America's Seafood Leaders

Rappahannock River Oyster Co., Middlesex County

It's challenging to remember a time when Virginia — the nation’s third-largest seafood-producing state — wasn’t known for its flavorful, briny oysters and succulent clams, but the late 1990s and early 2000s were a dark era for shellfish producers.

Oysters, in particular, thanks to warming temperatures in the Chesapeake Bay, were dying off from diseases and a lack of solutions to treat them. Many oystermen — including third- and fourth-generation family businesses — closed their doors.

“It was a pretty desperate time. [We worried that] we were going to lose the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry because of disease,” said Bruce Vogt, president of Gloucester County-based Vogt Oyster Company (doing business as Big Island Aquaculture Oysters), which has been farming oysters for around 10 years.

That started to change in the early 2000s, when Dr. Stan Allen took over as director of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science’s (VIMS) Aquaculture Genetics and Breeding Technology Center and began genetically breeding oysters that would survive.

The state’s seafood industry is flourishing, leaders say, because of its favorable regulatory policies, its strong research support, and, of course, “the largest estuaries in the U.S. to haul seafood from — the Chesapeake Bay and parts of the Atlantic Ocean,” said Mike Hutt, executive director of the Virginia Marine Products Board.

In addition, seafood sellers are effectively marketing their products within the state, across the United States and, in some cases, other countries. Virginia oyster producers are finding a lucrative market overseas, particularly in Europe and Southeast Asia. Asian consumers “love the flavor, texture, and affordability of our oysters,” Hutt said, while Ryan Croxton, owner of Rappahannock Oyster Co. in Middlesex County on the Middle Peninsula, says that most Asian customers prefer a sweeter oyster.

Oyster companies have raised the value of their product over the years by branding their specific oysters and distinct flavor. “Now you see oysters that don’t say, ‘from the Chesapeake Bay.’ They market individual oysters,” said Michael Oesterling, executive director of Shellfish Growers of Virginia.

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For example, Vogt’s website touts the fact that its master farmer, Daniel Vogt, pampers his “babies” with music and tumbling to “encourage deep cup growth for a meaty, juicy oyster.”

Virginia’s oyster industry has benefitted from Americans’ desire for raw oysters, which has surged in the past few years as consumers seek out one-of-a-kind food experiences. “Today, when you look at social media, you see people doing flights of oysters with different flavor profiles,” Hutt said.