore Oysters in<br />
Duxbury, Massachusetts, for the<br />
past 15 years, and is a partner<br />
in Blish Point Oyster Farm in<br />
Barnstable. Managing 32 fulltime<br />
and a dozen part-time employees<br />
while raising three kids<br />
and two Saint Bernards keeps<br />
him busy.<br />
Pangea focuses almost exclusively<br />
on shellfish (with some<br />
urchin and crab thrown in),<br />
and Ben estimates that oysters<br />
account for about 75% of<br />
the business. His approach to<br />
marketing is uniquely effective:<br />
while many dealers simply show<br />
a price list, Ben goes to great<br />
lengths to describe each of the<br />
104 varieties he sells, taking the<br />
time to educate consumers on<br />
“Oysterology ® ,” with elaborate<br />
descriptions of flavor, culture<br />
methods, and even details about<br />
the growers and their stories.<br />
Nevertheless, Ben says he<br />
doesn’t really need to do much<br />
marketing. “After 23 years in the<br />
business, we have developed a<br />
good reputation and now we can<br />
rely mostly on word-of-mouth<br />
references. We display most<br />
years at the Boston Seafood<br />
Show [Seafood Expo North<br />
America], which is a great way<br />
Made in Brunswick, Maine<br />
info@topmeproducts.com<br />
www.topmeproducts.com<br />
KATHY RHODES/AQUATECNICS<br />
ECSGA Treasurer and Pangea<br />
<strong>Shellfish</strong> owner Ben Lloyd (R) and<br />
account manager Charlie Canty<br />
preside over an impressive display<br />
of shellfish at the Seafood Expo<br />
North America held in Boston in<br />
March. Pangea’s marketing approach<br />
relies on educating consumers<br />
about “Oysterology,” with detailed<br />
descriptions of flavor, culture<br />
methods and growers’ stories.<br />
to reach a larger market. We are<br />
also on social media, but admittedly,<br />
we are usually too busy to<br />
keep up with it,” he said.<br />
For Ben, the best part of the<br />
job is dealing with great people.<br />
“<strong>Shellfish</strong> growers tend to be<br />
very humble and down to earth.<br />
I think growing oysters can do<br />
that to you!” He can’t imagine<br />
himself working in a different<br />
industry, and points out that,<br />
“growers have to work with<br />
Mother Nature and she is always<br />
giving them challenges. Storms,<br />
rainfall closures, ice and heat are<br />
always throwing wrenches in<br />
the supply chain, so matching<br />
supply and demand is a constant<br />
balancing act.”<br />
Ben was one of the early adopters<br />
in building a wet-storage<br />
system to help modulate supply<br />
and demand. He noted that wet<br />
storage is key to keeping mussels<br />
and West <strong>Coast</strong> oysters in<br />
prime condition for customers.<br />
Although he says that Pangea’s<br />
prime mission is to “keep fighting<br />
the battle each day to provide<br />
the best oysters in Boston,”<br />
the team works constantly to<br />
expand the variety of products<br />
on offer to keep things fresh for<br />
customers. “Our motto is: The<br />
oyster is our World, and we are<br />
always looking for new highquality<br />
oysters and shellfish,”<br />
Ben said.<br />
—Continued on page 6<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 2 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 3
Platipus driven-plate<br />
anchors are being<br />
used more and more<br />
with floating gear.<br />
New Product Spotlight:<br />
Platipus Anchors<br />
by Robert Rheault,<br />
ECSGA Executive Director<br />
Since so many growers are<br />
singing the praises of Platipus<br />
anchors, I thought we should<br />
help spread the word. The Platipus<br />
is a small, percussive-driven,<br />
tipping-plate, earth-anchor<br />
system that has been gaining in<br />
popularity with growers who use<br />
floating gear. Applying Platipus<br />
anchors to floating oyster gear<br />
was pioneered by Frank Milchuck,<br />
who founded Platipus<br />
Anchors in 2003 in Raleigh,<br />
North Carolina. He started out<br />
installing anchors to stabilize<br />
retaining walls, trees and slopes<br />
prone to landslides, and then<br />
pivoted to manufacturing and<br />
sales. His crew of 25 employees<br />
manufactures anchor assemblies<br />
that are tailored to each customer’s<br />
needs, so you can order from<br />
a wide variety of anchor sizes<br />
and stainless-steel lead lengths<br />
that will work for your site.<br />
The anchors are relatively easy<br />
to install using a small, fourstroke,<br />
portable pile driver or<br />
standard hydraulic or pneumatic<br />
jack hammer to drive the unit<br />
into the sand/shell layer. Frank<br />
recommends driving the anchors<br />
at least 5-8 feet into the hard,<br />
compacted sand/shell layer that<br />
is typically covered by a layer<br />
of thin, soft mud. The key to<br />
proper installation is anchoring<br />
your boat or barge with multiple<br />
anchors (or spuds) so you can<br />
remain stationary and drive<br />
the anchor in vertically. As the<br />
anchor is driven into the bottom,<br />
the operator adds sections of<br />
2- to 4-foot drive rods to extend<br />
DAVE RYAN/CAPE COD OYSTER<br />
Dave Ryan of Cape Cod Oyster<br />
Company uses around 60 Platipus<br />
anchors to hold a 4,600-unit Flip<br />
Farm array on his 2-acre lease in<br />
Waquoit Bay on Cape Cod. He was<br />
pleased to see that the anchors held<br />
this past winter, even though he rigs<br />
his lines very tightly and experienced<br />
a number of “insanely high tides”<br />
that dragged several units at each<br />
end of the line underwater.<br />
ANCHORING SOLUTIONS FOR OYSTER FARMING<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
FLOATING BAG & CAGE SYSTEMS<br />
WHY USE PLATIPUS ANCHORS:<br />
• Fast and easily installed from a boat or shallow water<br />
• Can be installed using hand-held tools<br />
• Once installed the anchor is post-tensioned and immediately serviceable<br />
• On-site technical and installation support as needed<br />
• Anchor assemblies made in Raleigh, NC USA<br />
Page 4 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
T: (919) 662-0991 E: CIVILS@PLATIPUS.US<br />
W: WWW.PLATIPUS.US<br />
the depth. Frank says the system<br />
can be used to drive anchors in<br />
waters up to 20 feet deep. While<br />
the anchor itself is relatively<br />
small, the holding strength is<br />
determined by the weight of the<br />
cone of sediment above the anchor<br />
that would need to be lifted<br />
to allow the anchor to be pulled<br />
out. Similar to an auger anchor,<br />
