“It’s a monarch butterfly wind,” observes Chuck Wilson, as his hat blows off his head in a blustery gale-force gust. “This wind is blowing ‘em all back to Mexico.”
He’s standing on the narrow strip of half-moon beach at Navy Cove, home to his company, Navy Cove Oysters, just off the road to Fort Morgan. A man who carries himself with an air of calm authority, he comes by it honestly, as he’s a retired professor. “I grew up on Chesapeake Bay [Maryland], and always wanted to work on a shrimp boat and learn about the coastal environment. While working on a shrimp boat, I also fished and crabbed, then I realized there had to be a better way to make a living.” He laughs, his brown eyes twinkling, before he continues. “So, I went to graduate school and got a PhD in Fisheries Science, and I did lots of research on all kinds of fish that we have here. Then I became director of the Louisiana Sea Grant program, and I learned about farming oysters.”
With him on the beach are his younger partners, Garrett Newman and Eric Bradley. Newman, the younger of the two men, is muscular and dark-haired with a never-ending, dimply smile. Bradley, who became a business partner in 2016, was raised in Louisiana on a crawfish farm. He’s tall, bearded and lanky and, besides being knowledgeable about all things relating to the bivalve, is the cooking and social media talent of the group.
Newman’s background in fish and aquaculture from Auburn University, plus possessing a fearless willingness to go in the chilly water of the oyster farm, makes him a natural fit for this business which is so beneficial to people, marine life and the environment. Above the beach, two Navy Blue Angels are practicing their maneuvers, the roar of their four F-18 engines echoing in tandem against the dome of a clear blue sky.
Bradley looks up at the jets, smiles and says, “They’re serenading our oysters.”
Today, a group of visitors are here to tour Navy Cove Oysters. Within minutes, they’re all suited up in waders and boots and enter the chilly waters headed to the oyster cages as Newman leads them. “These are floatation devices,” he says as he lifts a fender-looking object from the water that’s attached to the oyster cage. “Their job is to keep the oysters afloat and off the bottom, so we often raise the floating cages, flip them and it helps keep the oysters clean.” He effortlessly flips the cages of oysters encased in mesh bags, as his visitors watch in amazement.
“These cages hold about 1,500 market-size oysters, but the number of oysters they can hold depends on what size the oysters are,” he adds as he walks from cage to cage, flipping each one.
He explains further why they flip the oyster cages: “Doing this helps keep the oysters clean and healthy.” He turns one cage over. “You see this algae?” he asks, pointing to the dark-green growth on the mesh metal bag. “We turn the oyster cages to increase water flow. This helps to keep algae and other organisms from growing on the bags. Algae growth stops water from flowing through the mesh bags; water flow is what keeps the oysters healthy and in pristine condition for human consumption. You’ve got to have water flow to have a healthy, robust oyster.” He pauses as he flips another oyster cage. “We turn them about every 10 days in summertime and in wintertime, anywhere from two to three weeks.”
Back on shore, Wilson nods and smiles upon hearing these words. “In the oyster farming business, we have a saying: ‘More flow, more grow, more dough.’”
Newman says he learned the art and craft of oyster farming, not through his studies at Auburn University, but hands-on at Navy Cove. “I came on board here in June 2022,” he says, as he turns more oyster cages, “and became a partner in August 2024.”
Garrett Newman, Chuck Wilson and Eric Bradley on the sand at Fort Morgan. Newman flips a cage over to inspect the oysters. Bradley shucks the perfect winter snack. Newman explains how the farm works.
Bradley says that their fastest-growing oysters are ready for harvest when they’re six months old. “Individual state health departments regulate the industry,” he says, as on the beach he shucks a few oysters fresh from the water, “along with the Alabama Division of Marine Resources and the USDA.” He puts the oysters on a tray and squeezes lemon slices over them as he continues. “This [farm] began as a hobby of sorts.”
