If The Romans Could Do It, 

 Eph O'Neal Thinks He Can Do It, Too 



When Ephriam O'Neal looks at the handmade 

 raft floating in a shallow canal near Cape Hatteras, 

 visions of Oyster Bars dance in his head. 



The cause of the reverie is 75,000 seed oysters 

 maturing in plastic racks suspended from the raft. 

 Sea Grant agents Sumner Midgett and Hughes 

 Tillet planted O'Neal's oysters in February and 

 May and the shells have already doubled their 

 original thumb nail size. 



"I'm telling you they're growing fast," O'Neal 

 says with satisfaction as he surveys his crop. 



O'Neal is magistrate in Hatteras and operates a 

 marina. He also fishes in the winter. Several years 

 ago he tried to open an oyster bar but found it 

 difficult to get the oysters when he needed them. 

 He decided to lease some bottom land to plant 

 oysters, but when he learned of the off-bottom 

 methods being practiced in Japan and now on the 

 Outer Banks he saw some definite advantages. 



"With these oysters here if you offered me 

 a price and I didn't like it, I wouldn't have 

 to throw my oysters away. I could just leave 

 them in the water growing until the market 

 is right." 



The most immediate benefit would be to avoid 

 the hassle of trying to get a state lease — no small 

 chore nowadays. O'Neal simply asked the land- 

 owners abutting the canal for permission to float 

 his raft in the water. He will need a lease, however, 

 if he expands his pilot project. 



O'Neal also believes he can avoid two other 

 major headaches — problems with the weather and 

 the market. Because his raft is tied in a protected 

 area it is spared the worst of the elements. The 

 water surrounding the growing oysters is polluted, 

 however, and O'Neal will have to transfer his 

 mature crop to clean water for a period of time 

 before he can sell it for human consumption. But 

 he figures he will only cleanse limited amounts of 

 oysters at one time decreasing the risks of losses 

 in the open water. 



He is hopeful he will also be able to protect his 

 crop from the uncertainties of the market. 



"We have a lot of potential in the water going 

 to waste and one of the biggest reasons is market- 

 ing and controlled seafood pricing," he explains. 

 "If you catch oysters on the bottom, you have a 

 limited amount of time to market them fresh. You 

 have to take what you can get. But with these oys- 



Eph O'Neal, of Hatteras 



ters here if you offered me a price and I didn't 

 like it, I wouldn't have to throw my oysters away 

 if I chose not to sell them. I could just leave them 

 in the water growing until the market is right." 



The ability to control the timing of sales plus 

 the scarcity of local oysters will put the off-bottom 

 oyster grower in a top marketing position, O'Neal 

 says, as long as the demand is there. Demand for 

 oysters has remained stable in the U.S. while the 

 supply has decreased. Oysters are now selling for 

 $4 to $8 a bushel, with about 300 oysters per 

 (See "Rebirth," page 4) 



Sea Grant agent Hughes Tillet checks Eph O'Neal's oyster raft. The ropes on the raft are attached to 

 racks of trays holding quantities of small seed oysters. The racks must be cleaned of fouling plants and 

 animals. 



Rebirth of a Growing Culture 



bushel. The large single oysters get the best prices 

 and, while rare in nature, they are the type easily 

 grown off the bottom. 



O'Neal will also be able to harvest and sell 

 oysters year-round while oysters taken from the 

 bottom may only be sold from October through 

 March. 



O'Neal is enthusiastic about the future of his 

 oyster business but he concedes there are still 

 several unknowns. The oyster trays and possibly 

 the oysters have to be cleaned while they are grow- 

 ing and neither O'Neal nor Sea Grant knows yet 

 how much labor or time will be involved. Oyster 

 farming has its roots in ancient Rome and Gaul 

 and is practiced widely around the world, but 



mainly in countries such as Japan where labor 

 costs are low. 



O'Neal and Sea Grant are talking about coating 

 the trays with antifouling paint or pulling them 

 out of the water once a week to discourage algae 

 and other growth. But they have not yet explored 

 what effect these actions might have on the growth 

 of the oysters or the humans who eat them. 



Sea Grant and O'Neal are watching the situa- 

 tion closely and watching similar work being done 

 abroad and up and down the Atlantic coast. Hope- 

 fully, they will have the answers soon to the ques- 

 tions that will determine whether oyster farming 

 is economically feasible on the North Carolina 

 Outer Banks. 



