Cherrystone Aquaculture Farm

The Cherrystone Aquaculture Farm is one of the largest aquaculture farms in the world. It has been in business for 31 years and is owned by the Ballard family. The President of the company is 31 years old and in the Ballard family. The business had not produced oysters for several years and last year they brought oysters back into production.

Every winter all of the pipes in the hatchery are taken out and replaced to prevent bacteria from harming the next year's production. They produce 65-100 million clams every year. The nursery process for clams takes 8 weeks and it takes 10 days for larva to become clams. They are kept in shallow beds for 10-12 weeks. They are kept in sea beds for 18-30 months until mature. They package under personal and private labels and are cooled at 45*F.

The clams are delivered within 24 hours of harvest. Each spawn is worth $500,000. There are 4 different sizes of clams (25/lb.) button, (15/lb.) small neck, (10/lb.) middle neck, and (5/lb.) large neck. The oysters are contained for their entire life. Cherrystone sells six different varieties (4 farm raised and 2 wild). They remain in bags and racks in the ocean once big enough. It takes a lot more room to grow oysters than clams.

I had not had any experience with oyster and clam operations before so seeing how they grew the clams and oysters was really neat. I doubt I will go into a career or take classes that this will be relevant to.