How We Cultivate Our Oysters - From Start to Finish

At Sanctuary Oysters, we are dedicated to cultivating delicious oysters with superb quality and impeccably clean taste. It takes our team approximately a year and a half to get an oyster ready for harvest. Today we are breaking down the entire production process into six major steps so you learn how we get our mouth-watering oysters from seed to table:

1.     Hatchery

The first step in our production is growing the eggs into small seeds, which can take roughly three months. During oyster hatchery, we produce our seed oysters in large holding tanks where we can control the water conditions, temperatures, and specialized natural diets. As soon as they reach a certain size, they are ready to leave the hatchery and move to the oyster farm.

2.     Nursery

During this step, our oysters are taken to the farm where baby oysters can safely grow for the first months of their lives. They are kept in boxes to safeguard them against any predators. We clean and sort our baby oysters regularly to keep them healthy.

3.     Off-bottom Pre-Grow

Next, we start the most critical part of our oyster production – our unique above-seabed growing technique. Once the oysters are ready, we place them in mesh bags on top of racks in the intertidal lagoon area for three months. We believe this practice is highly effective because it allows our oysters to filter feed on natural, nutrient-rich phytoplankton and prevents unwanted growth of epiphytes.

4.     Off-bottom Grow-Out

After some time in pristine growing conditions, our Sanctuary Oysters are placed in larger bags in the intertidal area of the lagoon. During this stage, oysters are out of the water from one to three hours during low tide, which causes them to close their shells tightly and store clean seawater between their valves.

5.     Grading & Cleaning

Once our oysters reach market size, we pre-grade and clean them ahead of time to minimize the stress on the animal and to speed up the packaging process on shipping day.

6.     Harvest & Processing

After an additional 4-6 weeks in the nutritious Pacific Ocean waters, our oysters are hand-picked and shipped to our customers! At Sanctuary Oysters we pride ourselves in only shipping to order – ensuring that our oysters are always fresh.

Are you interested in learning more about how we produce the cleanest and freshest Sanctuary Oysters imaginable? Shoot us an email at info@solazul.com.mx.