The Croxton clan has witnessed first hand the long decline of the oyster industry in the Chesapeake Bay. Since James Croxton first leased five acres on Virginia's Rappahannock River in 1899, the family has watched harvests on the Bay tumble from more than 20 million bushels a year to just 200,000. Some of the collapse was at the hands of Mother Nature, such as back in 1954 when Hurricane Hazel wiped out their entire crop. But mostly the sad state of oystering on the Bay was due to the sorry environmental condition of the Bay and the unsustainable way watermen harvested oysters.

While the bleak outlook of the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry may have deterred most people from giving it a go, cousins Ryan and Travis Croxton saw it as an opportunity to change the industry. The future of the industry they decided back in 2002 was in farming the native oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in a long-term sustainable way. They got some seed from a hatchery and started to raise oysters in cages off the bottom, where the oysters could grow plumper, tastier, faster. And it worked. Today, their Rappahannock River, Stingray and Olde Salt oysters are shucked in some of the best restaurants across the country.

Along the way, the Croxtons realized that restoration was the key part of the sustainability solution, and they embarked on a new mission to revitalize the livelihoods of independent watermen by teaching them to farm oysters, which the Croxtons' company, Rappahannock Oysters, would buy from them. Those efforts have been so successful that the Croxtons have launched their Barcat brand of shucked oyster meats, the first and only shucked farm-raised Chesapeake Bay oyster.

Ryan explains the concept: "We created the Barcat oyster with a very singular purpose - to ensure that affordable, sustainable oysters will always be available, and that anyone committed to growing them in a conscientious manner will always have a market." It's always been our ultimate goal to bring back the shucking industry," adds Travis. Recognizing that improving the ecological health of Chesapeake Bay is in everyone's interest, the Croxtons dedicate 5% of the sales of Barcat oysters to the newly established Barcat Foundation, which distributes funds to such environmental programs as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Click here to view Rappahannock River Oysters' products and remember to tell them you found them on FishChoice.com when you contact them.