Meet Lucas Baybutt

Lucas is Mass Oyster’s Shell Pickup Supervisor this summer in Wellfleet. Get to know Lucas in this Q&A.

Lucas, what connects you to the mission of MOP and to shell recycling? Why are you excited about this?

I have always been interested in ocean conservation since I was a young child and my mother and me joined MOP over a decade ago I have been volunteering ever since! 

What's your connection to the cape and Wellfleet?

I grew up coming to the cape in the summers with my family and still spend as much time as I can here, it’s my favorite place to be everything comes together for me on the cape. Being an artist it’s a place full of romance and intrigue I’ve always produced my best work on the cape. I have worked in Wellfleet for a few years and have always worked the Wellfleet oyster fest event every year for MOP. 

How have you volunteered with MOP in the past?

Where do I begin?!! I have volunteered in almost every form possible since doing my first event at 14 years old I have always had a deep connection with MOP.

Tell us a bit about the shell recycling program on deck for this summer in Wellfleet.

The program that we are just getting solidified is the shell recycling program, it’s an amazing effort to bring used shells back into the eco system and has worked for us and many other organizations in the past to help filter pollutants in our oceans. We create a natural reef of oyster spat that grows on the shells and creates a network of oysters to filter the water. One oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water a day on its own! 

What would success look like with this project for you?

I always measure the success of projects with our group by the amount of people we can reach and educate. Education is the reason I started to work with MOP in the first place I was astounded how little my peers knew about the ocean and environment that I grew up in made that task difficult. Not many people were speaking out at my age about ocean conservation and I knew that was an issue. Working with children has always been something I have loved to do I went to boarding school in 7th grade so a fairly young age, and always was interested in learning more about the ocean. In the past I have gone back to my school to teach the kids about what our organization does and for me that’s the greatest success I could ask for. 

Anything else?

Save our oceans and I hope to see you all soon!