The Farmers

We are Maura and Reed Smith, the farmers behind Calusa Oyster Company in Tampa Bay, Florida. We have grown up around saltwater and seafood our whole life. We have always fished, snorkeled, scalloped, or spent time with our friends on the water. One of our earliest oyster related memories together was way back in college. We were driving from New Orleans to Dallas in my old Grand Wagoneer. We were hungry and saw a billboard for Ralph and Kacoo’s Restaurant along the way, so we stopped. Long story short, we left with a bag of oysters, shucked them in the car, and recycled them out the window along the Louisiana back roads until the bag was empty.

In the fall of 2020, like most people, we were catching up on all kinds of things on our DVR, Netflix, etc. We were watching an episode of “How to Do Florida” profiling the Shellfish Trail in Florida’s Big Bend area. In addition to crabs, clams, and shrimp there was a segment on off bottom oyster farming. Maura said, “we could do that.” To which I said, “you want to be a farmer?” (That’s a line from a silly rom-com movie we seem to quote frequently.) Then I said something like “seriously, I think we could.”

That was the jumping off point. We started researching oyster farming and talked to the only other oyster farm in Tampa Bay. That led to months of research and industry conversations which led to many hours spent pouring over satellite images and sea grass layer maps of Lower Tampa Bay. After a year of site evaluations and lease nominations we finally have an approved 4-acre aquaculture lease.

We want to thank everyone that has been a part of getting this off the ground. We have asked a lot of questions and never had anything but enthusiastic answers and support. Together with our teenage daughter, family, and friends (many of whom you might see on the farm from time to time) we are excited to make the water our office and work to produce the best oysters we can. We look forward to being a part of the rich history of oystering in Tampa Bay and putting our oysters to work helping filter over 1.8 billion gallons of bay water a year.