Oysterman Stanley Jester, 70, holds clusters plucked from his oyster bed in the shallows of Chincoteague Bay. Jester is one of the few of a vanishing breed — the independent hand-harvester. He figures there are a dozen left around Chincoteague Island, where he was born and raised.

A fresh oyster harvested from Jester's oyster bed is opened to reveal the tender, briny white meat. The “Chincoteague Salts” he yields are among the world’s most famous oysters.

Stanley Jester of Chincoteague walks a winding path of oyster shells in his 37 acres of submerged grounds he leases from the state in the shallows of Chincoteague Bay. Jester has held the lease to these oyster beds for the past twenty years.

Hand-harvesting is a traditional method to harvest the coveted Eastern oyster in the environment where European explorers found them more than 400 years ago.

Jester pulls oysters clusters from the mud and taps them expertly with his culling hammer. Marketable oysters must be separated from each other and from smaller and seed oysters, which are thrown back to continue growing. The Department of Natural Resources requires commercially harvested oysters to be 3" or greater.

A basket of oysters sits in the water as Jester continues harvesting. According to Jester, a basket like this sells for around $40.

A culling hammer is used to separate marketable oysters from a cluster. Jester has used this hammer long enough that it has grooves worn into it from his hand.

Stanley Jester of Chincoteague harvests oysters by hand at low tide in his oyster bed in the shallows of Chincoteague Bay.

Jester is joined daily by a willet that eats some of the spat he removes from marketable oysters.

Stanley Jester of Chincoteague stands on one of the marshes that are part of his oyster bed in the shallows of Chincoteague Bay, where he harvests oysters by hand at low tide. Jester estimates that he is one of a dozen men on the Eastern Shore that continues to hand harvest, while others use tongs or dredge.

Jester, still in his waterproof waders, returns from an afternoon working his oyster bed. The oysters this day were sold to Little Bay Seafood Co. on the island.