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The Shellfish Families and Companies of Yerseke

From Roem van Yerseke to the growers at the historic oyster pits: the families behind the mussel village.

Redactie VisitYerseke.com · updated July 2026

Yerseke's two dominant shellfish companies are Roem van Yerseke, formed in June 2020 when the family firm merged with Koninklijke Prins & Dingemanse to become the Netherlands' largest mussel and oyster processor, and Krijn Verwijs, a family oyster business founded in 1880 that partnered with fishing group Cornelis Vrolijk in 2022. Both remain family-run.

Who are the two dominant shellfish companies in Yerseke?

Roem van Yerseke and Krijn Verwijs are the two names that stand out in Yerseke's shellfish industry today. Roem van Yerseke became the country's largest mussel and oyster processor after its June 2020 merger with Koninklijke Prins & Dingemanse (Source: Omroep Zeeland/ANP, 17 June 2020). Krijn Verwijs, founded in 1880 as an oyster-farming business, sells its shellfish, lobsters and crabs across Europe under the Premier brand and entered a strategic partnership with fishing group Cornelis Vrolijk in 2022 (Source: Vismagazine, 2022).

Both companies describe themselves as family businesses, and both still operate from Yerseke's harbor area. Around them, dozens of smaller family growers keep the town's historic oyster pits in daily use.

How did Roem van Yerseke become the Netherlands' largest mussel and oyster processor?

Roem van Yerseke has operated as a family business since 1942 (Source: Roem van Yerseke, company statement). By its own account, the company today employs around 150 people, farms more than 2,000 hectares of mussel and oyster plots, and runs its own fleet of 14 vessels. It processes shellfish in two fresh-processing plants and a cannery in Yerseke, and operates a separate plant in Germany for frozen mussels. In 2005 the company opened its own shellfish hatchery to research the breeding of young mussels and oysters on land as well as in open water (Source: Roem van Yerseke, company statement).

The June 2020 merger with Koninklijke Prins & Dingemanse, a rival family mussel processor, combined the two companies under the Roem van Yerseke name and created the largest mussel and oyster processor in the Netherlands, with roughly 200 staff during the high season (Source: Omroep Zeeland/ANP, 17 June 2020). Trade press coverage of the deal describes it as a merger of two family-owned rivals into a single dominant national player (Source: Intrafish).

What is the story behind Krijn Verwijs and its partnership with Cornelis Vrolijk?

Krijn Verwijs Yerseke B.V. traces its roots to 1880, when Pieter Verwijs began farming oysters. The company now sells mussels, oysters, lobsters, crabs and sea vegetables across Europe under the Premier brand and the slogan “Seafarmers by Nature” (Source: seafarmersbynature.com, Krijn Verwijs/Premier).

In the summer of 2022, Krijn Verwijs and fishing group Cornelis Vrolijk, itself a family business founded in 1880, signed an intention declaration to work together, and the strategic partnership was made official on 8 December 2022 (Source: Vismagazine, 27 June 2022 and 8 December 2022). Under the agreement, Cornelis Vrolijk became a strategic partner in Krijn Verwijs's shellfish and crustacean activities. “We remain Krijn Verwijs, a family business that is committed heart and soul to the shellfish sector,” director Caroline Verwijs said at the time (Source: Vismagazine, 27 June 2022). Some trade outlets have described the arrangement as a 50-50 stake, though that exact split is not stated in either company's own announcement; the confirmed fact is the strategic partnership itself.

Which historic family names shaped Yerseke's shellfish culture?

Yerseke's shellfish industry has been a family affair for generations. An archival Dutch trade-press profile of Krijn Verwijs, held in the Wageningen University & Research repository, names five family names it describes as “all names of families that have been involved in the shellfish culture from generation to generation”: Dingemanse, Steketee, Scheele, Louwerse and Verwijs (Source: WUR repository, edepot.wur.nl/9238).

