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Cape shellfishermen see investments wash away
Cape Cod Times
By DOUG FRASER STAFF WRITER WELLFLEET - Steven Paine picked through the litter of broken shells, occasionally finding a whole one and chucking it into a bushel basket. This was the leavings of two winters ago, when a deep freeze sent schoolbus-sized icebergs onto the tidal flats, grinding down two years' worth of carefully cultivated oysters.
The latest disaster to hit Wellfleet aquaculture is more difficult to see and far more widespread, affecting all of the town's 100 aquaculture operations. In the fragile business of bringing clams and oysters from seeds to market-size shellfish, it is a serious blow.
"Everybody's crying the blues," said Paine, whose family has lived in Wellfleet for hundreds of years.
Paine had just spent his money to purchase tiny "seed" oysters when the state closed Wellfleet and all of Cape Cod Bay over Memorial Day weekend.
"I had to borrow money just to survive," he said.
The aquaculture business burgeoned along the Cape and islands over the past decade and now represents a significant amount of revenue for many local residents.
Wellfleet shellfish constable Andrew Koch said the number of aquaculture licenses issued by the town has roughly doubled since 1995. Other Cape and islands communities have seen similar growth.
The state Division of Marine Fisheries reports aquaculture revenues at more than $4 million in 2003, the most recent year for data, with more than $3 million of that coming from the Cape.
In 2003, Wellfleet was the No. 1 aquaculture town in the state with $1.6 million in revenue, or nearly 40 percent of total revenue reported to the state. The problem is that aquaculturalists tend to underreport what they harvest.
"Everyone fills out a grant report, what they harvested," said Koch. He said those who underreported the amounts will be hurting because assistance programs set up to compensate for closures request reports to determine the aid amount.
"I don't like to say," said Bob Rowell, when asked how much he usually harvests each year. Rowell was working his 2‡-acre grant on Indian Neck.
Rowell fidgeted with a nut that fixed one "Chinese hat" on top of the other.
The "Chinese hats" - aptly named for their appearance - have a thin paste slathered on them and are stacked on poles driven into the mucky tidal flats.
Free-floating oyster larvae settle on them, and Rowell scrapes them off, puts them in bags and he's off and running, without spending money for seed.
Purchasing seed
Others are not so lucky, especially if they grow quahogs, whose seeds must be purchased. Koch said aquaculturalists traditionally use money earned during the late spring and early summer to purchase seed clams and oysters that they will start growing this year for harvest two to three years down the line. They must buy or obtain seed shellfish every year to replace the ones they've taken and continue harvesting every year with a steady income.
A million seed can cost $30,000, an expense that some simply did not have considering they'd been shut down for Memorial Day, one of the big three summer earning weekends, and for three weeks with the possibility of being closed another five.
"I said to Dick (Kraus, owner of Aquaculture Research Corp. in Dennis, a seed supplier), 'I'll be out of money here,' and he said 'I'll give you the seed now and you can pay me later,' " said Brent Valli, who buys some oyster seed to mix in with the ones he captures with Chinese hats.
ARC is the only seed hatchery on the Cape, and one of the top three suppliers in the Northeast. Koch said ARC has been offering to front the seeds to cash-strapped aquaculturalists.
Payments to meet
Valli has been an aquaculturalist for more than 20 years. He has oysters planted on seven acres in Wellfleet. He was using the down time yesterday to paint and oil the decks on his shellfish barge with partner Sandy Mitchell. They get 100 percent of their income from oyster farming and wholesaling. They have a mortgage, truck payments and other expenses to meet.
"It'd help me more if I have (aid) soon. If I have to wait until August, I'll be living on credit cards and racking up debt," Valli said.
U.S. Rep. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass., said there would be two Small Business Association forums in Chatham on Friday at 10 a.m. at the town hall and another on Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Eldredge Library.
Rowell hoped there would be more than low-interest loans available to help beleaguered shellfishermen.
"They'll lend us the money, but how are we going to pay it back when the price just drops right off after Labor Day?" he asked.
Rowell and others were concerned that prices would be low as shellfish flooded the market after areas are reopened.
"Everybody's so desperate, they'll take whatever they can get," said Paine. "Those with a house, mortgage, kids in college, they're sweating it. A lot of guys are thinking of going offshore (fishing)."
Aquaculturalists were also concerned that all the publicity over red tide toxins in shellfish may have soured diners' taste for their products.
"This is our time of year," Rowell said. "Right now, these are the perfect cocktail size."
Doug Fraser can be reached at dfraser@capecodonline.com.