Friday April 25, 2014

Today I did my weigh and measure, water quality, and a little bit of research.  I was able to find some interesting things that I though was what I was looking for, but I didn't have time to read through them fully, so I will do that tomorrow.  

This is the third time I have done a weigh and measure.  From the data you can see that the oysters have not grown in terms of length, however I believe that they have increased in weight, by about 0.5 grams on average.  I was glad to see that they had grown more of a belly, however, they also need to get longer if I am planing on selling them to market during the summer season.  I think for the next week I will stop shaking them, so that they will be encouraged to grow lengthwise as well as depth-wise.

This week I have been considering the current location of my oysters (at the Tabor Boy dock).  A stretch of water that has direct sunlight for photosynthesis and a place with good circulation, so they have a lot to eat, are important conditions to look for.  However, there are other considerations that farmers must take into account.

For example, I worry that the little to no increase in length that I have seen may be due to a lack of calcium in the water.  It is important that the oysters have a nice belly, so that they are more aesthetically pleasing and more marketable, but it is also important that they are able to grow to a certain length (3 inches market size) within a reasonable amount of time.  (It’s essentially a better quality or quicker turnover sort of issue.)  Or, since I get such high absorbance readings when the wind comes up, is the silt that is being churned making the oysters silty and/or sandy (this would affect the quality of the oyster and thereby affect it's desirability).  The salinity is also quite high in this area (26-30ppt range).  This will affect the "briney" taste of the oysters.

Honestly there is so much more to consider than I ever though at the beginning of this project.  I have been working slowly on writing my business plan, by reading samples to see what I should be researching and including.  Today I discovered a whole other section that has to do with how the company will be organized (sole proprietor, partnerships, etc.), which I have no idea about.  It sort of boggles my mind to think about it all.

Water Quality 04/28/14

After the nice weather this weekend, the cell density has risen significantly.  Which makes me really happy because the oysters need algae to grow.  Aside from the increased growth in the harbor, there is not much of note in this water quality.

Thursday April 24, 2014

Today I began researching for the next section of my business model, the market analysis.  The first part of the market analysis is a discussion of the industry and its outlook.  This is what SBA.gov said I should include:

Industry Description and Outlook – Describe your industry, including its current size and historic growth rate as well as other trends and characteristics (e.g., life cycle stage, projected growth rate). Next, list the major customer groups within your industry.

It took me a while to find the right sources of information.  I often found myself looking at aquaculture surveys for the Chesapeake and Gulf regions, but not Northeastern.  Finally I resorted back to NOAA, which I have decided is my best source of information.

The aquaculture industry can be viewed from a variety of levels, but the first is world wide.  From a global standpoint aquaculture is very important.  Of all the seafood consumed, approximately 50% of it comes from aquaculture.  The amount of fish that is actually cultured versus wild surprised me.  I hadn't expected it to be that large, but once you consider how much fish is consumed per capita and how much there is in the ocean, the number makes more sense.  The second level is by country.  Asia accounts for about 88% of cultured seafood and the United States for 0.8%.  Although compared to many Asian countries, the American aquaculture industry seems very poor, it has actually been increasing for the past 20 years.

NOAA Statistic

The second level is by region.  In the United States, oysters are grown in the northeast, mid/southeast, gulf, and only occasionally on the west coast.  The table below shows what percentages go to each of the two markets by region.  

Using this information and a few other sources I was able to parse out the information I though I needed and create the industry description and outlook.  I am not entirely convinced that it is right and will be sending it to my grandfather and mother for their opinions.  Despite it being not very good I though I should share it.  It reads as follows:

According to a 2011 NOAA survey, the worldwide aquaculture industry supplies about 50% of the seafood eaten, about 0.8% of which comes from the United States.  Global aquaculture is valued at $120 billion, while United States aquaculture was only valued at $1.1 billion.  The same survey reported that in 2011 the United States imported around $17 billion worth of seafood and only exported about $5.8 billion worth; this is an $11.2 billon deficit.  Because of this deficit, the industry is becoming a popular option.  Aquaculture has been trending up in the United States for the past 20 years; going from being valued at $0.5 billion in the early 80s to $1.1 billion in 2011.

In the Unites States, oysters are acquired via fishing or culture.  Cultured oysters are grown for two markets, the half shell market and the shucked market.  Oysters are cultured in the northeast, mid-atlantic, gulf, and occasionally on the west coast.  In the northeast, 90% of oysters are grown for the half shell market and 20% for the shucked market.

