“The oyster business, in general, is healthy for the waters,” says Maria McBride, chair of Slow Food East End. “It has a lot of beneficial relationships to aquaculture, but not every oyster farmer is as discerning. They [Peconic Gold] have a spectacular product. They are very engaged with not only the product they produce in their farm but also their local community too.”
Like many younger shellfish farmers, Ketcham arrived by way of the commercial fleet and a hard look at the future. He “saw the writing on the wall with fishing … regulations and just the fishing getting worse,” and shifted to aquaculture after watching friends at the University of Rhode Island turn a grad-school project into a business.
Oyster farming rewards labor and attention, he said.
“You’re farming them, but as hard as you work, you can make them better.”
“I like to think that the oyster industry on the North Fork now is a lot like the wine industry was, you know, decades ago, where nobody really knew about the wine industry out here. They didn’t know that we had good wine,” says Ketcham. “And now it’s a huge thing. So just by being consistent and through some marketing efforts, we’re really helping ourselves.”
Learn how to shuck from First Mate & Deck Boss Chase Hale!
Ketcham, who has been shucking his oysters at Jamesport Brewery on weekends, is gearing up to open his Cutchogue roadside oyster stand in time for Columbus Day weekend. He is planning to sell oysters in a variety of increments, from 24 to as many as 50 oysters per bag. The stand will be located at 21125 Route 48 in Cutchogue between Depot Lane and Cox Lane.
“Farming is a really great struggle,” said Matt Ketcham, owner of Peconic Gold Oysters . “[I’ve] been in business out here for six years,” he said. “There’s farm stands down the block from me, there’s farm stands across the street. They’re selling cider, donuts, apples. It’s great, and I don’t hear anybody complaining about that.”
Mr. Ketcham, like many oyster farmers and growers in the town, said his only intent is to sell oysters.
Ketcham’s love of the water was triggered at age 8 or 9. “My dad took me flounder fishing for my birthday,” said Ketcham, who now lives in Southold. “Later I worked in a tackle shop and on fishing boats, and then got my captain’s license.” Originally from Patchogue, he’s a graduate of the aquaculture and fisheries technology program at the University of Rhode Island and, like Wile, is one of Suffolk County’s first aquaculture leaseholders.
