Deer Isle oyster farm plans expansion with 20-year lease
After growing oysters year to year since 2021, Fish Creek Oysters goes for the long haul in plan to triple its production
Allison Melvin hopes to at least triple production with a new long-term lease. Photo courtesy of Fish Creek Oysters.
April 1, 2026
By Steele Hays
Allison Melvin and Jesse Klein of Deer Isle, who have been growing oysters since 2021 under one-year licenses, have now applied for a standard 20-year lease covering a larger area in Greenlaw Cove off Oak Point in northeast Deer Isle. The Maine Department of Marine Resources will hold a public hearing on their application at 1 p.m. April 30 in Ellsworth.
Melvin and Klein’s company, Fish Creek Oysters, currently manages 60 cages and sells about 40,000 oysters a year. The pending application, if approved, would let them operate up to 1,156 cages on the proposed 4.7-acre lease area, but they don’t anticipate reaching that level of scale for many years, if ever, Melvin said in an interview with The Rising Tide.
“We’ll probably grow to maybe two or three times the number of cages we have now,” she said.
Fish Creek Oysters currently sells to Aragosta and other local restaurants, as well as through its website.
Melvin said she is not aware of any opposition to their lease application. One nearby property owner has provided a written endorsement of the proposal, which is included in the public filing.
“We support the work Allison and Jesse have already done in testing this lease site with a small farm and therefore support their application for a full site lease,” Tim and Emily Hoechst wrote. “It is important for the next generation of young people to have opportunities to create their own businesses and Allison and Jesse are doing just that. Our conversations…have convinced us that they have a deep respect for sustainable aquaculture and they are striving to balance their new venture with the health and beauty of Greenlaw Cove.”
Melvin said they believe their site is ideally suited for producing high quality oysters.
“This area is protected, with lots of tidal flow, and not much traffic from lobstering or other commercial fisheries,” according to their website. “It’s quiet, beautiful, and the strong tide brings plenty of nutrition for the oysters to filter.”
Approximate site of the oyster farm expansion off northeast Deer Isle, seen here in red.
The proposed site has a flat mud and sand bottom with depths that range from eight feet at low water to 20 feet at high tide. The cages will float on the surface between April and November and be sunk to the bottom from December to March.
More than 80 percent of Maine’s $16 million annual oyster production comes from the area around Damariscotta, but there are a growing number of oyster farms in Deer Isle and on the Blue Hill Peninsula.
“Our oysters grown further north have a really special quality from our colder and less brackish water,” Melvin said. “A wonderful briny quality.”
Anyone interested in attending the public hearing must register in advance through the DMR. The hearing will be held at Moore Community Center on State Street in Ellsworth. Attendance is also available online.
