Aquaculture Oyster Laborer

Job description

Workers for this job must be comfortable in waist-deep water, comfortable riding on a boat, willingness to work in the water in a wetsuit during late fall and early spring. For farming, we use adjustable longline lines for nursery operations. This allows us to reduce overall workload and grading requirements. During this phase, we use a vibratory grader to bulk-handle grading of oysters. In addition, we use an auto-bagging machine to quickly and efficiently containerize oysters after grading. Nursery duties begin with the retrieving of baskets from suspended longlines on the farm. This activity requires an individual to stand in waist to chest deep water. Note: the farm is located on a hard packed sandy shoal which allows for ease of work. Baskets can weigh up to 30lbs and will have to be passed at least 2-3 feet from the farm onto the boat. That basket will then have to be stacked on the boat by hand. The farm crew will then either unload the baskets onto the bulkhead via crane or by hand. Workers will be working with a vibratory grading machine to sort oysters; this requires emptying baskets weighing up to 30lbs. They will then refill baskets with oysters using an auto-bagging machine. The newly bagged oysters will weigh on average 12lbs each. During this process, the employee will use a pallet jack to move filled baskets, and unfilled baskets, around the bulkhead. Workers will assist in reloading the boat.
Additional activities include assisting the farm with routine maintenance such as raising and lowering farm cable lines while in the water to manage biofouling and occasionally using a trash pump while on the boat. The farm crew will be required to help prep the bulkhead for any upcoming grades. This entails the staging of empty baskets. Additional maintenance includes cleaning and preventative maintenance of farm equipment such as the use of applicators to grease mechanical equipment, daily cleaning of boats, keeping the bulkhead tidy, building and installing gear, using pneumatic tools to help assemble gear, and performing supervised boat and tractor maintenance duties.
After nursery activities, the farm crew will be responsible for helping with near market and market ready oysters. Husbandry activities of near market and market-ready oysters includes the following: The crew will take baskets off of the long line farm and hand stack them on boat. The baskets are then driven back to the bulkhead where they are graded down into specific counts and placed into large orange totes. These orange totes weigh up to 40 lbs. The orange totes will then need to be stacked onto a pallet which is loaded onto the boat by crane, tractor, or hand. These oysters are loaded onto our Flip Farm farm site (a floating gear set that is managed from the boat) via dumping each orange tote into a floating basket via a loading platform.
When it is time to harvest these oysters, the baskets will be emptied back into these orange totes via a loading platform. The orange totes should then be stacked on the boat deck; these totes weigh about 40 lbs each. Oyster back taken back to the processing facility where they will be unloaded.
Duties focus on farm husbandry and maintenance, workers will also assist the team with market grading and culling tasks when needed. This includes assisting in the harvest of market-ready oysters off of Flip Farm equipment, washing harvested oysters via a washing apparatus, loading and managing a vision grading machine final culling and and inspection of oysters, assembling shipping boxes, and packing oysters in shipping boxes and bags and loading into cooler. Lastly, this position will also help the team in the deep cleaning of the grading machines and facility.

Ability to lift, throw, and stack 40lb of oysters, being comfortable in waist-deep water, comfortable riding on a boat, willingness to work in the water in a wetsuit during late fall and early spring, and the ability to stand for long periods of time

Special Requirements

Persons seeking employment in this position must be available for the entire period requested by the employer. Employer reserves the right to terminate a worker if the employer reasonably finds worker's performance to be unacceptable. Employer reserves the right to discharge an obviously unqualified worker, malingerer or recalcitrant worker who is physically able but is unwilling to perform the work necessary for the employer to grow a premium quality product, or for any other lawful reason. The employer may discipline the worker, including brief suspension of work activities/employment for a set period determined by the supervisor or termination of employment.