you would typically need to<br />
jet the anchor out with a water<br />
pump if you wanted to retrieve<br />
it or reposition it.<br />
The anchors cost between $40<br />
and $100, depending on the size<br />
and the specifications for the<br />
stainless cable attachment “tendon,”<br />
while the four-stroke pile<br />
driver can be purchased for under<br />
$1,000 or even rented if you<br />
only need to install a few. The<br />
chief advantages of the Platipus<br />
system over helix anchors are<br />
the speed and ease of installation.<br />
Of course, each anchor<br />
system requires proper engineering<br />
and installation to be effective,<br />
and several folks I spoke to<br />
emphasized the importance of a<br />
vertical installation.<br />
—Continued on page 8
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 5
—Continued from page 2<br />
Pangea <strong>Shellfish</strong> Co.<br />
His advice for new growers trying to break<br />
into the market: “Don’t get too stuck in<br />
your methods. Things change from year<br />
to year and it’s always good to experiment<br />
with techniques and new gear. Try to have a<br />
consistent supply. It’s tempting to run out of<br />
oysters before winter, but wholesalers need a<br />
year-round supply. Don’t get discouraged by<br />
weak fall sales because the market is flooded<br />
and nobody wants them! Hang on till spring<br />
and markets always recover.” With hundreds<br />
of oyster brands to compete with, Ben maintains<br />
that quality and strong branding are<br />
now more important than ever.<br />
In terms of where the market is headed, Ben<br />
is noticing more and more consolidation of<br />
late. “A lot of people are realizing how much<br />
work goes into growing oysters, and it’s often<br />
a grind. Smaller farms are getting gobbled up<br />
to create larger, more efficient companies.<br />
I think this is inevitable.”<br />
Ben noted that Pangea wouldn’t<br />
be where it is today without<br />
their staff of dedicated employees.<br />
“Many of our crew<br />
have been with us for eightplus<br />
years, and our V.P. Dan<br />
Light has been with us for 21!<br />
The wholesale and farm employees<br />
show up every day, and battle<br />
through the ups and downs and poor<br />
weather. They are the backbone of our business.”<br />
Ben is active in many associations, including<br />
the Massachusetts Aquaculture <strong>Association</strong><br />
and the ECSGA. He also believes<br />
it’s important to become involved in local<br />
politics, especially when farms are located<br />
in small towns. He explained that Pangea<br />
takes part in, “quite a bit of charitable work”<br />
and participates in various fundraisers. The<br />
company’s “Season of Giving”<br />
includes fundraising efforts for<br />
the Massachusetts Aquaculture<br />
<strong>Association</strong> in September,<br />
Breast Cancer Awareness in<br />
October, Feeding America<br />
in November, and Toys for<br />
Tots in December. “It’s been<br />
very successful for us, and our<br />
customers really get behind the<br />
efforts, with some even matching<br />
our contributions!” he said.<br />
In addition to all that charitable work, Ben<br />
has been actively supporting the ECSGA for<br />
decades because, as he says, “This business<br />
is tough, and we all need someone fighting<br />
for our interests. It’s hard to find the time to<br />
do this effectively on your own. The ECSGA<br />
does a great job of polling its members on<br />
their relevant issues and acting on those,<br />
both regionally and nationally. They are a<br />
great partner to have in your corner.”<br />
SCALABLE ALGAE PRODUCTION<br />
With control in the palm of your hand<br />
• Indoor / Outdoor Use<br />
• Microalgae and Macroalgae<br />
• Simple, Modular Assembly<br />
• Remote Wi-Fi Control for pH,<br />
Temperature, and LED’s<br />
• High Productivity<br />
• Cost Effective Solution<br />
www.purebiomass.org<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 6 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
New Product Spotlight:<br />
Ketcham Supply Partners<br />
with Saeplast and<br />
Aqua Production Systems<br />
by Ann Kane Rheault,<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Editor<br />
When Bob Ketcham founded Ketcham<br />
Traps back in 1975, the business primarily<br />
catered to commercial lobstermen and fishermen,<br />
selling the first wire-mesh traps, rope<br />
and wire-coated mesh from their factory and<br />
store in New Bedford, Massachusetts.<br />
In 2016 Bob retired and his daughter Heather<br />
decided to purchase the company, “after a<br />
lifetime of heated fisheries talk at the dinner<br />
table.” She is well qualified to run a business<br />
of this size and scope: she earned a Business<br />
Management degree from the University of<br />
Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and pursued<br />
graduate studies at Babson College and the<br />
University of California, Berkeley. Heather<br />
is highly attuned to the needs of the industry<br />
and says that she gets some of her best ideas<br />
from visiting farms and talking to growers.<br />
Since those early days as “a fisherman’s candy<br />
store” the business has changed its name<br />
to Ketcham Supply and added an impressive<br />
array of innovative aquaculture gear to the<br />
mix. It is now a full-service shellfish-aquaculture<br />
gear supplier, selling nearly every<br />
type of equipment growers could possibly<br />
need: floating cages, mesh bags, vinyl-coated<br />
wire, ropes, closures and clips, tools, buoys<br />
and more. And now they’ve added one more<br />
category to their aquaculture repertoire:<br />
insulated coolers and recirculating bins from<br />
Saeplast.<br />
Heather recognized an industry<br />
need for insulated coolers that<br />
make it easier to get oysters<br />
on ice in order to comply with<br />
regulatory and best-practice recommendations<br />
geared towards<br />
preventing Vibrio outbreaks. She<br />
also realized that, “recirculating<br />
bins for wet storage and depuration<br />
are becoming increasingly<br />
important to help growers manage inventory<br />
and sell product when their growing site is<br />
closed.”<br />
To that end, Ketcham Supply has partnered<br />
with Saeplast to distribute their full product<br />
line 1 in the U.S. The new DWS352 recirculating<br />
bin (94-gallon capacity) and its predecessors<br />
the 405 (109-gallon capacity) and 705<br />
(158-gallon capacity) are made of doublewalled,<br />
