Our second guest is a shellfish biologist working with Jamestown Seafood and the Jamestown S'Klallam tribe, marketing the delicious Sequim Bay Oysters, helping restore native habitat, and so much more. Hear their fabulous stories, and enjoy some oysters and bubbles while you do!
Julie Qiu
IN A HALF SHELL : An Oyster
Blog for the Bivalve Curious
Marketing Director
Australis – The Better
Fish
Julie is an
international oyster expert and founder of the award-winning In A Half Shell
oyster blog. Since 2009, Julie has travelled the world in search of the most
exceptional oysters, growers, and destinations. She has tasted over 300 oyster appellations
spanning across 6 continents. Julie specializes in creating bespoke oyster
appreciation experiences including the New York Oyster Crawl, Oyster Omakase
Pop Up Tasting Club, and is the co-author of the 33 Oysters on the Half Shell
tasting journal and New York Oyster Map. In A Half Shell has been recognized by
the International Association of Culinary Professionals as a finalist for “Best
Personal Instagram of 2017”, as well as one of Fathom Away’s “Best Travel
Blogs” and SAVEUR’s “Sites We Love.”
About Australis Aquaculture
Australis Aquaculture is an award-winning provider of healthy, sustainable seafood, marketed under the banner of The Better Fish®, A Better Fish, A Better World, A Better You™. The company spearheaded the introduction of barramundi as a key culinary trend in North America, and now offers a full line of barramundi products to the retail and foodservice markets under the Australis, Clean Harvest and The Better Fish brands and through private label products. The company operates two barramundi farms and sells its products to leading retailers and foodservice companies in North America, Australia, Asia and Europe. For more information, visit thebetterfish.com.
Australis Aquaculture is an award-winning provider of healthy, sustainable seafood, marketed under the banner of The Better Fish®, A Better Fish, A Better World, A Better You™. The company spearheaded the introduction of barramundi as a key culinary trend in North America, and now offers a full line of barramundi products to the retail and foodservice markets under the Australis, Clean Harvest and The Better Fish brands and through private label products. The company operates two barramundi farms and sells its products to leading retailers and foodservice companies in North America, Australia, Asia and Europe. For more information, visit thebetterfish.com.
Ralph Riccio
Shellfish Biologist
Ralph has been the
Shellfish Biologist for the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe since 2013, conducting shellfish
population surveys and seeding beaches for sustainable harvests. He is the dive
safety officer for geoduck (“goey-duck”)
fleet and work on aquaculture permits.
Over the last year and a
half, Ralph has been working the shellfish aquaculture venture: Jamestown
Seafood, selling oyster seed which is produced in their two hatcheries. And as
of December 2017, Ralph took on marketing and sales of the Sequim Bay oysters to
restaurants and distributors in Seattle, LA, Boston, New York, Portland Maine
and other US destinations.
Prior to joining
Jamestown, Ralph worked in Samoa, Saipan, Vietnam, Cambodia and New
Zealand, working on marine environmental and community projects. Growing up in
coastal Rhode Island, where his father was a part-time commercial fisherman, he
studied marine biology. Part of his undergraduate research involved surveying
benthic invertebrate populations living in healthy, restored and disturbed
eelgrass beds in Narragansett Bay for an organization called Save The Bay®. In
search of making a bigger impact, Riccio joined the Peace Corps and was
assigned to work for an NGO on coastal ecosystem rehabilitation in Western
Samoa, where he lived with the Apolima-Uta Tribe, learned their language and
became part of the family while cleaning up a wetland and reintroducing
mangrove populations back into their native habitat.
From
here to NZ, Viet Nam and further, earning a Master‘s degree with the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). What he loves about
his work is that it has everything he was looking for – cultural and
environmental diversity, and an opportunity to study, enhance and restore
coastal ecosystems. In his spare time, he has been exploring the Olympic
Peninsula, visiting his girlfriend in Seattle, and planning to fulfill his
longtime dream of adopting a dog, now that he has settled down. He also enjoys
fishing, mushrooming, hiking, hunting, photography, gardening, digging clams
and drinking wine.
About Jamestown Seafood
Jamestown
Seafood’s oyster farm is nestled in the pristine waters of Sequim Bay
(pronounced “skwim”) along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and just before the
entrance to the Puget Sound.
Recognizing
this watershed as distinctly different from the majority of oyster beds further
along and deeper into the Puget Sound, the oyster industry is witnessing the
emergence of something entirely new, distinctive and extremely delicious.
Oyster production
begins at the company owned hatchery, embracing scientifically regulated and
meticulously managed spawning and seed grow out procedures. Maintaining a
watchful eye on their oyster beds throughout the maturation process, Jamestown
Seafood enjoys harvests that are commercially viable, sustainable, consistent,
and abundant.
Jamestown
Seafood produces two varieties of Pacific Oysters (crassostrea gigas): Sequim
Bay Jades (Beach Farmed), silky smooth, with unmistakable brine, subtle
sweetness and a fresh cucumber finish, and Sequim Bay Blue Opals (Tumble
Farmed) which are plump, juicy and succulent, display a clean ocean flavor
accompanied by subtle sweetness and buttery texture.