 

Wednesday April 23, 2014

I am not crazy about Wednesdays, because they are too short to accomplish everything you wanted and there isn’t really that much more free time.  You think that you will, since you should end sports around 3, but then there are games and senior project practices, and you end up finishing everything at the same time as any other day.  It’s sort of weird when you think about it.  In any case, I was able to accomplish a couple of things, despite it being a Wednesday.  I took my water sample and read Managerial Accounting during the school day.  Then later in the evening I worked on the business plan.

Although the Executive Plan is the first part of a business plan, it is usually written last.  It essentially summarizes the entire business plan, so that people can glance through the first few pages.  The next part is the Company Description, which is fairly simple.  SBA.gov says the following:

Company Description

This section of your business plan provides a high-level review of the different elements of your business. This is akin to an extended elevator pitch and can help readers and potential investors quickly understand the goal of your business and its unique proposition.

What to Include

• Describe the nature of your business and list the marketplace needs that you are trying to satisfy.
• Explain how your products and services meet these needs.
• List the specific consumers, organizations or businesses that your company serves or will serve.
• Explain the competitive advantages that you believe will make your business a success such as your location, expert personnel, efficient operations, or ability to bring value to your customers.

This sounds really vague, but since all of the examples of company descriptions that I read were short, sweet, and relatively vague, I figured that must be the style.  The following is my attempt at a company description (This is not the first draft of it, I sent the first draft to my mom to ask her opinion.):

Shell Shucked Oyster Farm is a startup farm that will produce quality Atlantic oysters.  The oysters will be cultured using a floating system; which will ensure that they are cared for regularly and efficiently.  The location of the system will also ensure a fresh briny taste.  Once full grown, they will be sold in the “half-shell market” to distributors and restaurants in regular and petite sizes.

(Shell Shucked Oyster Farm is just a name I came up with.  I figured it needed a name and I like the play on words.)

Tuesday April 22, 2014

Over Easter weekend, I was with my grandparents in Boston.  I had a really nice time with them and even went job-hunting for this summer.  While I was up there, I also did a lot of reading in Managerial Accounting.  Despite it being very informative on the financial aspects of business management, it is geared more towards companies that are already up and running.  Meaning that much of the math needs hard numbers, which is something I am lacking.  So I came back this week feeling as though I was off track.  (And stressed because I felt as though I was off track.)

So I did a lot of research today trying to get back on track.  Which at the end of the day, I think I did.  I think I have been spinning my wheels a little bit, which is disheartening and frustrating to say the least.  Spending time on the Internet doing research is difficult, because you invariably get something completely wrong.  I have resorted to searching specific websites, such as NOAA, then following their hyperlinks.

Back to what I was saying before I got distracted.  I went onto SBA.gov to look up business plans and how to write them. (The .gov websites are much more helpful.)  The website told me that the first step in creating a business is the business plan.  It also outlined various parts of business plans and what information they should contain.

These are the general sections that should be in your business plan.  Depending on how you would like to organize it, some things can be rearranged, but not the executive summary or the appendix.  After reading through the articles, I searched for examples of business plans, since I felt that still had questions after I read the descriptions.  It took me a while to find business plans that were similar in nature to mine.  Many of the ones I read initially were for restaurants, probably because that is such a common business to want to enter.  After a while I found a website that creates business plans for you.  It had many different examples, and I found several that were for farming and agriculture that I though would be similar to the one I will be writing.  I think what surprised me most about reading them was how repetitive they were.  I would have expected the business plan to be more straightforward, but each one I read had a mini sales pitch at the beginning of each section, that would often say the exact same thing with different adjectives.  It was interesting how the effect of this could either bore me or convince me that the business sounded like a good idea.

Water Quality 4/25/14

Due to the cloudy days and cold water temperatures (caused by this cold front)  the cell density has gone down significantly.  I am really quite annoyed by the weather right now.  It is supposed to be spring after all.  Aside from the low cell count there isn’t much of note in the water quality.

Water Quality 4/24/14

Today, another cold front hit Marion.  The water temperature dropped once again, which I found really annoying, because I want the algae to flourish, so the oysters will get bigger.  Absorbance and cell count were much higher today.  Especially the absorbance, due in most part to the wind coming from the northwest.

Water Quality 4/23/14

Water quality today was confusing.  The water temperature came up from yesterday, which is good, because the cold front brought it down to temperatures where growth would be hindered.  For some reason the salinity was really low (20ppt) when I went to check it.  I honestly have no idea why this is, as there was no recent rain.  The absorbance was also higher than I had expected it, since there was relatively little wind to stir up the bottom.

