Fish Friday: Patrick McMurray, The Oyster, and his World

Written by Patrick McMurray, Oyster Shucker
As an Oyster Shucker of a certain age, you get to know your way around the intertidal zone, if you know what I mean. The tide comes and goes, the seasons change, and you get to wondering, as shells are flyin’ at a thousand a day…just how deep IS the ocean? How much longer can we be blessed with a bounty of les fruits de mer? Is this my last shuck, or will there be more for my grandkids to enjoy?
I am Patrick McMurray – Oyster Shucker – a guy, from Toronto mind you, that likes to spend his time crackin’ shells. The Art of Shucking is to be able to open the oyster, with a knife, and present it to customers, free of grit, or broken shell. Somehow, along the way of my 28 years in the restaurant trade, I stumbled into oystering – and got pretty good at it. Four-time Canadian Shucking Champion, 2002 World Champion (yes, there is a World Championship for shucking – Galway, Ireland for 58 years) and a Guinness Book Record for 38 Oysters opened in a minute.

I have invented my own specific shucking technique, ergodynamic oyster knife that is heading for North American distribution, and wrote a book about oysters: Consider the Oyster – A Shucker’s Field Guide. I have a passion for oysters and seafood that, almost unbelievably, gets me flown around the world – to talk, teach, instruct, and compete – all for the oyster.
I was offered an opportunity to open my own restaurant in 2001, Starfish Oyster Bed & Grill – but with restaurateuring, comes great responsibility. We have the ability to tell the customers what they are going to eat. The customers then tell you whether this is a good idea or not – if they come back. Twelve years later, we might just have something working here…
It was the humble oyster that inspired me, and Starfish, to become “sustainable.” Yet long before sustainable became a buzzword, responsibly-farmed oysters have been an option. In fact, way back in 300 BC, the first known oyster aquaculture appeared. A few thousand years and countless shucks later, I figured that since I knew where my oysters were coming from, it made a lot of sense for me to know where my fish, meat, and vegetables come from as well.

Over the years, I found that a balance is needed in the seafood trade if we want to leave something for our kids’ kids to enjoy.
Fresh, Local, Sustainable – are my thoughts on the fish offered at Starfish.
Fresh – is the best way to show fish, but there is a time and a place for frozen – when it is done right.
Local – fish from the Great Lakes, (or as close to you as possible – to reduce carbon footprint) cultured on land is a great balance to ocean-only choices.
Sustainable – now this is where it gets interesting. I balance my seafood from well stocked wild, seasonal catches, to well-maintained and certified sustainable aquaculture practices. We cannot live on wild-only stocks, period. We humans have proven too many times that we will consume everything in our path, and if we do not check that thought, we will consume the ocean, until only water remains.
I have chosen to balance what I show at Starfish, and teach customers my belief, that we should live a sustainable, balanced life.
Sustainable – Local, Cultured, Wild – when it comes to fish and seafood.
C’mon in, the water’s fine!