![]() While looking for screen mesh for their yet-to-be perfected contraption, Bob found Gerard Daniel and recognized that the pricey vibratory separators marketed (and marked-up) by aquaculture equipment suppliers were not unique to their industry. After burning out a reciprocating saw that they had repurposed as a shaker motor, they went back to the drawing board. Since the Chebeague Island crew was accustomed to repurposing second-hand equipment or building their own, they set out to devise a mechanical oyster seed sorter of their own. Improvise or invest -Although Bob knew that a vibratory screen separator could perform the seed sizing task faster and more easily, it was hard for him to justify the capital investment on a brand new machine that would only run a handful of days in a season. Even though this procedure is only done 3 times per season, by the third year of shaking 800,000 tiny oysters by hand on homemade separation screens, the tedious, back-breaking process was taking a toll on Bob and his crew and only promised to get harder as the business grew. The typical gradation of screen sizes is 4, 9, 14, and 19 mm. This sorting is historically done by hand-sifting the oysters through a screen. Three times each season, the bins of seeds must be classified by size so the ones that have doubled in size can move on to the next bin. As they grow, they are continually sorted and divided into more and more bins until they graduate to open water cages that are placed out on the tide flats. Tens of thousands of seed oysters will fit in a single bin. Oyster farming begins with baby oysters, called spat or “seeds.” These seed oysters are partitioned off from the open water in mesh enclosures attached to a dock or containers on the dock that have nutrient-rich water pumped through them. With an eye toward small-scale economic development and environmental stewardship, Chebeague Island Oyster Company co-founders Bob Earnest and David Whiston started an oyster aquaculture project for their community association that has blossomed into an $800k business and inspired the creation of two other oyster farms on the island. Ten miles east of Portland, ME and accessible only by ferry boat, Chebeague Island is the largest island in Casco Bay that is not connected to the mainland by bridge. How Gerard Daniel shook things up at an oyster farm in Maine
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