The Cape Cod Oyster Company has purchased a historic shellfish grant, believed to be the oldest of its kind in Massachusetts.
The company, which acquired the 23-acre grant from Atlantic Oyster, will retain a license for the grant on Waquoit Bay through 2026. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The Cape Cod Oyster Company, the largest single-source oyster producer in Massachusetts, now owns the rights to what’s believed to be the oldest aquaculture grant in the state. The company said it will market the oysters it pulls from the bay, which is located due north of Martha’s Vineyard and about 70 miles southeast of Boston on the cape, as Washburn Island Oysters.
The oyster trade has been a major part of the history of both the Cape and Waquoit Bay, dating back to before the Revolutionary War era. By the late 1800s, oysters caught in the wild were not sufficient for the demand in the Northeast United States. That led the state to set aside a parcel of the bay in East Falmouth for oyster farming in 1877.
According to the Cape Cod Times, the Cape Cod Oyster Company requested in early June that the license for the oyster farm be transferred from Atlantic Oyster. On 31 July, the Falmouth Board of Selectmen approved the transfer by a 3-2 vote. The oyster company now holds the rights until 2026.
A local court forced Atlantic to divest itself of the grant after it did not pay a USD 400,000 (EUR 336,764) judgement, the newspaper reported last month.
The board required Cape Cod Oyster to keep the markers for its beds from straying into the bay’s navigational channel. The board also approved Cape Cod Oyster’s use of a boat ramp provided it does not infringe on other boaters’ ability to launch.
Founded in 1983, Cape Cod Oyster distributes products to restaurant chains and food service distributors in 48 states. The company is located in Barnstable, approximately 20 miles northeast of the bay, and maintains more than 40 acres of grants across the cape.
