Michael and Kalliope Chute of Mermaid Menu.
By Doreen Leggett
Michael Chute has been shellfishing his entire life and loves it, but when he got his first aquaculture farm it was a grind.
“I found a lot of ways to do it wrong,” Chute said.
He was fighting time and tide, constantly under pressure, feeling he was involved in a solitary pursuit. It wasn’t suiting him, “keeping your head down and not looking up,” said Chute, who has never met a stranger.
Kalliope, Chute’s wife, was sitting with him on their boat, Bella Sereia, on a blazing hot day in Provincetown Harbor. She said having one of the more remote deeper water aquaculture leases was tough.
“I said to Michael, ‘Maybe we could have more fun,’” she remembered.
The two turned to aquatourism in Provincetown, fun with a purpose.
“I’ve been the guy who failed. I want to see people do well,” said Chute.
With help from many people throughout town and some grant funding, they have started or support varied ways to celebrate Provincetown and its seafood, from a Clambassador program to educational workshops for start-ups to a trolley tour that features local fare paired with some history of the Provincetown flats.
“It’s amazing what happens when you put these people together,” Chute said. “You can make magic happen.”
Chute was born in Wrentham, Ma. the older son of two health care professionals. His grandparents lived in the East End of Provincetown where he spent summers.
“I came down here when I was two days old,” he said.
His great grandfather, John Silva, a descendant of fishermen from the Azores, fished on the family-owned F/V James M. Burke.
His grandfather, Francis Silva, was also a fisherman, but by the time Chute was born his grandfather had sold his commercial vessel, the F/V Patricia and Pauline, but still lobstered recreationally with his grandsons. Chute remembers cutting a lot of bait and hanging around the pier.
“I grew up in the harbor. It’s nostalgic for me,” he said.
When Chute graduated from high school he went to Green Mountain College in Vermont (now closed) which was known for environmental literacy and advocacy. He graduated with a degree in business and later received a master’s in emergency management.
After college Chute spent a lot of time travelling, often snowboarding and skiing. He came back to Provincetown when he was in his mid-twenties because he missed the ocean, thought he would just stay the summer, but never left.
When he first got back to town he went back to recreational clamming. One day Shellfish Constable Steve Wisbauer told him he should consider applying for a grant.
A few years after they began working the outer farm, which they now use as a nursery, Kalliope got a grant inshore, east of the breakwater. The dozen or so aquaculture businesses in that area draw a lot of visitors.
People stopping by to ask questions suited Chute’s desire to educate people about local seafood but cut into his workflow.
That’s when they worked with Provincetown Economic Development Committee and others to better link the public to the industry. First came a website visitors can access while on the flats through a QR code on the aquaculture gear.
“We tried to curate the experience,” he said.
The website talks about SilvaChuters (a play on Michael’s name) and Mermaid Menu (a nod to their aquatourism work and Kalliope’s health-conscious mom), but also the history of the industry.
A video with Larry and Nancy Mead, who grew clams in the harbor and then sold them in town – an early version of farm to table – talks about the start of their business in 1989. And Chute said they are hoping to continue the series, possibly including Alex Brown, of Victory Fisheries, who had the first oyster farm in town and the Santos’ Details Fisheries, which launched the first oyster tours.
“We want to make sure we show respect to those who came before us,” said Kalliope.
Mermaid’s Menu also does tours.
Chute said there was only so many times he could be asked, on his grant no less, if these were Wellfleet oysters. The erroneous assumption is that oysters served in town are from Wellfleet as well.
To build on the tours, Chute received a grant from the EDC to start a Clambassador program.
“It’s the first of its kind in the state,” Chute said.
Thor Jensen is one of the Clambassadors, He first worked with Kalliope through a grant using the oyster farm to inform his art. He created a massive urn out of recycled aquaculture gear, broken plates and other materials.
“It’s like a vessel to pay homage to that shellfish resource,” he said.
Working as a Clambassador made sense, he knew the industry and it dovetailed nicely with his background in marine biology. Jensen said small-scale aquaculture is one of the few methods of food production that doesn’t require fertilizers, or pesticides. To minimize their farm’s footprint further, the Chutes are collaborating with the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies and Mycobuoys to use balls of mushrooms in place of plastic flotation.
Jensen enjoys walking people through the process of how shellfish seed grows. Since the farm has shellfish at various stages of life, that conversation can take place in a short time.
“People have been really responding to that,” he said.
Those who visit the flats also are excited to try Provincetown oysters in town.
“People want to buy local,” said Jensen.
“This is an opportunity to teach people and also drive a market that hasn’t been here in so long,” Chute said.
“We want to keep the oysters here. It’s part of the character of the town,” Kalliope agreed.
The Clambassadors pass out 10-percent off coupons for local raw bar items at the Canteen restaurant, which serves Mermaid Menu oysters. The Chutes have also worked with Mayflower Excursions to include aquaculture as part of the “Local Eats” tour.
“Provincetown oysters are so beautiful and delicious,” Kalliope said. “The brine in Provincetown is just insane and we are so proud of it.”
Cape Tip Seafood’s Chris King, with deep roots in town and two family-run fishing vessels, has the licenses required to bring seafood from many different fishermen to sell to restaurants in town.
“He has been cutting checks to local fishermen for more than 30 years,” said Chute.
Kalliope said the value of local seafood and distribution networks became really evident during COVID.
“During COVID Provincetown was a kind of food desert,” Kalliope said.
When many grocers and restaurant owners couldn’t get product, King kept delivering – even direct to homes.
“We were really inspired by that,” Kalliope said. “We wanted to do things with our business that we didn’t know how to do.”
The Chutes wanted to offer raw bars, while a friend, Michaela Murphy was interested in starting a fish tin business.
“I was just in Alaska and everyone cans their own fish. They are able to survive the winter on the bounty of the summer,” Murphy said. “It’s inspiring.”
Through an EDC grant Kalliope received, the Chutes and Murphy pulled together a group of speakers for a series that covered everything from building your brand to food safety management.
“I want to see people succeed,” said Chute. “It’s the way we connect with people … sitting down and sharing a meal.”