Wellfleet's Alex Hay has been in the seafood business since he was a teenager

Wednesday, Aug. 5 marked National Oyster Day, and Wellfleet’s Alex Hay, 47, used the occasion to talk shop and his family’s seafood roots. He opened Mac’s Seafood on the Wellfleet Pier at 15, starting a business that grew from a fish market into restaurants, wholesalers and caterers. Today, Hay runs The Wicked Oyster, Wicked Provisions and the Wellfleet Shellfish Company, and works with groups including the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association and the Massachusetts Aquaculture Association. He said the holiday timing aligns with peak farmed oyster season and heavy stock, and he wants younger diners to eat oysters at rates closer to those from 100 years ago.