Aquaculture, specifically shellfish and seaweed aquaculture, is often celebrated as among the most sustainable food production systems in the marine world. Oyster and seaweed aquaculture techniques do tread lightly on the environment, and are beneficial to ocean health in many ways—but the fact remains that a reliance on plastics in every step of cultivation has an enormous negative environmental impact. Aquaculture contributes to more than half of the seafood consumed globally, and is only projected to increase and with it, industries dependency on plastic. In order to have a truly sustainable aquaculture industry, every step of production needs to be examined and improved. Currently, aquaculturists rely on almost 100% plastic materials to cultivate and grow food. Deer Isle Oyster Company strives to change this, through re-thinking the materials we put in the water to grow shellfish and sea vegetables. Over the past four years, we have aimed to identify durable, competitive, viable, and ecologically friendly materials for aquaculture systems, with a focus on oyster surface cultivation. At the most basic level, our goal has been to figure out which materials are the best for building grow-out bags — in performance, supply, scalability—and that meet our ecological goals