food-grade polyethylene filled with<br />
polyurethane. The modular design makes for<br />
easy stacking and includes forklift access.<br />
AQUA PRODUCTION SYSTEMS<br />
Aqua Production Systems makes a mobile<br />
recirculation-chiller system that can hold oysters<br />
for up to six months. Their shower decks using<br />
Seaplast DWS352 wet-storage containers can<br />
be stacked up to four high. APS uses exact<br />
calculations of the new-water requirements,<br />
biomass heat transfer, shower-head aeration and<br />
energy-efficient chilling to keep the water at 2°C.<br />
The DWS352 multi-function shellfish wetstorage<br />
system can be stacked four or five<br />
high under a continuous flow of water raining<br />
down from above, providing clean water<br />
and oxygen to the shellfish in all the containers.<br />
These bins have a larger, standard palletsize<br />
footprint of 48" x 48" and come with<br />
lifting handles on each corner. (For more<br />
details on the DWS352 see the article in the<br />
April 2021 newsletter 2 ).<br />
Ketcham Supply is currently working with<br />
Aqua Production Systems, a Canadian<br />
company that designs, manufactures, installs<br />
and maintains live-storage and shower<br />
systems for seafood processing. APS sells<br />
a mobile system for use with the Saeplast<br />
DWS352 wet-storage containers, which it<br />
says can hold oysters “for up to six months<br />
using shower-head aeration and energyefficient<br />
chilling that will keep your water at<br />
2° Celsius.” APS will also custom-design recirculating<br />
systems that can maintain water<br />
temperatures from 0° to 30° C.<br />
The Saeplast connection<br />
Saeplast Americas Inc. is a division of Rotovia,<br />
with headquarters in Dalvik, Iceland,<br />
and a rotomolding manufacturing plant for<br />
—Continued on page 9<br />
Sustainable Oyster Farming Systems<br />
516 US Highway 70 West<br />
Havelock, NC, 28532<br />
tel: 1-888-412-8948<br />
email: sales@submurge.com<br />
www.submurge.com<br />
SAEPLAST<br />
False-bottom grids in the Saeplast<br />
bins allow mud and dirt to wash<br />
away from shellfish, and securely<br />
lock into place along all four sides<br />
to ensure animals don’t fall through<br />
into the muck.<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 7
—Continued from page 4<br />
Platipus Anchors<br />
Bubba Frisbee, who runs the<br />
floating-farm operation for<br />
Cherrystone Aquafarms, has<br />
installed hundreds of these anchors<br />
to secure their thousands<br />
of floating cages off the <strong>East</strong>ern<br />
Shore of Virginia. He says that<br />
on a good day he can plant 30-<br />
40 Platipus anchors. He drives<br />
them into the sand/shell layer<br />
until they won’t go any further.<br />
Bubba estimates that he has engineered<br />
his system to withstand<br />
a Category 3 hurricane.<br />
Dave Ryan, President of Cape<br />
Cod Oyster Company, recently<br />
installed about 60 Platipus<br />
anchors to hold a 4,600-unit Flip<br />
Farm array on his 2-acre lease<br />
in Waquoit Bay on Cape Cod,<br />
Massachusetts, but expects that<br />
number to reach 5,000 soon. He<br />
was very pleased to see that the<br />
anchors held this past winter,<br />
even though he rigs his lines<br />
very tightly and experienced a<br />
number of “insanely high tides”<br />
that dragged several units at<br />
each end of the line underwater.<br />
He dove on them in mid-May<br />
and reported that, “they look<br />
brand new after a year in the<br />
water.”<br />
Frank says he enjoys working<br />
with shellfish growers because<br />
he loves a new challenge and<br />
every farm he works with is<br />
unique. I have seen him at<br />
several trade shows and there is<br />
always a line of folks looking at<br />
his gear and asking him questions<br />
about it. He enjoys talking<br />
to people about his products, but<br />
laments that he can never find<br />
enough help to run his shop,<br />
which makes it harder to keep<br />
up with demand.<br />
Platipus is currently working<br />
with industry leaders to gather<br />
more information that will help<br />
the company determine how<br />
much capacity is required to<br />
hold the floating gear in place.<br />
These real-world studies include<br />
measuring the tension on the<br />
lines of gear in various conditions<br />
and locations. Using this<br />
data, Platipus will be able to<br />
provide the necessary anchors<br />
with an even higher level of confidence<br />
in their performance.<br />
For more information on<br />
Platipus anchors visit platipus.<br />
us/industry-sectors/otherapplications<br />
or email the<br />
company at info@platipus.us<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 8 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
—Continued from page 7<br />
Ketcham, Saeplast, Aqua<br />
Production Systems<br />
the Americas in Saint John,<br />
New Brunswick, on Canada’s<br />
<strong>East</strong> <strong>Coast</strong>. Saeplast has been<br />
around since 1984 and now has<br />
more than 800 employees working<br />
at 14 operations all over the<br />
world. Mark Crandall, Saeplast’s<br />
sales manager for the North<br />
American territory, explained<br />
that the company is “the market<br />
leader in rotationally molded<br />
plastic products, specializing in<br />
cold-chain and on-board handling<br />
processes for all species of<br />
seafood.”<br />
Mark said he was excited about<br />
Saeplast’s new initiative focusing<br />
on recycling and environmental<br />
sustainability while honoring its<br />
commitment to improving seafood<br />
quality. “We currently are<br />
the only ones who sell a triplewalled,<br />
100% recyclable polyethylene<br />
container using closedcell<br />
technology. Like our other<br />
products, the box is durable,<br />
food-safe and easy to clean and<br />
repair.” Mark said that Saeplast<br />
is “discovering and implementing<br />
a huge swing from PUR<br />
[polyurethane] to PE [polyethylene]<br />
throughout the industry,<br />
in keeping with our mission of<br />
quality and sustainability over<br />
and over again.”<br />
He recognizes that the biggest<br />
challenge in the vast North<br />
American market has been a<br />
reluctance for some industry<br />
members to come around to<br />
new and better ways of doing<br />
things. Mark said it can be a<br />
struggle to overcome the attitude<br />
that, “my grandfather did<br />
it this way, his father and mine<br />
did it this way, so this is how it<br />
