NOAA: This Beaufort County man helped save SC oyster farming

Beaufort County oyster farmer Frank Roberts is getting a spotlight this week from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The federal agency is promoting this week as Aquaculture Week and October as National Seafood Month. Aquaculture — fish or shellfish farming — supplies half the seafood eaten in the United States and abroad, according to noaa.gov.

In an interview with NOAA, Roberts, founder of Lady’s Island Oyster, explained the challenge oyster farmers in South Carolina faced in 2014 when the state banned imported oyster seed — also known as spat — over fears of transferring diseases. At the time, local farmers got all their spat from Virginia, the article says.

The former Marine, with help from Julie Davis of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, built his own hatchery and now supplies every grower in South Carolina with seed, the article says.

Lady’s Island Oyster sells the signature variety Single Lady Oysters at the Port Royal Farmers Market on Saturday mornings.

Read more about Roberts and oyster farming in South Carolina at www.noaa.gov/stories/south-carolina-oyster-farming-one-man-finds-success-on-half-shell.

This story was originally published September 29, 2017 at 11:46 AM with the headline "NOAA: This Beaufort County man helped save SC oyster farming."