Awe, Shucks!
Photography by Yvette Roman
While standing at the south end of a Morro Bay dock at 7am, cool ocean air fills the lungs and salty mist lands on the face of an oyster fisherman as he prepares to board his boat. Warm coffee is a welcome presence for the crew at this chilly hour of the morning. The bay, ominous in its glassy, ghost-like presence, is undisturbed. The beautiful hues of pink and orange on the water, cast by the rising sun, mean it’s time to leave land.
Leading the way is George Trevelyan, Owner of Grassy Bar Oyster Co. in Morro Bay. As he boards the boat, his warm smile and familiar presence radiate through the crisp air. The oysters he and his crew are fishing today are grown in mesh bags directly on the natural mudflats in Morro Bay’s intertidal zone. That’s where they’re planted as tiny “seeds” that eventually grow into a large class of oysters. When ready, fishermen raise the oysters off the bottom and place them on racks for a few days before harvest to purge any silt — fine sand or clay — that may have entered their shells. After, these ocean treasures are tended and sorted by hand, washed and inspected before being sold. This meticulous nature of his process is unsurprising for those who know George, a true steward by every definition. “As we arrived this morning to where the boats are docked, I witnessed a baby otter laying on its mother’s belly,” George says, still in awe of the waters he visits on a regular basis.
George’s fascination and love for the ocean and marine biology began as a young man growing up in San Diego. After high school he was accepted into the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he began his studies in aquatic biology and abalone reproduction. After graduation, he pursued a master’s degree in aquaculture. Unfortunately, George says the jobs he found in aquaculture were limited to what was essentially “farm” labor, so he obtained a Sea Grant Fellowship to continue studying for his doctorate. He began work with the Bodega Marine Laboratory, where he spent the next 10 years learning the ecology and hatchery methods of bivalves, mussels in particular.
George and his wife had a child during this period and, after the grant ended, George moved his family to the East Coast to work for two years as the Microbiologist and Hatchery Manager at an oyster farm in Chesapeake Bay. When the beds became diseased, though, the oyster company was shuttered. Feeling the call to home on the West Coast, the family loaded up a U-Haul and began the journey. Soon thereafter, the couple’s second son was be born, as George recalls, almost in the moving truck. George later worked for the Abalone Farm in Cayucos, where he stayed for the next 17 years. George dedicated his time to studying the nutrition, health and reproduction of the hatchery. However, at the end of 2009, the economic downturn resulted in him being laid off.
Subsequently George had the chance to purchase an oyster operation in Morro Bay, then run by one man. George spent the day with him and developed a connection with the back bay. Then and there, George decided to “buy the farm.” Since 2011, he and his family have not looked back.
Committed to sustainable practices, Grassy Bar addresses the health and needs of the bay. As a result, George has seen a substantial increase in the health and life of the water. This is thanks to the practices and attentiveness of George, his foreman Nate and every other crew member. George enjoys imparting his knowledge of the bay to anyone who will listen. When standing in an area with a lower water level, George shares, “Now we are in the shallows. This is the eelgrass,” and goes on to explain how it cleans the water, nourishes fish, absorbs climate-warming carbon and produces oxygen.
Grassy Bar finally opened a storefront in 2019, when regulators decided the oysters needed to be removed from the bay for purification and purging purposes. In an effort to cross utilize resources, George decided to sell, through the shop, equipment needed to fish oysters.
Customers can buy oysters shucked or whole at Grassy Bar, which serves them in the half-shell on ice with a variety of toppings, including their own unique mignonette “Grassy Splash.” The business also offers clams and oysters live in the shell, which customers may order off the menu at Giovanni’s Fish Market, Tognazzini’s Dockside and Olde Port Fish & Seafood. Packed full of omega-3 fatty acids, oysters contain a low level of environmental contaminants and rich health benefit. Plus, they’re an environment-friendly catch, which is important to George.
For anyone who hasn’t tried Grassy Bar oysters, George describes them like this: “Our oysters present a unique flavor profile influenced by the salinity and ecology of the waters that flow in and out of Morro Bay. A Grassy Bar Oyster hits the palate with a strong, briny flavor of salt and the ocean followed by the unmistakable freshness of garden cucumber and a lingering wet-river-stone minerality. We think they are best enjoyed with just a squeeze of lemon.”
