Producer Profile: Ballard Fish and Oyster Co. #servinguptheshore

Serving Up the Shore chefs got the grand tour of Ballard Fish & Oyster Company's Chincoteague operation this spring. For the second year, Ballard will be providing clams and oysters for our Serving up the Shore dinner on August 19. 

Ballard Fish and Oyster Co. is an institution on the Eastern Shore, as the family has been producing clams and oysters for nearly 115 years!  They use a sustainable method of aquaculture, or shellfish farming, that involves raising clams and oysters to maturity in monitored locations in the Chincoteague Bay.

“They’re thriving,” said Cody Metcalf, a field manager with Ballard Fish and Oyster Co. “Even thirty years ago, there’s more of them now than there was back then, because so much of the pressure is being taken off by sustainable ‘put-and-take.’ They filter the water and help the whole ecosystem.”

Chincoteague Bay Field Station has a close connection with the organization, as Tim Rapine, the Managing Director of the company, is an alumni of East Stroudsburg University and took college summer courses here at the Field Station. Years later he's made the Shore his permanent home and has brought an extensive knowledge of hatcheries and research to Ballard. 

For more information about Ballard Fish and Oyster Co., you can visit their website. Be sure to visit our Serving up the Shore webpage, and stay updated with the Facebook event page