is done.” Nevertheless, he has<br />
seen a large movement “starting<br />
with the farmers and fishermen,<br />
where they are looking to<br />
improve catches and yields and<br />
lower mortalities. We’ve never<br />
had as much access to education<br />
and information as we do now<br />
and folks realize we have some<br />
of the greatest product in the<br />
industry and [we] need to start<br />
showing that to the rest of the<br />
world.”<br />
Mark noted that ECSGA members<br />
are Saeplast’s target demographic<br />
for the DWS352 wetstorage<br />
container, and provide a<br />
major source of information on<br />
industry processes and needs.<br />
“Along with Ketcham Supply<br />
KETCHAM SUPPLY<br />
Ketcham offers the full Saeplast<br />
product line, including the 405<br />
and 705 nesting recirculating bins,<br />
constructed of double-walled,<br />
food-grade polyethylene filled with<br />
polyurethane.<br />
and a couple of other partners,<br />
we’ve secured access to everything<br />
bivalve. The ECSGA is so<br />
big and has access to so many<br />
regions, farmers, processes and<br />
different bodies of water that<br />
we are working with folks and<br />
learning more every day,” he<br />
concluded.<br />
Aqua Production Systems<br />
Aqua Production Systems has<br />
been in business for 12 years,<br />
with operations in two Canadian<br />
locations, New Glasgow and<br />
Woods Harbour, Nova Scotia.<br />
According to APS Chief Operating<br />
Officer Wayne Carter, the<br />
company's 10 employees and<br />
three contractors play an active<br />
role in helping to maintain<br />
customers’ systems long after<br />
installation. He explained that<br />
APS provides its customers with<br />
“daily checklists specific to each<br />
system, allowing for spot checks<br />
on vital information to ensure<br />
the systems are running correctly.”<br />
The time needed to go through<br />
the checklist depends on the<br />
installation, but takes an average<br />
of 45 minutes a day. “When<br />
shared with APS personnel<br />
weekly, this information allows<br />
for a comprehensive review and<br />
confirmation that vital equipment<br />
is operating as it should,”<br />
Wayne noted.<br />
APS takes full advantage of<br />
advances in automation technology<br />
to “address one of the<br />
—Continued on page 11<br />
Mark Winowich<br />
(206) 962-0437<br />
Freshtag®<br />
The sign of freshness®<br />
Temperature Monitoring Made Simple<br />
Sept. 6, 2023<br />
Freshtag® by Vitsab announces IAFP Food<br />
Safety Innovation Award for proprietary<br />
Time Temperature Indicator (TTI) labels<br />
Sept. 18, 2023<br />
Vitsab International, the creators of<br />
Freshtag® temperature monitoring<br />
technology, celebrate 33 years in business<br />
For Perishable<br />
Catering Products<br />
Validates Caviar<br />
Freshness and Quality<br />
Cold Chain Monitoring<br />
For Shellstock<br />
eCommerce<br />
Retail<br />
Engineered to C-bot Toxin<br />
for ROP/MAP<br />
ROP/MAP<br />
Seafood<br />
mark.winowich<br />
@vitsab.com<br />
• Meets Food Safety Regulation • Builds Consumer Confidence<br />
• Reduces Shrink and Food Waste • Strengthens Customer Loyalty<br />
Sept. 8, 2023<br />
How Vitsab by Freshtag® is replacing<br />
outdated best-by food safety systems<br />
with its temperature monitoring labels<br />
2023 Food Safety Innovation<br />
Award Recipient<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 9
Seafood Traceability<br />
Summit Takeaways<br />
by Robert Rheault,<br />
ECSGA Executive Director<br />
I spent the day on May 3 remotely attending<br />
the Seafood Traceability Summit sponsored<br />
by Virginia Tech so you didn’t have to. Following<br />
are some notes I took on the trends,<br />
innovations and challenges that lie ahead.<br />
Molluscan shellfish regulated under the National<br />
<strong>Shellfish</strong> Sanitation Program (NSSP)<br />
are currently exempted from the traceability<br />
requirements of the Food Safety Modernization<br />
Act 1 (FSMA), but you may soon find<br />
your buyers demanding that you adopt all<br />
the tagging requirements of the rule if you<br />
want to sell to them. So from a practical<br />
standpoint, you should talk to your buyers<br />
now to see what they will want from you.<br />
Samuels Seafood Company<br />
Joe Lasprogata, Vice President of Samuels<br />
Seafood Company, kicked off the summit<br />
using his company as a case study in why<br />
traceabilty software systems are needed in<br />
our industry. Although the main facility is<br />
headquartered in Philadelphia, Samuels<br />
also has satellite locations in Miami and<br />
Las Vegas. They have over 500 employees<br />
and put 100 trucks on the road every day.<br />
Samuels offers 5,000 products, and 250 of<br />
them are perishable, fresh fish and shellfish.<br />
Most of their products are farmed, and they<br />
cut fish to order for each customer. Roughly<br />
40 fish cutters are on the job every day, and<br />
a customer might be receiving fish from<br />
several different batches on any given day.<br />
Every night they unload products from about<br />
20 trucks dropping off seafood from all over<br />
the country; the daily receiving log is several<br />
pages long.<br />
In 2017 Samuels sold 27 million oysters,<br />
and they usually have 30-50 varieties of<br />
oysters in the shellfish cooler. As you can<br />
imagine, Joe has had to deal with plenty of<br />
recalls in his time. Before Samuels began<br />
using traceability software, the recalls were<br />
a total nightmare, but all that has changed.<br />
For example, a few months ago Joe was<br />
notified that a 500-pound load of mussels<br />
that he had purchased two weeks prior had<br />
been recalled, and every customer had to be<br />
notified. He had purchased 2,000 pounds<br />
of mussels from three different vendors that<br />
day, and they had been sent out to well over<br />
100 different customers. Before the traceability<br />
software, manually figuring out who got<br />
which mussels might have taken him all day.<br />
But because he now uses BlueTrace tagging<br />
and inventory software, it took him about 10<br />
minutes to identify and notify the 50 or so<br />
customers who had purchased mussels from<br />
that specific lot.<br />
Joe talked about many of the reasons he<br />
needs sophisticated traceability and inventory-management<br />
software to maintain his<br />
sanity. Bar code or QR code scanners greatly<br />
facilitate the creation of receiving and shipping<br />