Wilson, who is also a retired marine biologist with LSU, picks up the narrative. “Our other partner, John Supan, who’s an oyster expert, and I were both at LSU,” he says, looking out over the cove as a couple of bottle-nose dolphins swim and cavort around the oyster cages, “and John helped to bring this oyster farming technology to the Gulf Coast. We actually started Navy Cove Oysters as a hobby in 2011, with about 1,000 oysters. But then we ate ‘em all.” He laughs and adds, “We got permitted and legal clearance to sell oysters in 2013. Now we’re at 750,000 oysters here on the farm.”
He looks out across the water as the wind whips it into thousands of foaming whitecaps. “We chose this cove because it has a hard, sandy bottom, and most of the time the depth of the water is three to four feet. The salt water [of the Gulf] is only two miles away, and we realized we could run this farm without a boat. From here, we have a perfect mix of the salt water from the Gulf and fresh water that comes down Mobile Bay, where oysters grow rapidly and we can closely monitor their growth and health.” He adds, “We decided that this was a perfect spot to grow oysters.”
On the beach, a large, cylinder-shaped white tumbler Bradley refers to as an “oyster grader” turns with the aid of a battery-operated pulley, dropping oysters into various buckets below it through its variety of different-sized holes in the cylinder. “The smallest oysters go back into the cove for about six weeks, to grow a bit more,” Bradley explains as he tends the grill, into which about a dozen oysters are cooking. He gathers bowls of some of the sauces he has made and brought with him to cover the oysters when they are ready to serve: bechamel, caramelized pepper-bacon, mimosa mignonette, Rockefeller.
As the day blooms into a perfect fall afternoon, a kite-surfer goes airborne near the oyster farm. Wilson expands his arms to take in the surfer and the oyster farm and says, “This demonstrates the compatibility of marine recreation and oyster farming.”
When asked about monitoring oysters’ health, Bradley deftly opens an oyster shell and describes its body parts. “See this crystalline style?” he asks, pointing with his oyster knife some clear, gelatinous-looking material. “This disappears when they stop feeding; for us, it’s like the canary in the coal mine. When the oysters are not feeding, it tells us they are stressed, so we leave them alone — no grading or drying.”
What is their market for Navy Cove Oysters? Wilson smiles and says, “Our oysters are sold locally to Sassy Bass [a seafood restaurant] here in Fort Morgan, Jesse’s in Magnolia Springs and recently to The Blind Tiger in Fairhope. All of our oysters are handled by Bon Secour Fisheries, which is a five-generation shrimp, fish and oyster processor right across the Bay. I have known one of the owners for 30-plus years. They take the oysters, wash, box and deliver them through their network.” He adds, “The rule used to be, to only eat oysters in months with an ‘R’ in their name. But with our farm and other farms’ methodology, our oysters are safe to eat year round due to seasonal harvesting regulations.”
He says the process of growing oysters begins at a nearby hatchery that produces millions of oyster seeds for Gulf farmers. “In about 30 days’ time, the baby oysters have grown from larvae into extremely small oysters, called seed, that look more like the oysters they will become,” Wilson explains. “When they’ve grown to be a certain size, we put them in the floating oyster cages in the cove.”
Bradley adds, “Since they’re in these floating cages, we can keep our oysters off the bottom, so, as Garrett said, they’re clean. Plus, we can control the size of the oyster and make sure we harvest them at exactly the right time, and with the perfect salinity.” He offers an oyster on the half-shell for a sample: “They come out tasting buttery, with just the right amount of salinity and a cucumber-like finish.”
Wilson chimes in: “Oysters are the superheroes of marine life,” he says. “Besides providing habitat and protection for fish and crab, they’re excellent for improving water quality.” He looks down at the shucking table and expertly shucks the next oyster. “Here on the oyster farm, we have seen dozens of species of fish, swimming around the oyster cages. And oysters help clean the water. A single oyster can filter about 50 gallons of water per day, on average. Mobile Bay used to be full of oysters from the east side to the west side and from north to south. Human activities have decimated the natural population, so we have lost much of our natural filter and habitat. Oyster farming, and activities by the Department of Marine Conservation, have helped restore the population. At times, algal blooms can threaten marine life, because algae consumes oxygen. Oysters help fight these by ingesting algal blooms in the water.”
