2024 Report: Aquaculture reports best year since 1995

An oyster farmer harvests from a barge in Ninigret Pond (Photo courtesy of Katie Martin, Ocean State Shellfish Co-op)

July 15, 2025, WAKEFIELD – Rhode Island’s aquaculture industry in 2024 reported its best year since reporting on the industry began in 1995, according to the R.I. Coastal Resources Management Council’s annual status report, “Aquaculture in Rhode Island.”

The farm gate value (the value for the product paid to the farmer) of the state’s combined aquaculture products was at $8.8 million in 2024, a marked increase from $7.28 million reported in 2023, and more than double what they were in prior years during the COVID-19 pandemic (farm gate value plummeted in 2020 and 2021 with $4.12 million).

The number of farms also grew in 2024 with an increase of five sites for a total of 89. Acres farmed increased by 8.22 acres to a total of 392.54 acres farmed. Oysters remain the aquaculture product of choice in the state, with nearly 11.6 million sold for consumption.

Oyster seed sales from Rhode Island aquaculturists were valued at $804,000, an increase from the $770,000 reported in 2023, again continuing a positive trend industry-wide. The number of aquaculture farm workers declined from 228 in 2023 to 198 in 2024.

Again in 2024, the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service worked with Rhode Islander growers to purchase and deploy approximately 1.6 million oysters at restoration sites throughout the coastal ponds and Narragansett Bay.

The full report is available on the CRMC website.