logs. This significantly reduces data-entry<br />
labor costs and eliminates concerns about<br />
illegible handwriting or language barriers at<br />
the receiving dock. The software also helps<br />
with inventory management, ensuring that<br />
the first product in is the first product sold.<br />
Since all perishable products lose value over<br />
time, anything dealers can do to speed delivery<br />
is a money saver.<br />
Facilitating product recalls is an obvious<br />
benefit, but Joe also appreciates the potential<br />
to reduce the scope (breadth) of recalls.<br />
Traceback speed and accuracy should get<br />
better in the future, which could reduce illnesses<br />
as well as eliminate the cases where a<br />
product is falsely implicated in an illness.<br />
FDA CORE Network<br />
Adam Friedlander is a policy<br />
analyst in the Food and Drug<br />
Administration’s (FDA’s) Office<br />
of Coordinated Outbreak Response<br />
and Evaluation (CORE)<br />
Network who interacts with<br />
a variety of stakeholders on<br />
the requirements of the FDA<br />
Food Traceability Rule. Adam<br />
described how Rule 204 of the<br />
Food Safety Modernization Act<br />
(FSMA) is being implemented.<br />
The FDA has designated a Food<br />
Traceability List 2 of dairy, fruit,<br />
vegetable and seafood products<br />
considered “high-risk foods,”<br />
and anyone distributing foods<br />
on this list will be required to<br />
implement new traceability<br />
procedures starting in January<br />
2026, although they probably<br />
won’t become elements of routine<br />
inspections until 2027.<br />
Even though molluscan shellfish<br />
are currently exempt from the<br />
traceability requirements, Adam<br />
expects that most customers will<br />
demand that shellfish producers<br />
and dealers adopt the requirements<br />
well before then. He suggested<br />
that anyone with questions<br />
could check the 179-page<br />
—Continued on page 13<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 10 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
Samuel W. (Billy)<br />
Plauché<br />
billy@plauchecarr.com<br />
Megan Terrell<br />
megan@plauchecarr.com<br />
plauchecarr.com<br />
Advocates and Counselors<br />
Representing <strong>Shellfish</strong><br />
<strong>Growers</strong> Since 1999<br />
Gulf <strong>Coast</strong><br />
Office<br />
225.256.4028<br />
Pacific<br />
Northwest<br />
Office<br />
206.588.4188<br />
—Continued from page 9<br />
Ketcham, Saeplast, Aqua Production<br />
Systems<br />
industry’s pain points: filtration.” Wayne<br />
explained that they start by “designing a<br />
filtration system with media equipped to<br />
do the job, reducing the need for media<br />
changes to…only once every five to seven<br />
years. Daily maintenance is automated, with<br />
backwash cycles performed at<br />
the intervals necessary to maintain<br />
water cleanliness.” Each<br />
installed system also automatically<br />
transmits information on<br />
equipment operation and water<br />
quality back to the company.<br />
Wayne explained that APS<br />
joined the ECSGA as an equipment<br />
supplier because the<br />
company’s work promoting industry<br />
best practices and sharing<br />
knowledge is in keeping with the<br />
mission of the ECSGA. They<br />
plan to continue growing their<br />
business “with a strong focus<br />
on technology and innovation,”<br />
while facing the challenges of<br />
gaining access to all the markets<br />
that could benefit from their<br />
products and expertise. Wayne<br />
added that the best part of his<br />
job is “watching our customers<br />
thrive with us. The worst part<br />
is watching potential customers<br />
struggle with dead loss when<br />
there is no need for it.”<br />
Hyperlinks<br />
1. ketchamsupply.<br />
com/<strong>2024</strong>/04/30/new-productlaunch-seaplast-recirculatingboxes-for-wet-storage-and-depuration<br />
2. ecsga.org/wp-content/up-<br />
loads/2021/03/ECSGA_NL_v2-<br />
21.pdf#page=14<br />
Prop 65 Could<br />
Bankrupt You!<br />
If you ship product to<br />
California and don't label it<br />
with a Proposition 65 warning,<br />
you could be ruined by<br />
predatory lawyers. They<br />
have sued several firms<br />
over regulations that set<br />
very low tolerances for<br />
hundreds of chemicals and<br />
metals present in products<br />
sold in the state. Oysters<br />
could easily exceed allowable<br />
lead and cadmium levels.<br />
For more details visit:<br />
ecsga.org/wp-content/<br />
uploads/2021/07/ECSGA_<br />
NL_v3-21.pdf#page=8<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 11
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 12 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
—Continued from page 10<br />
Traceability<br />
final rule 3 published in the Federal Register,<br />
or better yet, search for more digestible summaries<br />
on the web.<br />
The rules are extensive, and at first glance<br />
they appear quite daunting. In reality, almost<br />
all of the larger operations are already doing<br />
most of what is specified. Everyone in the<br />
value chain will be required to record Critical<br />
Tracking Events (CTEs), and Key Data<br />
Elements (KDEs). CTEs include steps such<br />
as harvesting, packing, shipping, product<br />
transformation, comingling and repackaging.<br />
Each CTE has one or more KDEs that must<br />
be recorded, such as lot code, location, date,<br />
temperature, and records like invoices and<br />
bills of lading.<br />
One of the new requirements that many will<br />
have to get used to is that the “first landbased<br />
receiver” must establish a “lot code”<br />
that will identify the product source, description<br />
and harvest date, and will follow the<br />
product from the first dealer to the end user.<br />
Adam reiterated that shellfish regulated<br />
under the NSSP are exempt from the rule,<br />
but he acknowledged that many buyers will<br />
start to require lot codes and scannable tags<br />
to facilitate their receiving and inventory<br />
management. Once they have to implement<br />
the Rule for other foods, they will probably<br />
want to do it across the board.<br />
The rest of the seminar featured presentations<br />
from a variety of software and hardware<br />
purveyors. We heard from BlueTrace,<br />
Trace Register, Innova, Wholechain and<br />
HeavyConnect. Each firm has its own pricing<br />
scheme. For example, while Trace Register<br />
charges a fee based on the weight of the<br />
product you ship, BlueTrace charges growers<br />