Water Quality 4/22/14

Over Easter weekend, I was not doing water quality, so today I wasn’t sure what to expect.  Ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are all zero, which indicates the area has good water flow and there isn’t detritus building up.  Salinity and pH remained the same, which also indicates good water quality.  The temperature is up 7 degrees from Friday, which is a lot.  The absorbance is extremely low.  I think it is because the wind died over the weekend, so harbor has not had the upwelling and churning it experienced over the last week.  On the other hand, the cell density has risen significantly.  Which is probably due to the nice weather over the weekend.

These graphs are graphs of the changes over time of temperature and cell density.  Looking at the first two weeks, there seems to be a correlation, however, the more recent data, is all over the place.

Friday April 18, 2014

Today was a pretty average day.  I took my cell count first thing this morning and it was really cold.  However, it was nice, because the dock wasn't wet, so I didn't get dirty when I shook my oysters.  Water quality was a struggle today.  My eyes were really red and itchy from being so tired (I didn’t sleep very well.) and my allergies have just started to flare up.  So, rather than counting all the cells on the hemocytometer, I counted the first 5 cells on each and multiplied them by 5.  Which means that the count is more of an estimate.  However, given the amount of algae in the harbor, I might be counting the cells this way from now on.

Today I also had my second weigh and measure.  The first thing I did was count the oysters and look for deaths.  From my 400 oysters, there was only one death.  (Something I found strange.  I thought I had 500 oysters, but when I went through and counted them all this week I only had 400.  I am honestly not sure what happened.)  I cleaned then examined the dead oyster’s shell.  (I will post pictures soon.)  There two places in the shell that looked as though the shell had been damaged.  When I saw those two places, I thought it might have been a boring worm.  However, on closer inspection, I noticed the oyster had reinforced those spots on the inside of it’s shell and the holes did not go all the way through.  Therefore I am inclined to think the cause of death must have been something else.  It’s sort of a mystery though.

The weigh and measure went well.  When I put the entries into my graph, I discovered that the average for my sample this week was smaller than last weeks.  For length the average was 1.56mm smaller and for weight the average was .3g smaller.  I think this indicates that the oysters haven’t grown this week.  I am not very surprised.  Although the water temperature and cell density did rise over last weekend, the drop during the week disrupted the upward trend.  Oysters need constant water temperatures above 50 degrees Fahrenheit to grow.

Something I should mention about my averaging.  I changed my system a little bit from last week.  I highlighted the outliers of each section (high and low), so that I can exclude them from the average.  I played with the numbers a little bit and I decided that it rounds the numbers out.

Water Quality 4/18/14

The water temperature is back up, as well as the cell count.  I had trouble with the cell count today, since my eyes were so itchy (tiredness combined with allergies).  So, the cell count is an average.  The absorbance was also extremely high.  I think it is due to the elevated cell count and from the continued wind from the north.

Thursday April 17, 2014

Today I woke up feeling really uninspired.  My friend who had the family crisis on Tuesday, had more on Wednesday, and finally left that night.  Two of my other friends had been fighting with each other and I had been playing Switzerland all day.  So between the drama and dancing and school, I really didn’t want to do anything.

I took my water sample early that day and for some reason (I am only noticing this now) I didn’t write a post about it.  It is probably because I forgot to.  Since I didn’t then, I will now, Thursday water quality was interesting because the water temperature had dropped but there was an incredible amount of cells in the water.  I think this is due mostly to the direction of the wind.  It was coming straight down the harbor from the north and there were a lot of waves and foam where I collect my sample.  It is most likely that the churning water brought up the algae that had sunk over the week, since the water there is usually calm.

Later during the day, I had my senior project meeting with Mr. Meleo.  In it we discussed a variety of things.  I explained that I had not been writing, because I had been so tired.  (It isn’t that I can’t write when I’m tired.  It’s just that my writing becomes very doom, gloom, and Edgar Allen Poe.  I find it reflects more on my state of fatigue than my feelings about my project.)  We also talked about Physics, which is my least favorite class.  I got a test back that morning, which was not terrible, but it did bring my grade down.  Currently, I have an 81, which is disappointing, since I have to take the exam if I have below an 85 average.

Finally, since I was too tired to work on my budget, I decided to catch up on reading Managerial Accounting for Dummies.  Fortunately, the section that I was reading (Using Costing Techniques for Decision Making) related to my spreadsheet.  Perhaps it was because I was really tired, but I did not really understand the chapter.  Since I moved from analyzing costs to making decisions based on costs, the vocabulary changed significantly, and I was having trouble following.  I am hoping to try reading the section again tomorrow to see if I understand it.  If not, I will try calling my mom and asking her.

