NORTH CAROLINA – A lot of work goes into farming and harvesting oysters. Tropical storms and severe weather can drastically slow down a farmer's progress.

 

What You Need To Know

  • Oyster farmers need to prepare for severe weather by sinking oyster cages completely under water

  • Failure to sink cages could result in massive problems, both monetarily and environmentally

  • Cape Fear Oyster Company provides free tours of their farm

“It's a very laborious task,” says Scott Burrell, a farmer and the owner of Cape Fear Oyster Company.

The Cape Fear Oyster Company flows oysters near New Hanover and Pender Counties.

“We'll put in about five hours of work on the farm,” Burrell says.

That five hours of labor a day could turn into much more when severe weather comes through if Burrell and his team don't prepare.

Before a storm arrives, the staff sink the oyster cages down under the ocean water to make sure the oysters are protected, and that they won't float away.

“It's a whole lot of work to prepare it for a hurricane or a tropical storm or whatever, but it's a whole lot easier on the back end than having to go out and having to find baskets that are strewn all over the world,” Burrell says.

Burrell was out of town when Hurricane Isaias hit his farm. He never had a chance to prepare for the damage, and ended up losing many of his baskets.

“When they're gone, we send up a drone just to try and find every single one of these that we lost,” Burrell says.

Each basket costs the company between $75 to $100. But for Burrell, it's more than just the cost of the equipment.

“We're trying to be as good of stewards to the environment, we don't want plastic baskets sitting out in the middle of the marsh somewhere,” Burrell adds.

He is prepared for any event that may come this year, but he's hopeful the worst has already passed.

“If we can get through this hurricane season without anymore events, we will be well stocked for fall, winter and spring, and especially summer coming back around again,” Burrell says.