About Our Basket Island Oysters
Basket Island Oyster Company started in 2012 with 10,000 small oyster seeds and a dream to become a successful oyster farm that produces a high-quality and delicious oyster, provides well paying jobs, with the opportunity for advancement to our employees. There is a famous saying among oyster farmers that goes “you are not a real oyster farmer until you kill your first million oysters”. By that standard, we are officially ‘real oyster farmers’.
We are part of the farm to table movement. Read about us in this article in the Portland Press Herald:
“An oyster’s journey from sea to table: How your food gets to you (at least if you’re lucky enough to live in or visit Maine)”
Our farm is located along the beautiful, rocky Maine coastline in Casco Bay.
WHO WE ARE
Mark Green received his PhD in Oceanography from Stony Brook University in New York in 1996. In 1997 he moved to Maine with his wife Jeanne and their two dogs to start a teaching and research position at Saint Joseph’s College. While researching the impact of ocean acidification on small bivalves he realized the important role that shellfish aquaculture will have as wild populations continue to suffer from the multiple stressors today’s oceans face. What started as a research endeavor has evolved into a commercial operation in beautiful Casco Bay Maine. Mark loves his kids, his wife, his dogs, and his oysters.
Emmett Huber grew up on Peaks Island in Casco Bay, he has never been too far from the ocean. He graduated from Maine Maritime Academy in 2012 with a degree in Vessel Operations and Technology, and a 1600 ton Captain’s License. He has worked on the water in various capacities on many different vessels, including schooners in Casco Bay, tugboats in New York Harbor, and tank barges delivering ethanol from San Francisco to Hawaii. He now lives in Portland with his wife, Natasha, two kids Evans and Eiza, and their doberman, Loxley.
Phoebe Walsh began working for Basket Island in the Spring of 2020 as she was finishing her Master’s in Ocean Food Systems with her classmate Hillevi! Phoebe fell in love with the ocean while growing up in Yarmouth; sailing, fishing, and foraging for shellfish with her family. After graduating with her B.A in Environmental Studies from Franklin and Marshall College, she worked in web development at CIEE in Portland, traveled in New Zealand, worked for a local catering company, and spent a year in Malaysia as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. Now she’s back in Maine, living in Portland, and loving life as an oyster farmer!
Lane Hubacz met his future boss, Mark Green, as a student and when he interned with him while studying marine science and chemistry at St. Joseph’s College (’09). From this first experience, he knew aquaculture was his calling. His experience goes beyond just oysters; he spent several years farming mussels before joining the company full time. Lane loves being on the water, and his job gives him that opportunity all year-round. When Lane is not on the farm, he enjoys being outdoors, hunting, fishing, playing with his kids, and spending time with friends and family. Lane and his wife, Caitlin, their three kids, Finley, Adeline, and Theo, and dog Gus reside in Saco.
Hillevi Jaegerman returned home to Portland, Maine, after graduating from Tufts University in 2012 with a B.S. in Biology. She has seen this industry from many angles: from her past job at the hatchery at Mook Sea Farm where she reared oyster larvae, to the upweller at our farm where she manages the juvenile oyster seed, to serving oysters on the half shell in the restaurant industry of Portland where she has worked on-and-off for almost a decade.
Sara Cannon grew up on Peak’s Island, so she’s no stranger to the ocean. She’s also no stranger to farming: she’s been farming organic fruit, vegetables, maple syrup, cheese, cut flowers and sheep for the last ten years. She currently works for Bumbleroot Organic Farm when she’s not out oystering. Sara is a talented professional artist in both graphic design and painting, and she lives in South Portland with her partner Alex and two dogs Lupa and Leila.