Boston Seafood Show:
Local oyster grower tackles the big city
Story and photos by Nancy Griffin

Maine businesses were well-represented, as usual, at the 22nd annual International Boston Seafood Show held March 14 through 16 at the Hynes Auditorium. Most of the Maine businesses attending the 2004 show were perennial exhibitors that years ago regularly lined two sides of a show aisle under the banner “Maine Street.”

Scott Tilton (r) and his brother Wayne at their booth at Boston’s International Seafood Show. The background is a mural consisting of nine 16" wide panels. It was painted by Scott and depicts their company’s home base, the mouth of the Weskeag River.

This year—alongside the likes of William Atwood Lobster Co., Ducktrap River Fish Farms and Cozy Harbor Seafood—a small business took a flyer, plunking down nearly $6,000 for a chance to encounter the top seafood buyers from North America and other parts of the globe.

“It might have been a little early” for the small company’s first appearance at the show, said Scott Tilton, president of Weskeag River Shellfish Farms LLC. “We created a demand that we can’t meet for a couple of years.”

Tilton said interest in the oysters grown by the small community-owned company from South Thomaston was intense. “People’s eyes lit up when they tasted the oysters.”
He and his brother, Wayne, vice president for sales, tasted oysters exhibited by other growers at the show—mostly from Canada—and said there are always differences.
“Oysters are usually named for the place they are grown, and that’s because every place has different qualities that alter the flavor of the oysters,” said Tilton. “Malpeque oysters in Canada come from Malpeque Bay and Blue Point oysters come from Blue Point in Long Island.”

The Tilton brothers brought their “mascot”—an overgrown oyster that they’ve named “Grandpa Wes” (for Weskeag, what else?)—to the show.

Their oysters have the unique taste of the Weskeag’s “clean and fast-moving waters,” said Tilton. “The waters promote the flow of food to each oyster. The shallow salty waters of the estuary warm up early in the growing season, promoting the growth of fat, succulent oyster meats.”

When they reach a certain size, Tilton transfers the oysters to deeper, colder waters in the lower river, suspending them from a float to slow their growth. “This gives them a nice deep cut” and the cold waters “encourage the production of glycogen, which gives them their distinctive sweet flavor.”

Weskeag’s exclusive farming methods are also different from those of other growers, Tilton explained. “They are not grown on the muddy bottom” but suspended in “oyster condos” which give them ample room to grow. When grown, the oysters are hoisted aboard a specially-designed barge where each one is washed, graded and packaged by hand.

“Oysters are similar to wine: the location they are grown in and the special farming techniques employed give them subtle differences in flavor. Oysters become known for their distinct qualities, and take on the name of the area they are grown in, such as Bordeaux or Napa Valley wines,” said Tilton. “Weskeag oysters are known for their distinct, sweet clean taste and buttery aftertaste.”

The harvesting barge hoists up an “oyster condo.” Each condo or cage holds 2,000 oysters. Photo courtesy Scott Tilton

Weskeag sells oysters in 100 count Styrofoam boxes with gel packs, distributed primarily through Great Eastern Mussel Farm in Tenants Harbor. The company has around 30 shareholders, most of them neighbors of the farm in South Thomaston.
Many of the buyers who expressed interest in Weskeag oysters at the show were high-end restaurateurs willing to pay the higher price of a carefully-grown, quality product, said Tilton.

“We will just sell to a few of the top buyers at first, such as Jasper White’s Summer Shack restaurant,” said Tilton.

The final grow phase: The oysters are held in a float in cold waters to develop a deep cup and a salty, sweet meat.
Photo courtesy Scott Tilton

Weskeag was in good company at the IBSS. Portland Shellfish Co. of South Portland unveiled a new product—a plastic bucket filled with two pounds of frozen, precooked rock crab claws, scored for easy eating—just thaw and eat—perfect for watching the game, said the processors.

Cozy Harbor Seafood showed Maine shrimp—again. The Portland company, known for its high-quality frozen lobster products, stopped processing shrimp several years ago when the resource nosedived. Company president, John Norton, says the resource is on the upswing so he’s invested in the future. Around Christmas, he installed new equipment to peel, cook and freeze Maine shrimp for sale to retail outlets, but primarily for export to Europe.

While on a trade junket to Europe to promote lobster sales, Norton said buyers there all asked about the sweet Maine shrimp. Despite a glut of shrimp on world markets due to farming of freshwater and large marine shrimp in Asian and other countries, he said there is great demand for high-quality Pandalus borealis.

Ducktrap River of Belfast, high-quality purveyor of smoked seafood products, offered a smoked Chilean clam. The product was so new that no packaging had been designed, but plant manager Dustin Batley of Thomaston said response at the booth was positive.
Several other Maine companies—such as William Atwood Lobster of Spruce Head, Claw Island of Portland, Rain Forest Tilapia of Damariscotta, exhibited at the show, as did the Maine Lobster Promotion Council and its new executive director, Kristen Millar.