Spat or seed are stocked on the bottom in coastal waters and grown to marker size. Time to market size is extremely site specific. Typically it takes three to five years to attain this size, but with improved strains. Techniques through the nursery phase are well-documented. Oysters may be cultured directly on the bottom or in racks off the bottom.
Management includes predator control.
Good water flow is essential. The greatest impediments to oyster culture are disease. Prospective culturists should thoroughly research sites that they are considering. Through aggressive marketing in the early 1980s. There is no hatchery phase for commercial cultivation.