Know Your (Oyster) Farmer: Mac Raith of Island Oysters

Story by Virginia Bullington, Photography by Dan Lemaitre. In partnership with Flotsam Magazine.

Mac Raith got roped into oyster farming helping his crazy “uncle” Simon Edwardes. The two met when Raith was 7 years old, before Edwardes had moved permanently to the United States. Edwardes was dating Gillian Myers who was Raith’s close family friend and first grade teacher. 

“I wasn’t sure who this guy was that was coming into my Aunt Gil’s class to hang out,” remembered Raith with a laugh. 

The two families remained close over the years, and when Raith was old enough to get a summer job, he joined Edwardes landscaping, which was the first chapter of a working relationship that endures to this day.

“He was maybe 12 and a half, I’d make him dial my phone and hold my coffee,” said Edwardes with a smirk. “But we had a good time.”

When Edwardes left the landscaping world to start his oyster farm, he brought Raith along with him. 

“I liked working for Simon, he was a good boss. He never yelled at anyone or took anything too seriously,” said Raith. “So I went out with him on the oyster farm and it was just awesome. It is a niche little job, and there were a couple of things when I first went out there where I was like, this is where I’m supposed to be.”

Besides finding a refuge from the pollen and humidity that bothered him as a landscaper, Raith grew to love the work of oyster farming. 

“We would just be out there blasting music the whole day,” said Raith. “I really like physical labor, feeling tired at the end of the day, and being outside.”

Raith spent years working on the farm during the summers and vacation through high school and college, until eventually he was able to buy his own lease.

“Personally investing in my own farm was a nudge from Simon. He said to me ‘Mac, it’s the lifestyle! You get the winters off! You’re not going to become a millionaire but it’s the lifestyle.’ And it didn’t take much to convince me because I was excited to become more of my own boss and be more involved in something so beneficial to the water quality of the harbor,” said Raith. “It was a pretty easy decision.”

Raith graduated from Salve Regina in 2019 with a degree in marketing, but his determination to pursue oyster farming did not waver, even though this career path was distinct from the majority of his peers. 

“I didn’t care about being like everyone else. It was a privilege to get to go to college but I didn’t want to have an office job,” said Raith. “I am more interested in having a high quality of life than selling my soul for six figures.”