The Dingemanse name also lives on in Koninklijke Prins & Dingemanse, the mussel and oyster pioneer founded in 1880 that later merged into Roem van Yerseke. Multi-generation family ownership remains the pattern across most of Yerseke's shellfish businesses today.

Who are the family growers still working the historic oyster pits?

Around the harbor's historic oyster pits, 28 growers and grower-traders were still active in Yerseke as of 2024, according to a reportage published in Interessante Tijden and originally written for the trade paper Visserijnieuws (Source: Interessante Tijden, 12 October 2024). Several of these family businesses run their own public tasting rooms alongside their farming operations:

  1. Pols-Bom, based at Oesterput 14 since 1870, is run by fifth-generation grower Jacques Pols, who sells Skal-certified organic oysters grown by the traditional method; his daughter is preparing to take over as the sixth generation.
  2. The Pekaar family, whose vessel YE-14 ‘Paraat’ works the oyster plots, runs the tasting room Oesterproeverij Pekaar at Oesterput 14.
  3. Kopek B.V., a family company, operates the tasting room ‘Oesters & Bubbels’ next to Pekaar.
  4. The Oesteracademy, run by Adriaan van de Plasse under the company Delta Ostrea, also sits at Oesterput 14.

What can visitors see and taste at De Oesterij?

De Oesterij, at Oesterput 13 on the Havenkade, is the family business of the Dhooge family, who have farmed shellfish since 1906 (Source: oesterij.nl). The company is now run by the fourth generation. In 2010, the family converted long-vacant buildings into public tasting rooms, giving visitors direct access to growers rather than only to restaurants (Source: Interessante Tijden, 12 October 2024).

De Oesterij combines active oyster and mussel farming with a shop, tastings and an annual oyster festival. Together with the neighboring tasting rooms of Pols-Bom, Pekaar and Kopek, it turns a short stretch of Havenkade into a place where the harvest, the growers and the tasting all happen within a few meters of each other.

When did oyster farming begin in Yerseke and are the historic pits still in use?

Artificial oyster farming near Yerseke began around 1870, when growers adopted French oyster-culture techniques (Source: Zeeuwse Ankers/Erfgoed Zeeland). More than 150 years later, several of the same pits, including Oesterput 13 and Oesterput 14, remain in daily use by working family growers, not as a museum display.

Yerseke itself is a village of around 7,140 inhabitants (CBS figure, 1 January 2023, cited via Wikipedia), part of the municipality of Reimerswaal on the Oosterschelde in Zeeland. Its shellfish trade extends well beyond the pits: Yerseke is also home to the Netherlands' national mussel auction.

Want to see the pits and tasting rooms for yourself? Plan a visit to Yerseke's harbor.

Plan your visit to Yerseke

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Is Yerseke's shellfish industry still run by families?
Yes. Both the two largest processors, Roem van Yerseke and Krijn Verwijs, describe themselves as family businesses, as do the smaller growers at the historic pits, including Pols-Bom, Pekaar, Kopek and De Oesterij.
What is the difference between Roem van Yerseke and Krijn Verwijs?
Roem van Yerseke, formed by a 2020 merger, is the Netherlands' largest mussel and oyster processor by scale. Krijn Verwijs, founded in 1880, sells shellfish across Europe under the Premier brand and partnered with fishing group Cornelis Vrolijk in 2022.
How many oyster growers are still active in Yerseke?
A 2024 trade-press reportage counted 28 oyster growers and grower-traders still active in Yerseke, ranging from large processors to small family businesses running their own tasting rooms.
Can visitors taste oysters directly from the growers in Yerseke?
Yes. Several family growers, including Pols-Bom, Pekaar, Kopek and De Oesterij, run their own public tasting rooms at or near the historic oyster pits on Havenkade.
Are the oyster pits in Yerseke still used for farming today?
Yes. The pits, in use since around 1870, remain working farming infrastructure at family businesses that still water and grade their oysters there today.

Sources

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