MICHAEL KELLY: KELLYS OYSTERS (OLDEST ESTABLISHED OYSTER BUSINESS IN IRELAND)

Today we sit down with Michael Kelly all the way from Ireland. We have a great conversation about oyster farming, oyster types in Ireland and even his past time Hurling.

 

https://kellyoysters.com/

 

 

Ireland, with its extensive coastline and favorable conditions, is a major oyster-growing region, with the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) and the native flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) being the primary species farmed.

 

In Irish oyster farming, young oysters are grown in bags on trestles placed on the shore, accessible only at low tide, allowing them to feed on plankton brought in by the tides, and are then transferred to the seabed for further growth. 

These trestles keep the oysters above the seabed and provide the perfect environment for the oysters to feed as the tide brings in the natural nutritious food supply of plankton from the Atlantic Ocean. Because the sea temperatures around Ireland are too low to allow spawning, these oysters are reared in hatcheries.