Walking with Grace: Toadfish
Did you know South Carolina has a critical shortage of oyster shells? Americans consume an estimated 2.5 billion oysters each year, but only a fraction of that shell returns to our coastlines. Recycled oyster shells are essential for replenishing existing wild oyster populations, restoring oyster reefs, and maintaining the health of our oceans. A single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water each day, dramatically improving water quality, reducing sediment, and removing excess nitrogen, which is the cause of harmful algal blooms.
As a small company with an in-house oyster shell recycling program, we’re all about oyster recycling advocacy and education. (Did you miss our comprehensive blog post, Oyster Shell Recycling: From Oysters Rockefeller to Oyster Reef Restoration?) When it comes to oyster reef restoration, Casey Davidson, the founder of Toadfish, is a huge inspiration to us at Grit & Grace Studio.
Toadfish is a South Carolina lifestyle brand that celebrates all the finer aspects of Lowcountry living. Whether your passion is fishing, paddling, cooking, or boating (or maybe just enjoying an unspillable beverage on a boat), Toadfish products strive to help you live your best life on the water while protecting the oceans and restoring water quality. Through Toadfish’s Put ‘Em Back oyster recycling movement, they have been able to plant more than 150,342 square feet of oyster beds.
Casey Davidson
Founder of Toadfish Outfitters
We love the Put ‘Em Back movement. What led you to start this initiative?
I have been interested in conservation since I was a kid. I’m a 12th or 14th generation from the Lowcountry, the Beaufort area originally. Although my folks wouldn’t call themselves conservationists, my uncles were crabbers and shrimpers when I was growing up, and when I went fishing with my grandfather, my dad, and my great grandfather, they always preached not to take more than you need.
As I got into college, I started to dive into that more. My passion is fishing and being on the water, and I interned with the Coastal Conservation Association in Columbia. CCA Director Scott Whitaker said to me, “We’re working on this finfish legislation. Do you know the number one reason for fish mortality?” I said, “No, what’s that?” He said, “It’s water quality.”
That really got my wheels turning because you’d think it was commercial fishing or something like that. I was studying to become an environmental attorney to go after polluters in court, but I took a little bit of a different path and, through that journey, I discovered how important the oyster is for filtering the water.
When I decided to start my own business, I knew I wanted to start a brand that replanted oysters to help clean the water. I knew what the brand concept was for Toadfish before I knew what products we were going to make, and I knew it would be called Toadfish.
Tell us about your name! Why Toadfish?
I came up with it when I was goofing off in high school with my brother. We were making fun of all the people making redfish and tarpon belts and this fratty stuff, and we were like, “We should do a toadfish brand because if you’re not actually an angler, you don’t know what a toadfish is.”
And it fit with what I ultimately wanted to do with conservation because the toadfish depends on the oyster bed for survival. They live down there and ambush predators; the toadfish is just a gnarly little fish I found interesting.
Toadfish has accomplished a lot as a brand. What are you most proud of?
I’m proud of how much we’ve been able to give. That’s how we measure our business: how much are we able to give back. We’ve done oyster reef restoration projects in 8 coastal states now. Our goal is to plant oysters in every coastal state in North America.
My personal life goal for conservation is a statewide oyster shell recycling program for the state of South Carolina, where we pick up from restaurants and put back more shells than we take out annually. I want South Carolina to be a role model of how oyster shell recycling could be. I think we can achieve that and establish a beacon of hope for all the other states.
Who is a conservationist who has inspired you?
My grandmother, to be honest. She wouldn’t tell you she’s a conservationist, but she’ll run a sink full of water to wash dishes and then take a bucket to bail the water out to water her plants and stuff.
I don’t think it’s anything she’s consciously doing, it’s just the way she lives her life, and that’s really cool.
If you could have one wish for Earth Day, what would it be?
I would wish that recycling oysters would be second nature to everyone, like recycling a glass or plastic bottle.
What’s next for Toadfish?
We’re just doing our thing.
We’re solving problems related to the lifestyle that we like to live; we like to fish and eat and entertain and we’re constantly trying to come up with new ideas that make that more fun.
We just have a good time and keep it real.
We'd like to thank Casey for making time to share the Toadfish story and the Toadfish team for all they've accomplished with the Put' Em Back movement.
We hope you head out into the world - or out on the water - feeling fired up about oyster shell recycling and saving our seas! Be sure to wave to the Grit & Grace recycling team as they tote our signature pink oyster shell recycling buckets around town.
Grit & Grace Studio recycles 10 oyster shells from local restaurants for each oyster product sold, and we're excited to announce we're about to surpass 1,000 gallons of collected shell already for 2021.
Shop our Oyster Jewelry Dishes, Oyster Shell Candles, and Oyster Garlands today!
One Love & Blessings,