a flat fee for printers and tags, but has a different<br />
pricing structure for dealers who need<br />
scanners and inventory management features.<br />
Many companies using these software<br />
solutions use smartphones for scanning and<br />
data entry.<br />
Athough some seafood buyers require that<br />
sellers use specific software (with proprietary<br />
tagging and coding), there is a lot of pressure<br />
across the industry for interoperability,<br />
so that each system can understand other<br />
systems’ tags and codes. Most of these programs<br />
are integrated with billing, and may<br />
help in the recovery of lost product.<br />
Benefits<br />
I think that growers could also see benefits<br />
from traceability requirements. The FSMA<br />
Rule requires the first receiver to establish a<br />
lot code, but for growers who are also dealers,<br />
it makes sense for them to take care of<br />
this step. QR codes on the tags will allow<br />
the grower to convey to the customer the<br />
story about how the product was produced.<br />
—Continued on page 17<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 13
Sorry, But <strong>Shellfish</strong> Will<br />
Not Fix Climate Change<br />
by Robert Rheault,<br />
ECSGA Executive Director<br />
I wish it were true, but unfortunately, shellfish<br />
are not a carbon sink. We can make<br />
a lot of great claims about the benefits of<br />
shellfish, but the scientific evidence does<br />
not support the conclusion that shellfish are<br />
reducing atmospheric carbon dioxide. It is<br />
true that pound for pound, shellfish farming<br />
has an extremely low greenhouse gas<br />
footprint. It is also true that shellfish remove<br />
nitrogen and phosphate from sensitive eutrophic<br />
coastal estuaries and that shellfish farms<br />
provide habitat for juvenile fish and enhance<br />
fish survival and production. We can probably<br />
also make claims about wave energy<br />
mitigation and reduction in coastal erosion,<br />
HAMPTON HISTORY MUSEUM<br />
This circa 1900 photo shows the massive shell pile<br />
at the J.S. Darling & Son oyster packing plant that<br />
loomed as high as six stories over the waterfront<br />
in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Although the carbon<br />
in shell can be sequestered for up to tens of<br />
thousands of years, to be considered a carbon sink<br />
you would need to remove more carbon than it<br />
took to make the shell, so it’s not a carbon sink.<br />
and certainly we can tout the great taste and<br />
nutritional benefits of bivalves.<br />
However, we should not be making the claim<br />
that shellfish farming is going to fix climate<br />
change. Max Zavell, a fisheries postdoctoral<br />
fellow at the School for Marine Science and<br />
Technology at the University of Massachusetts<br />
Dartmouth, published a paper 1 last fall<br />
with Odd Lindahl, Ramon Filgueira and<br />
Sandy Shumway looking at this question.<br />
He also held a session on the subject at the<br />
National <strong>Shellfish</strong>eries <strong>Association</strong> meeting<br />
in March.<br />
The chemistry gets a little wonky so hold on<br />
tight. First, I should explain the difference<br />
between a “carbon sink” and “sequestering<br />
carbon.” A carbon sink refers to the process<br />
that removes CO2 from the atmosphere and<br />
ties it up in another form, preferably for<br />
hundreds or thousands of years. Plants take<br />
up carbon and turn it into carbohydrates, but<br />
that carbon is usually released in short order<br />
when the plant is eaten or decays.<br />
—Continued on page 17<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 14 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
CDC Improves Its<br />
Website<br />
by Robert Rheault,<br />
ECSGA Executive Director<br />
It seems as if every few years we<br />
see an explosion of news articles<br />
about flesh-eating bacteria, a<br />
sensational topic that is irresistible<br />
to members of the media.<br />
Invariably these incidents result<br />
from Vibrio vulnificus illnesses<br />
caused by wound infections<br />
contracted while swimming in<br />
warm, brackish water. V. vulnificus<br />
infections are incredibly<br />
rare (156 total cases reported in<br />
2019) and only 10% are associated<br />
with eating seafood. But<br />
notably, V. vulnificus infections<br />
have a 20% mortality rate in<br />
immune-compromised patients.<br />
The go-to source for reporters<br />
looking for information about<br />
flesh-eating bacteria is the Centers<br />
for Disease Control and Prevention<br />
(CDC) website where,<br />
until recently, visitors saw that<br />
an estimated 80,000 vibriosis<br />
cases occur each year, and that<br />
oysters are commonly implicated.<br />
The fact that only 15 or so of<br />
the extremely rare V. vulnificus<br />
cases are linked to oysters got<br />
lost in the confusing language<br />
that made it hard to distinguish<br />
the generic term “vibriosis”<br />
from V. vulnificus infections,<br />
so just about every media story<br />
on flesh-eating bacteria showed<br />
pictures of oysters and cited<br />
“80,000 cases a year.”<br />
When three people died of V.<br />
vulnificus wound infections in<br />
the summer of 2023 after swimming<br />
in Long Island Sound, I<br />
counted more than 47 breathless<br />
news reports and watched in<br />
horror as oyster markets in New<br />
York evaporated. I arranged a<br />
meeting with CDC press relations<br />
folks requesting substantive<br />
changes to their website to clarify<br />
the rarity of the disease and to<br />
emphasize that the overwhelming<br />
majority of V. vulnificus<br />
cases are wound-related. They<br />
rejected our suggested edits. On<br />
our Walk the Hill trip to D.C. in<br />
March we brought up the issue<br />
with our congressional colleagues,<br />
and later began working<br />
on a letter that representatives<br />
could send to the CDC urging<br />
the agency to make changes to<br />
its website.<br />
To its credit, in recent months<br />
the CDC has overhauled its<br />
Vibrio pages and they are now<br />
much clearer and easier to<br />
understand. I’d like to think that<br />
all our hard work advocating<br />
for changes to the website paid<br />
off, but who knows? Maybe the<br />
revamp had been in the works<br />
for some time. In any event, the<br />
improvements are noticeable.<br />
For example, on the About<br />
Vibrio 1 page, key points are<br />
highlighted right off the bat:<br />
• Vibrio are bacteria that naturally<br />
