Cape shellfish facilities lose thousands in theft of oysters

Two Cape Cod shellfish facilities have been robbed of thousands of dollars worth of oysters this summer, including a heist last week.

On Monday, workers at the Barnstable propagation site on Marstons Mills River found that it had been robbed of around 3,000 oysters sometime the previous week. The site cultivates many shellfish, but oysters are one of their most popular commodities, said Douglas Kalweit, Barnstable natural resources supervisor

The theft was valued at about $3,000, Kalweit said.

The thief, or thieves, either trekked through woods or drove a boat through polluted water to gain access to the oysters, Kalweit said.

There are no suspects, but the site has changed employees’ shifts and added surveillance cameras, Kalweit said.

“There’s a whole bunch of people with their eyes and ears out,” he said.

The stolen oysters were supposed to be harvested in November.

Earlier this summer, there was a similar theft at Crowes Pasture in Dennis. Thirty-one farmers cultivate oysters at that location, and more than 20,000 oysters have gone missing, said Dennis shellfish constable Chris Southwood.

In the Dennis theft, 10,000 full-grown oysters and the trays they grow in were taken from one farmer’s grant, or plot, between July 14 and 15, setting him back about $1,600. Between July 18 and 19, another 10,000 oysters went missing, but the thief did not take trays in that case, Southwood said.

Due to the similar nature of the crimes in Dennis and Barnstable, Southwood believes the same person may have stolen the oysters.

“Until they get caught they’re probably just going to continue to do it,” he said.

In order to prevent future thefts, the Dennis Department of Natural Resources will be putting a gate up on the road leading into the shellfishing grants. The gate will stay closed between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m. Surveillance cameras will also monitor the site, Southwood said.

Crowes Pasture grants had seen thefts in the past but never to this extreme, Southwood said.