January 11, 2019 — Chris Schillaci looked out at a sea of mostly plaid shirts, stuffed behind rows of cafeteria-style tables, who had come together after a day outside.
“You can make a living and stay on the Cape with an acre oyster grant,” the aquaculture specialist for the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries said.
The crowd of primarily oyster farmers looked back.
“Ok, maybe two acres,” he said with a smile.
Schillaci was speaking at an Ocean Farming Forum sponsored by SCORE of Cape Cod and the Islands, and the local office of the United States Department of Agriculture.
The idea? Bring farmers together to learn from one another and improve the industry. Much of the discussion revolved around the future of offshore shellfish and kelp farming, in deeper waters than most of the Cape’s traditional nearshore shellfish grants.
“Commercial fishing is a rapidly evolving business and Massachusetts has been a leader through old-fashioned Yankee ingenuity and an uncanny ability to adapt to a changing world,” said Melissa Sanderson of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance, which co-hosted the event. “To stay at the forefront and grow small businesses and protect the ecosystem we all rely on, it’s vital to support current and new growers with technical, business, education and networking opportunities.”