live in coastal waters.<br />
• About a dozen kinds of<br />
Vibrio can cause people to get an<br />
infection called vibriosis.<br />
• People can get vibriosis after<br />
swallowing Vibrio or getting it in<br />
a wound.<br />
• Vibrio infection can be serious.<br />
Know when to seek medical<br />
care.<br />
In addition to the simplified Vibrio<br />
presentations for members<br />
of the public and the media, the<br />
National Outbreak Reporting<br />
System (NORS) infection and<br />
outbreak data are now accessible<br />
online in the NORS Dashboard 2<br />
and can be downloaded to a<br />
monster csv file for massaging<br />
with your favorite spreadsheet<br />
application.<br />
—Continued on page 18<br />
CDC/ JANICE H. CARR<br />
Vibrio vulnificus infections<br />
are very rare (156 cases<br />
in 2019) and only 10% are<br />
linked to eating seafood.<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 15
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 16 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
—Continued from page 14<br />
<strong>Shellfish</strong> Won’t Fix<br />
Climate Change<br />
Trees tie up carbon for many<br />
years until they die and rot or<br />
get burned. Many are touting<br />
trees as a carbon sink, but forest<br />
fires may be challenging that<br />
concept.<br />
Sequestration refers to tying up<br />
carbon in another form for long<br />
periods of time. Bivalve shell is<br />
composed of calcium carbonate,<br />
and the carbon in shell can<br />
be sequestered for up to tens of<br />
thousands of years. So why is<br />
shell not a sink? For shell to be<br />
considered a sink you would<br />
need to remove more carbon<br />
than it took to make the shell.<br />
Cement ties up tremendous<br />
amounts of carbon around the<br />
world for long periods of time,<br />
but making cement is extremely<br />
energy-intensive and requires the<br />
burning of immense amounts<br />
of fossil fuels, so cement is not a<br />
carbon sink.<br />
For starters, shellfish liberate<br />
a molecule of CO2 for every<br />
molecule of calcium carbonate<br />
they create. <strong>Shellfish</strong> also use<br />
energy to make shell, and that<br />
requires respiration, which produces<br />
CO2. Some argue that the<br />
CO2 released in respiration is<br />
immediately taken up by algae,<br />
which absorb the CO2 and make<br />
carbohydrates. Depending on<br />
your assumptions, at best the<br />
whole process is a net zero, so<br />
you can’t claim that shellfish are<br />
reducing atmospheric CO2.<br />
Removing shell from the ocean<br />
decreases the alkalinity of the<br />
seawater, which lowers the solubility<br />
of CO2 in seawater. It’s<br />
estimated that roughly a third of<br />
the CO2 produced by burning<br />
fossil fuels has dissolved into the<br />
ocean, but if we lower the alkalinity<br />
of the ocean, it incrementally<br />
pushes that CO2 back into<br />
the atmosphere. I don’t know<br />
what percentage of shell gets returned<br />
to the ocean after we eat<br />
the animals inside, but I suspect<br />
it is a pretty small fraction.<br />
Then there is the question of<br />
scale. Global emissions of CO2<br />
are approximately 37 gigatons<br />
per year. Zavell’s estimates of total<br />
global farmed-shellfish shell<br />
are on the order of 4-7 million<br />
tons produced each year. Using<br />
the higher estimate, and assuming<br />
there is no CO2 produced<br />
in making the shell, the CO2<br />
sequestered in shell represents<br />
only 0.02% of annual emissions.<br />
Doubling global production<br />
would have a negligible impact,<br />
even under an ideal scenario. It<br />
has been argued that if we could<br />
replace 10% of meat consumption<br />
with shellfish, the impact on<br />
carbon emissions would be similar<br />
to pulling 10.8 million cars<br />
off the road (Ray et al. 2019).<br />
I am all for that, but it might<br />
be a hard sell. We have a great<br />
product with a great story to tell,<br />
but let’s not stretch the truth by<br />
making claims that don’t add up.<br />
Notes<br />
1. An Estimate of Carbon Storage<br />
Capabilities from Wild and<br />
Cultured <strong>Shellfish</strong> in the Northwest<br />
Atlantic and Their Potential<br />
Inclusion in a Carbon Economy.<br />
Zavell et al. <strong>2024</strong>, Journal of<br />
<strong>Shellfish</strong> Research<br />
doi.org/10.2983/035.042.0214<br />
—Continued from page 13<br />
Traceability<br />
We have great stories to tell and<br />
there is solid evidence that this<br />
increases the value of the product.<br />
Traceability will also cut<br />
down on fraud and trademark<br />
abuse, which will go a long way<br />
toward improving customer<br />
trust.<br />
Challenges<br />
Some hardships and challenges<br />
remain for sure. Small producers<br />
and “first receivers” (who need<br />
to create lot codes) will have to<br />
absorb training and software<br />
costs and will need to adopt<br />
new protocols. Change is hard!<br />
Dealers will need to pay for<br />
scanners, software and training.<br />
The various traceability software<br />
companies offered a wide range<br />
of options and their on-boarding<br />
time estimates to get up to<br />
speed varied from 2 hours to<br />
4-6 weeks. One thing everyone<br />
agreed on is that it would be<br />
prudent to engage in traceability<br />
early so that your concerns are<br />
addressed and any regulations<br />
that are developed will fit our<br />
industry.<br />
Hyperlinks<br />
1. www.fda.gov/food/guidanceregulation-food-and-dietarysupplements/food-safetymodernization-act-fsma<br />
2. www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety-modernization-act-fsma/<br />
food-traceability-list<br />
3. www.federalregister.gov/<br />
documents//2022/11/21/<br />
2022-24417/requirementsfor-additional-traceabilityrecords-for-certain-foods<br />
ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 17
—Continued from page 15<br />
CDC Improves Its Website<br />
Of course, I still have several beefs with their<br />
presentation. They say “Most people get vibriosis<br />
by eating raw or undercooked shellfish,<br />
particularly oysters.” In fact, wound infections<br />
account for 35% of all vibriosis infections<br />
and 65-85% of Vibrio vulnificus infections.<br />
Only 44% of all foodborne vibriosis<br />
infections are linked to oysters.<br />
That is not “most”!<br />
Although, since many illnesses are linked<br />
to crab and shrimp and some people refer<br />
