Briny babysitting: HCT shellfish hatchery tour offers up-close look at ARC’s amazing work

Where do babies come from? Well, if the question is about oysters and clams, the best folks to ask might be the awesome team at Aquacultural Research Corporation (ARC) in Dennis.

HCT’s Shellfish Hatchery Tour offered an inside look at how Aquacultural Research Corporation (ARC) in Dennis grows oysters and clams. Photo by Gerry Beetham

Their motto is “From Spawn to Table,” and the hatchery touches every aspect of shellfish life, from the miracle of birth to providing product to growers, distributors, chefs, and reef-builders across the country.

Participants in a recent Harwich Conservation Trust (HCT) Shellfish Hatchery Tour were treated to an inside look at how ARC produces shellfish using environmentally responsible methods. The drive out to the facility was a treat unto itself, as we spun by Chapin Beach and the epic tidal flats of Dennis on the way to ARC’s scenic location, overlooking Chase Garden Creek.

Chloe Starr, ARC’s Operations Manager led the tour, which was expertly seasoned with good cheer, humor and a boatload of cool information.

“ARC is primarily a shellfish hatchery, and we work to supply farmers and municipalities with shellfish seed that is not otherwise available in the wild population,” said Starr. “Starting from the parent animals, we produce babies that then go on to grow up to be adults. To supplement that, we also run a farming and wholesale distribution business as well.”

Making babies

Perhaps the key to the entire enterprise is being able to reliably produce baby clams and oysters throughout most of the year. “We use our own line of brood stocks–our own mom and dad oysters and clams that we have kept spawning for 40 years,” said Starr. “Not the same ones, but the babies of the babies, etcetera.”

Large containers of small clams were a big hit on HCT’s Shellfish Hatchery Tour. Photo by Gerry Beetham

In a bit of hatchery wizardry, the brood shellfish are conditioned over a period of about eight weeks. “We bring up the temperature and start to feed them more, and trick them into thinking it’s June or July–the same conditions they would have out on the flats,” said Starr. “They start to develop their sex organs and their gonads to get ready to spawn.”

The brood shellfish are then put into individual buckets. “I wish I could tell you that we put on a little Marvin Gaye and set the mood, but that’s not true,” joked Starr. Eggs and sperm are collected after they are released into the water in the bucket, and then it’s time for the all-important creation of life.

“We take all of the eggs out–that’s the limiting factor on how many larvae we can create–and then we add in just enough sperm to fertilize them,” said Starr. “For the first two weeks of their lives, the larvae actually swim, until they go through metamorphosis.”

In an exciting turn of events, we all got to look into a microscope to view larvae wiggling around. It was hard to imagine that these tiny squiggles could end up on a restaurant plate in about two years or so!

Hungry for algae

ARC makes their own algae to feed the clams and oysters. Photo by Gerry Beetham

One thing all parents know is that babies get hungry, and we learned that shellfish have a huge hankering for algae.

“We grow all of our own algae here,” said Starr. “We take water from the creek and heat it up a bit.” Of course, it’s a bit more complicated than that, with all sorts of bottles, tanks and pipes filling a large space at the facility, managed by attentive staff. 

Once the babies are kick-started, ARC guides them through the growth period. They are sold at various sizes and ages, depending upon what the purchaser needs.

The entire tour was one “gee whiz” moment after another. And it was impressive to see the ARC team in action, performing a sort of shellfish ballet that supports the Cape Cod community and economy. The next time you’re at a raw bar, you might want to briefly thank ARC before you slurp down an oyster!

Want to join in the fun? Another HCT Shellfish Hatchery tour is scheduled for Tuesday August 11th, from 10 to 11 a.m. The cost is $20 per person. For more information and to register, click here.

Photo gallery: HCT volunteer photographer Gerry Beetham captured these great images from the Shellfish Hatchery Tour:

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