With so many concerns about the environment and carbon footprints, Wilson says oysters help with that, too. “When they make their shell, they produce calcium carbonate, so they remove carbon, as well as other nutrients, from the environment and it is incorporated into their shells and meats. Carbon is trapped in the oyster shells forever.”
As he turns off the oyster-grader, Bradley adds, “Another plus for us is, we don’t have to feed our oysters.” He pauses as he takes a bucket of the smaller oysters and hands it to Newman to take to a floating cage back in the water. “They have everything they need right out here,” he adds, nodding toward the cove.
Wilson tells about how, at times, oysters and the industry as a whole were struggling for survival. “For a while,” he says, “natural and man-made disasters [think hurricanes and the BP Oil spill] threatened the entire oyster industry in the Gulf. Now, oysters are making a comeback, cleaning the water, as well as feeding other marine wildlife and people.” He places more freshly-shucked oysters on a tray and pours some hot sauce onto each half-shell. “We are glad to be a part of their comeback and continued success.”
When asked about how healthy the consumption of oysters may be for humans, Wilson says, “Now you’re talking! I could go on all day about oysters and their health benefits.” He pauses and furrows a brow before continuing.
“Oysters have many health benefits, including boosting our immune system. They also have been shown to fight certain cancers, such as breast cancer and prostate cancer. Additionally, oysters are rich in selenium and zinc; they have more zinc than any other food. Zinc is good for our growth; it also helps in making wounds heal faster, and some studies have shown they help ward off colds and even the Coronavirus, which is caused by a cold-like virus. Oysters are also rich in magnesium, which helps with mood and a sense of well-being. It’s like happiness on the half-shell.”
He pauses and adds, “They do have cholesterol, but it’s the ‘good’ kind. The fatty acids in oysters help protect the cardiovascular system because low-density fatty acids reduce plaque in our blood vessels.” Bradley stirs some sauce for the grilled oysters, then continues. “Cooked or raw, oysters have all kinds of other benefits for people’s health. For example, they have short-chain fatty acids; fatty acids are good for the skin and for lowering ‘bad’ cholesterol.”
When he’s asked about volume regarding production, Wilson flashes a broad grin and says, “Well, in one day this week, we delivered 17,000 oysters [to their vendors] and graded 12,000 oysters. I’d call that success.”
Bradley comes over to check the grill and inhales the aroma emanating from the cooking oysters. “There’s no perfume like that in the world,” he says as he scoops up the oysters with a pair of metal tongs. “People say we talk about our oysters like they’re part of our family.” He nods and says, “They’re like our babies.” Then he shows a picture of a four-month-old infant: “That’s my little girl.” He chuckles and adds, “Oysters work.”
With a background in restaurant kitchens, Eric Bradley enjoys grilling his oysters as much as eating them freshly shucked.
Here is his grilled oyster method:
Heat a charcoal grill to medium-hot. Place a grill pan over the grates and preheat. Add oysters with some liquor and top with a mixture of butter, garlic, diced chives and Parmesan. Cook until the butter is bubbly and the cheese is fully melted. Let cool slightly before enjoying. Serve with grilled bread for dipping. Bradley says “The mother of pearl provides its own serving dish! Every oyster shell can be filled with your favorite toppings. Mine is crawfish Creole cream sauce. No need to wash the dishes!”
EVENT: 4th Annual Fort Morgan Oyster Festival — February 22-23, 2025, at The Beach Club Resort and Spa
Featuring more than 40 vendors, arts and crafts, live music, all-you-can-eat Navy Cove and Admiral Shellfish oysters, fun contests and activities for kids, this event was founded to celebrate the end of the snowbird season and the beginning of spring. fortmorganoysterfest.com