to these as “shellfish,” I guess technically<br />
they could say “most.” And I suppose that<br />
since there are more infections from oysters<br />
than either shrimp or crab, again you could<br />
technically say “particularly oysters,” but<br />
oysters are implicated in fewer than half of<br />
foodborne infections so I am not happy that<br />
we get special treatment. Since oysters are<br />
responsible for less than half of foodborne<br />
vibriosis infections (and only 10% of V. vulnificus<br />
infections) do they really deserve their<br />
own special page 3 that leads with, “You can<br />
get very sick from eating raw oysters”?<br />
The CDC page on oysters and vibriosis still<br />
talks about amputations and 20% mortality<br />
without mentioning how rarely this disease<br />
is caused by oysters. We are talking about<br />
15 cases a year tied to seafood consumption!<br />
I should be pleased that we have gotten<br />
the CDC to make some changes, but we<br />
know there will be more flesh-eating bacteria<br />
deaths next summer, and when they are<br />
wound-related (as the vast majority are) it<br />
would be nice if the press didn’t immediately<br />
throw oysters under the bus.<br />
If you'd like more details on this issue and<br />
the specific edits we are requesting, visit<br />
ECSGA.org and take a look at my short<br />
webinar 4 . We also have a fact sheet 5 on flesheating<br />
bacteria. Remember, the next time<br />
you get cornered by a reporter, your response<br />
should be short and sweet: “Our shellfish are<br />
safe, but if you are immune compromised<br />
you should be careful about swimming in<br />
warm seawater if you have a scratch or a<br />
cut.” Don’t get trapped in a long conversation<br />
because the key points you want to<br />
make will likely get lost.<br />
Hyperlinks<br />
1. www.cdc.gov/vibrio/about<br />
2. wwwn.cdc.gov/norsdashboard<br />
3. www.cdc.gov/vibrio/prevention/vibrioand-oysters.html<br />
4. ecsga.org/vibrio-resources/#CDCdestroysmarkets<br />
5. ecsga.org/vibrio-resources/#flesh-eating<br />
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ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 18 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
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—Continued from page 1<br />
Birds on Gear a Problem<br />
formally accepted by the FDA in<br />
a few months.<br />
I headed up two sessions at the<br />
National <strong>Shellfish</strong>eries <strong>Association</strong><br />
annual meeting in March,<br />
and posted the notes from those<br />
sessions 1 and a brief webinar 2 on<br />
shellfish sanitation and birds to<br />
the ECSGA website.<br />
This spring the ISSC Executive<br />
Board agreed to establish a committee<br />
to conduct a literature<br />
review, and to hold a workshop<br />
on guano remediation. One of<br />
the key challenges: although<br />
sea birds excrete high levels of<br />
coliform-indicator bacteria, they<br />
only rarely carry human pathogens.<br />
Nevertheless, high coliform<br />
levels can force the closure<br />
of harvest areas even though the<br />
risk of human illness may be<br />
relatively low.<br />
In April the Environmental<br />
Protection Agency published a<br />
283-page document highlighting<br />
how the presence of fecal-coliform-indicator<br />
bacteria is a poor<br />
predictor of risk when waters<br />
are primarily contaminated with<br />
fecal material from non-human<br />
animals (such as dogs, livestock<br />
or wild birds). These Technical<br />
Support Materials 3 are posted on<br />
the ECSGA website and provide<br />
the foundation for discussions<br />
on how to conduct a risk analysis<br />
on bird waste. The hope is<br />
that with continued research, we<br />
can avoid unnecessary closures<br />
of harvest areas impacted by<br />
nearby birds.<br />
While the risk of human illness<br />
may be low, it is clearly not<br />
negligible. <strong>Growers</strong> should do<br />
everything possible to deter birds<br />
from landing on their gear, and<br />
plenty of new ideas and refinements<br />
are being developed and<br />
evaluated. At minimum, guano<br />
on food is a bad look, but it<br />
can be catastrophic if it results<br />
in closing growing areas. Stay<br />
tuned for more developments on<br />
this issue.<br />
Hyperlinks<br />
1. ecsga.org/bird-interactions/<br />
#nsa-notes-11<br />
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2. ecsga.org/bird-interactions/<br />
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3. ecsga.org/bird-interactions/<br />
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ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong> Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong><br />
Page 19
ECSGA Dues Categories<br />
<strong>Growers</strong>, dealers and equipment suppliers enjoy full voting rights.<br />
(If you are both a grower and a dealer simply ask yourself where<br />
most of your revenue comes from.) If you don’t fall into one of<br />
these industry categories please consider joining as a non-voting<br />
associate member.<br />
Member Type Gross Annual Sales Dues<br />
Grower $0 to 50,000 $100<br />
Grower $50,000 to $100,000 $200<br />
Grower $100,000 to 300,000 $500<br />
Grower $300,000 to 1 million $1,000<br />
Grower $1 million to $3 million $2,000<br />
Grower over $3 million $3,000<br />
<strong>Shellfish</strong> Dealers and<br />
Equipment Suppliers<br />
$250<br />
Restaurant Ally $100<br />
Non-voting<br />
Associate<br />
$50<br />
Because ECSGA is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade organization, a<br />
portion of your membership dues may be tax deductible as a<br />
business expense; please contact us for details.<br />
You can pay online using PayPal or your credit card on our website<br />
ECSGA.org or mail this form with your check to:<br />
ECSGA, 111 Myrtle St., New Bedford, MA 02740<br />
Name ______________________________________________<br />
Company ___________________________________________<br />
Street Address ______________________________________<br />
City, State, Zip ______________________________________<br />
Email ______________________________________________<br />
Phone _____________________________________________<br />
Member Type and Level*______________________________<br />
* Rest assured, your sales information will be closely<br />
guarded and will not be shared!<br />
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ECSGA <strong>Newsletter</strong><br />
Page 20 Issue 2 <strong>June</strong> <strong>2024</strong>