The New Cork Times

Aw, Shucks!

Oysters are serious business for William Young.

As if running a six-acre oyster farm alongside his girlfriend, Allison Paine, in Wellfleet, Massachusetts, wasn’t enough mollusk-related activity, the 42-year-old Young – who prefers to go by “Chopper” – also competes in the upper echelon of professional oyster shucking competitions. Last year, he became the first American in 32 years to win the world oyster shucking competition in Ireland.

“I’m a shucker,” Young says in his thick New England accent. “I’ve been shucking my whole life.”

He’s not exaggerating. Born and raised in Maine, Young migrated to Wellfleet at age 15 to learn the sea from his father, a local fisherman. Since then, he estimates he’s opened “hundreds of thousands of oysters.”

In that time, he’s become an expert on all manners of oyster farming, as well. After years of catching wild oysters, he opened his first farm in Wellfleet ten years ago; however, he says the water was too deep for the farm to be very successful. He moved to his current location “five or six years ago,” he says, and been more successful.

While it’s possible to farm oysters using “bottom culture” – that is, to spread the eggs along the bay floor and let them grow naturally – Young uses a more complex method in order to increase his yield. Baby oysters are rooted in cement on circular platforms called “hats,” and allowed to grow; after they reach an appropriate level of maturity, they are broken off of the hats and, along with their cement foothold, placed into baskets hung from lines. There, they grow to legal size – three inches across along their long axis – and are placed into trays to await sorting.

Of course, the oysters require a steady supply of water, so all of this is submerged twice a day by the tides. Young, like other oyster farmers, tends to his flock only at low tide.

While his farm isn’t as big as some in other parts of the world – which can approach 100 acres – Young says his oysters, like all Wellfleet oysters, have an ideal taste due to the high levels of fresh water runoff in the area. Too much salt water, and they become briny; but in Wellfleet, they grow sweet and succulent.

It’s in tribute to the town’s long history with oysters that Wellfleet hosts its annual Oyster Festival every October – and it was there Young first professionally demonstrated his oyster shucking skills. After winning the OysterFest shucking contest in 2002 and 2005, he went on to take the National Oyster Shucking Championship in Maryland in 2007 and 2008.

His 2007 victory allowed him to compete – and win – in the International Oyster Opening Championship in Ireland last year, flawlessly opening 30 oysters in 2 minutes and 47 seconds. Thanks to his 2008 national victory, he’s headed back to defend his title in the world championship next month; however, he says he won’t be headed back to the nationals again this year, as he needs to stay in Wellfleet and sell his own stock.

“We have a lot of oysters, and the market’s tight,” he says. So far this year, he says he’s sold around 6,000 oysters; he hopes to sell another 15-20,000 at this year’s OysterFest. Not that he seems unhappy to remain in his hometown and support the festival – the OysterFest has sponsored him in his competitions, allowing him and his family to travel to and from them. “They’ve been really good to me,” he says.

You can meet Chopper and Allison at this year’s Wellfleet Oyster Festival, October 17-18 in Wellfleet, MA: http://www.wellfleetoysterfest.org/

By Will Sabel Courtney