Stephan Abel is the the President and CEO of Ferry Cove Shellfish, an oyster hatchery located along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Starting off his career, Stephan didn’t even consider going into natural sciences or natural resources at all. In fact, he was military. In today’s episode, Stephan shares his story, transitioning from flying helicopters for the US Navy to working for big name start ups like Sallie-Mae and Career Builder before taking the leap into the world of natural resource management. Stephan has some key insights into what it takes to change industries, and he shares them here today.
This episode is brought to you by Ferry Cove Shellfish. Ferry Cove is one of the largest hatcheries on the East Coast focusing on the production of the Eastern or American Oyster. Using advanced hatchery production techniques coupled with its green building design and energy efficient systems, Ferry Cove provides the aquaculture and commercial industry with high quality, low cost larvae and seed. Good for you, good for the oysters, good for the water. For more information please visit ferrycove.org.
Connect with Stephan: website
Quick links
SallieMae
Career Builder
Horn Point Oyster Hatchery
Maryland Seafood Co op
Ferry Cove Hatchery
Waterman
Phycologist/Phycology
Show Notes
4:10 Stephan shares a little bit of his own personal history with the Chesapeake Bay
5:07 Stephan went to college through an ROTC Scholarship through the Navy studying Mechanical Engineering
6:00 As part of his ROTC scholarship, after college Stephan joined the Navy going through flight school and becoming a helicopter pilot.
9:50 Getting out of the military, Stephan needed to figure out what was next and the best way to get there. Night school and earning his MBA was his choice.
15:30 Stephan worked for several big name startups during the dot com boom, including SallieMae and CareerBuilder. Here he explains what it’s like working for these organizations and the reality of the startup world.
19:25 A friend of Stephan’s from Department of Natural Resources in Maryland reached out to him saying there was a job opening, so he took the position to be close to home and rekindle his appreciation for Chesapeake Bay
26:00 Pivoting further into the natural resources realm, Stephan accepts the position as the Executive Director of the nonprofit Oyster Recovery Partnership. The goal of the oyster recovery partnership is to physically grow baby oysters and place these oysters back into Chesapeake Bay. Oysters are at 1% of historical levels in the Chesapeake Bay due to harvesting, water quality and habitat loss.
33:30 In order to help watermen make a more stable living, Stephan created the Maryland Oyster Co-op.
37:00 Stephan explains the difference between oysters grown in cages versus on a reef and what that means for the different types of consumers.
40:00 2010-2015 struggle with oyster larvae development triggered the need of oyster aquaculture, specifically a Hatchery
41:50 The Ferry Cove Hatchery was born which is a 70-acre site!
45:20 Description of the staff hired for Ferry Cove Hatchery. 6 staff that work at the facility along with Stephan
48:50 Goal of 800 million oyster larvae and supporting oyster restoration for Maryland and Virginia industries
50:00 Why oysters are so important and awesome: one oyster can filter up to fifty gallons of water- that’s the size of a bathtub- in a single day!
58:30 Stephan’s conservation ask is a yummy one: eat more oysters. It helps support a local community of waterman and business. Also, be sure to recycle the shells!