In The Muck: Theresa Baybutt
A Board Member Profile by Nate Bernitz
Oysters aren’t just for slurping. Theresa Baybutt, a member of the Massachusetts Oyster Project board of directors since 2011, sees oysters in an entirely different light. As a gemologist, Theresa has been working with pearls, which are produced by a variety of shellfish but most notably by oysters very different from the species Mass Oyster works to restore to the coastal waters of Massachusetts. While the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) can produce pearls, typically when a piece of sand gets inside the shell and slowly develops into a pearl, high quality pearls that gemologists like Theresa value come from tropical species of oysters that bear little resemblance to the cold hardy oysters that once blanketed rocky shores along the eastern seaboard and Gulf of Mexico. Today, Eastern oysters are at less than 1% of their estimated population when the first European colonists arrived in what’s now the United States in the 17th century.
If you’ve heard the term “mother of pearl”, it’s not just a colloquial saying. When oysters and other bivalve shellfish form pearls inside their shells, Theresa is fascinated by the process that turns a piece of sand, an inserted bead in aquaculture systems, or even a tiny sea urchin becomes a coveted pearl. To protect itself from the foreign object, oysters secrete a substance called nacre, also known as mother of pearl, in layers over the object. Like the oyster’s shell, this substance is made of calcium carbonate, and the more layers of it secreted over the object, the larger the pearl will be. Just as the inside of an oyster shell is luminescent, pearls are as well, making them coveted in high-end jewelry. Different species of bivalve shellfish produce different types, and colors, of pearls, including fresh and saltwater species. Even quahogs produce a distinctive pearl! The end product, which ends up under Theresa’s microscope, must be tested, and while she takes a scientific approach to evaluating pearls and other gems, she appreciates the artistic, unique and beautiful patterns and colors within gemstones. No two pearls are the same.
Just as native oyster populations are a rarity these days, natural pearls are as well. It’s not that shellfish don’t create pearls naturally, but in parts of the world where native shellfish produce valued pearls, their harvest is strictly regulated. So most pearls found in jewelry stores and on the market these days are cultured pearls, meaning that they’re harvested from cultivated shellfish grown in aquaculture systems. In this way, purchasing pearls is a lot like purchasing oysters to eat - the vast majority of oysters shucked and slurped by oysterphiles are also cultivated.
As you might imagine, working as a gemologist means incredible attention to detail, making Theresa a natural fit as Mass Oyster’s treasurer and clerk. This means stewarding the organization’s finances, ensuring compliance with laws and regulations for nonprofit organizations in Massachusetts, and connecting the organization’s revenues and expenses to support the overall mission. But that doesn’t mean Theresa doesn’t get into the muck. Her favorite Mass Oyster memory was when the team surveyed native shellfish in the waters near Constitution Plaza in Boston and found a recovering ecosystem after years of work, including oysters, despite the historic pollution and previous disappointing surveys. In other words, Mass Oyster helping bring oysters back to Boston Harbor, a long term goal but a goal that animates the team.
In recent years, she loves participating in the annual release of oysters from the organization’s north shore upwellers into a restoration site on Gloucester’s Mill River. “To know we have grown them from seed, cared for them and now place them in an area they will thrive to continue the propagation process is quite rewarding,” Theresa observes.
Theresa Baybutt at a Mass Oyster restoration site
Oysters, both in Massachusetts waters and as natural manufacturers of pearls, truly inspire Theresa. Although she thinks of it less as a process of building and more a process of healing, and how that healing process produces something truly magical. “As nature has found a way to deal with irritants affecting the life of the mollusk – so too can we find a cure to eliminate the irritant to the human body and our planet – leaving behind the beauty of life,” Theresa writes on her company’s website, Treasure Bay Jewelry.
Knowing how Theresa sees the world, it should be no surprise she recently published a book of poetry, called A Sensational Journey. A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic for her is that with business halted, she finally had time to take the poetry she’s been writing for years, as middle-of-the-night streams of consciousness and on a writing retreat to Italy a couple years ago, and turn it into a collection. One of the poems was about an oyster and a pearl, titled Luminescence. Theresa generously shared an excerpt.
There is something caused by nature that is marvelously unique
Nowhere on earth is there anything that comes close to its peek
It shines from underneath its surface with radiance that is pure
It’s beauty so breathtakingly mesmerizing and sure
This radiant orb is a gift of an oyster from the sea
It is there lying in secret a treasure waiting to be
Who would have ever thought that something starting out as an irritant
Could grow into something so luminously brilliant
The oyster is not just something nourishing to eat
It’s a magical creature here to create a beautiful treat
What we can learn from this magnificent bivalve in the ocean
Is to not let life’s annoyances cause us commotion
Learn to layer with soft kindness the bumps in the road
Be true to yourself and reinvent the load
For when you see the amazing beauty and luminescence
You’ll then glow like a pearl and shine iridescent
The collection is for sale at Wellesley Books, on Amazon, and will soon be available at other independent bookstores.
The Massachusetts Oyster Project is an all-volunteer non-profit working to strengthen our coastal environment by restoring native shellfish populations to our beaches and coastal estuaries. Through oyster cultivation, shell recycling, education and advocacy we can improve water quality, increase the diversity of sea life and mitigate the effects of climate change.