Wednesday April 16, 2014

Today was exciting!  I have begun a budget that compares two different floating aquaculture systems.  One with only mesh bags and the other with mesh bags and cages.  I am hoping to compare them and then decided which would be better.

Each has their benefits.  With the mesh bag system, the oysters will be more accessible and spread out.  Since the bags are light, labor and injuries (oyster farmers often have back problems from hauling the oysters around) might not be as much of an issue.  However mesh bags must be replaced more often than the cages.  Cages hold more oysters, but they are more prone to fouling (collecting algae and seaweeds that prevent water flow, which is essential for the oysters to grow quickly).  ALSO since the cages hold more oysters, they are much heavier and will require more labor and possibly a larger boat that can accommodate them.  The OysterGro System recommends using a Carolina Skiff or attaching a cage holder to the side of the boat (shown below).  (Speaking of boats! They are really expensive!  I have been looking at Carolina Skiffs and Boston Whalers, both of which have a reputation for being durable boats.  Carlina Skiffs don’t have prices on their website, but Boston Whalers range from 30,000 to 130,000, including the motor, but not any other additions.)

At the moment, the budget is very rough, since I am not entirely sure how to organize it.  It has been a bit frustrating, since I keep thinking of things to add to the budget, then I am not sure where to put them in.  For example, I was thinking about how I want the farm to start of with about 50,000 oysters, so that I will have a year to get used to the business.  Then the next year I would expend to 200,000 oysters.  My question was, do I buy enough equipment for the 200,000 oysters that I will be culturing the next year or do I buy that the second year?  Also will I have made enough money to buy the equipment for the expansion?  I have sent my budget to my mom, in the hopes that she will have some insight that will help me organize my spreadsheet.  Another frustration is that I have no prices for anything.  I spent a great deal of time looking for prices, but every website wants you to call and ask for a bid.  So I will have to call or email Myron (my contact at Ketcham Traps) tomorrow.

Water Quality 4/17/14

 

While the cold front seems to be passing through now, the change in water temperature has not yet rebounded.  The water temperature dipped all the way to 49.2 degrees Fahrenheit, which I believe is the cause of the decreased cell density.  However, the absorbance is quite high, which I think is due to the waves coming down the harbor and stirring up the bottom.

Tuesday April 15, 2014

Today was pretty rough.  School and dance were fine, but there has been a lot of personal drama.  In the dorm, there has been a pretty serious stealing issue going on.  I had 80 dollars taken out of my wallet, which I was pretty upset about, since it was all birthday money that I had gotten in cards in the mail. One of my best friends has also been having some issues with her family.  Since she was upset and stressed, I decided to dedicate my time to her.  (I firmly believe that your family and friends come before anything else you are doing.  So while I am a little bit behind in my schoolwork, I think I made the right choice in making her feel comfortable and supported.  Especially since it was English reading that was ignored.)

I have encountered a few frustrations in my senior project.  The main one being that I have a lot of information that’s swirling around, but I haven’t yet applied it.  For example, I know a lot about the different methods of culturing oysters, however I haven’t yet applied it to my business model.  SO, I spent the day setting some real world parameters for my business plan.

I have decided that my business plan will project the first 6 years of my business.  Next, I am assuming that my oyster farm will be in Marion and my permit will have been obtained in one go without objections.  (SBA.gov suggest that location and permitting should be tackled after writing a business plan.  However, since my location is integral to how I will culture the oysters, I decided this was a good starting point.)

Wide View.

Close up.

As you can see from the pictures, the area I selected is in the outer harbor of Marion.  I decided against having it in the inner harbor, since the town has a lot of boat traffic.  My placement has some thought behind it.  It is an area that is aside from the main channel, away from most homes, and deep enough to allow me to sink they oysters in winter.

Since Marion only allows ½ acre grants, I already had a parameter for the size of my farm.  Oyster Gro System suggests 100 of their cages per acre, which would mean 50 for “my grant.”  Since each of their cages can house around 1,200-15,000 oysters, that would mean my capacity would be around 60,000-75,000 oysters.  This estimate is much smaller than the set up Scotty has allows.  On his ½ acre, he is able to grow 312,500-750,000 oysters.  My plan with no information about startup costs is to have 50,000-100,00 oysters the first year.  This may change, once I have calculated my startup costs, which I plan to do tomorrow.