Photo Credit: Screenshot from NC IDEA Sandbar Oyster Company Case Study Video

our story

In 2009, Drs. Niels Lindquist and Joel Fodrie at the UNC Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) recruited David “Clammerhead” Cessna to work as a Commercial Fisherman Collaborator on research projects funded by the NC Sea Grant Program. Between 2010 and 2015, Clammerhead worked with many IMS faculty, graduate students and technicians on multiple oyster-focused research projects, many examining problems with oyster community development on different types of reef foundation materials. This research lead Lindquist and Clammerhead to invent a novel, biodegradable material – Oyster Catcher™ – to overcome problems and create new ways to promote oyster growth and restore/create estuarine habitats. They co-founded Sandbar Oyster Company to use Oyster Catcher™ to improve the quality and productivity of coastal ecosystems they, and so many others, depend on and cherish. Coastal degradation has tremendous negative economic implications – threatening lives, livelihoods and properties of coastal residents and estuarine ecosystems vital to resilient, sustainable fisheries. The integrity and ecological functions of coastlines worldwide are being progressively undermined by growing coastal populations, rising sea levels and intensifying storms. Restoring oyster- and salt marsh-based ecosystems are key to enhancing many coastal fisheries and protecting coastal properties and communities. In addition to improvements in environmental quality and coastal resilience, SANDBAR’s products and services will underpin robust manufacturing and deployment workforces, as the company becomes a leader offering nature-based solutions for restoring critical estuarine habitats and protecting coastal populations from the devastating impacts of shoreline erosion and flooding.

Our Team

Niels Lindquist

Niels grew up in Gainesville, Florida, where he enjoyed scuba diving in North Florida’s springs, surfing along the east Florida coast and fishing Florida’s Gulf coast at Cedar Key. After graduating high school in 1977, Niels worked as a carpenter to earn money to fund surfing expeditions to the Bahamas, central America, the South Pacific and Australia. In 1979, Niels started his studies at the University of Florida, receiving his B.S. degree in chemistry in 1983. He then conducted Ph.D. research in natural products chemistry and chemical ecology at the University of California at San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. He continued marine chemical ecology research as a post-doctoral associate and then faculty member at the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) in Morehead City, North Carolina. For many years, Lindquist studied coral reefs, but in 2010, his research interests turned to North Carolina’s oysters.

David "Clammerhead" Cessna

David grew up in his family’s ancestral region of Carteret County, North Carolina. Beginning at the ripe old age of six, David began learning firsthand from his grandfather the many wonders of commercial fishing and mysteries surrounding shellfish and shellfish harvesting. Despite warnings from his grandfather to run away from commercial fishing as a career, David’s early experiences drew him more deeply to it. Over the next four decades, his adventures and endeavors in commercial fishing gave David extensive experiential knowledge of shellfish, and the interesting nickname, "Clammerhead". Clammerhead worked primarily with shellfish, both in the wild harvest industry and running aquaculture leases for himself and other growers.

Fairley Cessna

Being the son of Clammerhead, Fairley Cessna was exposed to commercial fishing at a young age. A love for the environment leads his goal to restore oyster populations to historic levels, perhaps beyond. Part of Fairley being homeschooled included spending time along the shorelines and marshes, where he also discovered how tightly weaved all of the components of nature were. When he isn’t working on the water, Fairley can usually be found in the marsh or woods with his best friends, Logan and Nikki-Lynn.