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.