WRITTEN BY JULIA BAYLY
While hiking or driving alongside the New Meadows River in Brunswick, you might miss the active farming operation just beneath the tidal waters at the end of Casco Bay. But if you look closely, you will spot yellow corner buoys just offshore, tucked between Bombazine and Lower Coombs islands.
Those buoys mark and hold in place lines of oyster cages containing thousands of fresh oysters destined for dinner plates, picnics, and seafood boils around Maine. Welcome to Bombazine Oysters, home to some of the state’s tastiest oysters and sustainable aquaculture practices.
The company’s roots go back to co-owner Max Burtis’ childhood, when his high school football coach introduced him to oysters. By his senior year, Burtis and two friends were active in student shellfish farming.
“We thought, ‘You know what? This oyster farming thing is a good idea,’” Burtis recalled. “We didn’t know where the clams were going, and we liked working on the water.”
An oyster farm, they figured, would allow them to stay on the water with the added security of a reliable farmed product.
“My dad fished for oysters on Chesapeake Bay when he was 18,” Burtis said. “We were 18 at the time, so we roped him into our hobby farm here.”
After graduating from high school, Burtis attended the University of Maine, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering. His former oyster farm partners went in different directions, leaving Burtis and his father, Chris Burtis, with the farm.
“It’s what I’ve been doing with my dad since 2022,” he said.
While the younger Burtis still actively harvests clams, he said running an oyster farm is less backbreaking and more mentally stimulating than digging for clams.
Farming also gives him a great deal of control over his mollusk crop.
“When you ‘hunt’ shellfish in the wild, every day is a harvest, and you count on Mother Nature to do the husbandry and grow the shellfish,” Max Burtis said. “With farming, you actually control the organism throughout its different life phases.”
The process starts with purchasing tiny oyster larvae, which Burtis proudly refers to as “his babies,” and then spending the next several years raising them to adulthood in specialized containers protected from predators. Each cage holds six bags.
“When it comes time to harvest farmed oysters, it is so much easier,” he said. “You know exactly where they are, separate from the smaller ones.”
The father-and-son team spends a great deal of time tending the oysters, but Max Burtis said there is no chance either of them will become emotionally attached to their shellfish charges.
“They are more like rocks to me,” he said with a laugh. “Oysters don’t have much going for them in terms of personality, and there is no central nervous system, so they are really just a shell with some meat inside.”
In fact, oysters are so devoid of animation that Max Burtis said he even knows vegans who enjoy eating them.
A key tenet at Bombazine Oysters is sustainability.
“I define sustainability as the ability to do something continually for generations,” Burtis said. “The Gulf of Maine is a good place for that.”
The Bombazine Oysters processing facility is powered by solar energy. That means workers are not hauling around gasoline or diesel fuel that could leak or spill into the coastal ecosystem. For their part, the oysters help the environment by sequestering carbon in their shells.
“We are able to provide local jobs with a living wage,” Burtis said. “So we are able to contribute to the economic sustainability of this working waterfront area.”
That working waterfront culture is near and dear to Max Burtis’ heart.
“It’s a lifestyle where you work on the water, waking up with the sun, working all day, and bringing in a harvest that makes people happy,” he said. “People feel good about the work, and it helps provide a sense of place and a sense of community in this area.”
Visitors can learn about this way of life by taking part in a farm tour that lasts about 90 minutes. During the tour, they take a boat to Bombazine Island, learn about the farming process, sample oysters fresh from the water, and even learn how to open — or “shuck” — oysters.
The Burtises are more than happy to share their products with guests and visitors.
“Maine oysters are the best,” Burtis said. “There are so many varieties with so many different flavors.”
Oysters can be fried, sautéed, grilled, baked, roasted, broiled, or steamed. But as far as Max Burtis is concerned, the best preparation is no preparation.
“I like them raw on the half shell with a little squeeze of lemon,” he said. “I really want to taste the oyster.”