ALL PHOTOS BY COLE DITZEL
Most days, Sam Walsh can be found waist-deep in the waters of New Smyrna Beach tending to his expansive oyster farm. Sharkbite Oysters (Instagram | Website) was founded in 2022 as a small-time farm and pipe dream for Sam. “We grew the farm from planting 50,000 oyster seeds, or spat, four years ago. Now we’ve got hundreds of cages and plant about a million seeds,” Sam told us.
The farm is based on practices found in Canadian oyster farms, where racks or bags are floated at the surface of the water and rotated. Allowing the sunlight to naturally kill off any unwanted barnacles and algae on the surface, keeping the oyster clean. “I’ve tried a bunch of other types of farming, like fish and shrimp. What I realized was that I always had to feed them something daily. When I found out about oyster farming, and that I didn’t have to feed them anything and Mother Nature took care of a lot of that hard work… I kind of fell in love with the entire process.” He continued on the sustainability of the practice.
“These oysters are filtering millions of gallons (of seawater). They’re providing a habitat for tons of species, and to me that’s probably one of the most rewarding parts about this entire endeavor. I get to see the immediate benefits that it provides to the environment.”
The oysters on Sam’s farm typically take anywhere from six months to a year and a half to go from seed to harvest. “We start them about the size of a lentil… they all grow at different rates,” he continued on the challenges facing the farm. “One of the biggest challenges we face in Florida is misconceptions. A lot of people think that you can’t get a premium product out of Florida, and that you can’t eat oysters year-round.”
The oysters Sam produces are served from fine dining establishments in Chicago, down to pop-up oyster stands in Orlando. Sam said, “I’ve been really lucky. I’ve had a lot of help from some great people. My folks have been here since the beginning. They’ve worked on the farm with me. My best friend moved down from Maryland, and he’s been absolutely instrumental. It’s helped me move the business a lot faster than I initially thought.”
We asked Sam about the future of Sharkbite oysters and where he’d like to take the business. “I love the farming side, and we’ve got that pretty dialed. I’d love to connect more with the consumer and teach them about the amazing product, the amazing resource we have here in New Smyrna Beach. To get more people to care about the environment is a big goal of mine. My farm relies 100% on this healthy waterway that we farm in.”
“I had a ten-year plan to start planting a million oysters, and I did it in three, you know? So it’s made the last five years wildly stressful, but also made it extremely fun and rewarding. Now I just need to figure out how to take a day off.”
Sam’s oysters can be found locally at several locations. Including Rogue Wave Wine Bar & The Local Pearl Oyster Shoppe in NSB, Lombardi’s Seafood in Winter Park, and the occasional ‘Curious Oyster’ pop-up stand at events around Orlando. Follow Sam on Instagram @sharkbiteoysters
ALL PHOTOS BY COLE DITZEL (INSTAGRAM | WEBSITE)
