Oyster farmer Bruce Silverbrand, left, and coastal program manager for the Nature Conservancy, Steven Kirk, at Little Buttermilk Bay in Buzzards Bay. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Standing on a cold, wet beach, Bruce Silverbrand rummages through a metal basket of oysters. He picks out a huge one almost as big as a mitten, with a knobbed and lumpy shell. It’s what people in the shellfish industry call a “big ugly,” though Silverbrand abhors the term. I would never call an oyster ugly these are my babies, he says. He considers the monster in his hand for a moment, turning it over for a good look. This is not a bad looking oyster, really, for a big oyster.