An Everything Guide to Farming and Eating Mussels, Clams, and more

Mussels, clams, oysters, and scallops have two things in common: they are delicious to eat, and they all have two-part, hinged shells. The latter fact makes them bivalve mollusks. Bivalves eat by filtering water through their through gills, removing nutrients, algae, plankton, and even pollutants. Therefore, bivalves have the power to make our waters clearer and cleaner – it’s estimated that a single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day! And if this wasn’t impressive enough, consider that in 2011 NOAA estimated that the commercial bivalve mollusk fishery brings in about $1 billion annually in the U.S.
We’ll speak with Sandy Ingber, executive chef at the Grand Central Oyster Bar and self-proclaimed “Bishop of Bivalves” about how to prepare and cook these shellfish!
We’ll also speak with Bren Smith, a lifelong commercial fisherman and owner of Thimble Island Oyster Company in Branford, CT about how to grow and harvest bivalves.
And, Gary Wikfors, biotechnology branch chief in the aquaculture enhancement division of the Northeast Fishery Science Center of NOAA, will talk about the biology of bivalves, from how they eat and grow, to their importance to the local ecosystem, to the ways they may be threatened by climate change. In October, he will participate in the 6th annual International Oyster Symposium, which brings together scientists, industry leaders, and artists to talk about the future of the oyster.