Feedback

Marylanders grow their own oysters to clean Chesapeake Bay, boost the oyster population

August 28, 2009 at 9:45 pm 0

  • Story Link
  • 0

Categories

Chris Judy, of the Shellfish Program of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, delivers oysters to the Heritage Harbor community on the Severn River.

Chris Judy, of the Shellfish Program of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, delivers oysters to Herald Harbor, on the Severn River. All photos by Kimberly Benson.

It’s oyster season in Maryland: not for oyster eaters, but for oyster growers. Yesterday was the first day of delivery of young oysters – oyster spat – to residents along the Severn River who are participating in the state’s Marylanders Grow Oysters program. More oyster spat were to be delivered today and Monday.

Participants sign up to grow oysters in their back yards – from their docks – over nine months. At the end of the nine months, the oyster cages will be retrieved from the water and adult oysters will be placed on oyster bars in each of the respective rivers.

The program is aimed at boosting the Chesapeake Bay’s decimated oyster population and cleaning the Bay’s polluted waters. A large oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day during warm months.

The project began last year in one location, the Tred Avon River, and this year expanded to include 11 Maryland rivers.

Reece and Kallan Benson (whose grandfather, Ray Dumentat, organized the delivery of the spat to the residents) get to know their new friends.

Reece and Kallan Benson (whose grandfather, Ray Dumentat, organized the delivery of the spat to the residents) get to know their new friends.

These photos were taken on Thursday at the Herald Harbor community, on the Severn River, where Chris Judy, of the Shellfish Program of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, delivered oyster spat to some very excited residents. The Severn River Association coordinated outreach to communities that were interested in participating in the program and the oyster spat was provided by the state.

Compared to other pets, keeping oysters doesn’t seem like too much of a chore, judging by the program’s website. No need to walk them, no litter box to change. They just need to be monitored for “fouling organisms” like algae and barnacles, which can be removed by pulling the cage up and down a few times in the water or “lightly scrubbing” it and rinsing with a hose.

The hardest part? It may be following the one firm rule of the program: Don’t eat your oysters.

oysters_2_resize 13640IMG

By ANN LOLORDO

Ann LoLordo is a longtime Baltimore Sun reporter and editor.

The Daily Drip

  • February 6, 2012

    • People involved in the Mount Royal Avenue bike lane issue have asked for the full text of the statements issued by Maryland Institute College of Art and the Baltimore Department of Transportation so here’s a link to a page where we’ve pasted up both. In addition, MICA has put Lazarus’ statement up on its website [...]

  • February 3, 2012

  • February 1, 2012

    • Transportation officials don’t like it, but Hampden residents are apparently fed up – they want cross-walks repainted on The Avenue and if the city’s not going to maintain the crosswalks on this busy north Baltimore street, they’re doing it themselves. Deborah Patterson, a former OSI-Baltimore Community Fellow who runs ArtBlocks, is one of the ringleaders. [...]

  • January 31, 2012

  • January 30, 2012

    • RG Steel told Maryland environmental officials today that the weekend fire that lit up the skies around Sparrows Point was caused by the disposal of hot metal from the mill’s blast furnace. “We were told that conditions relating to the idling and subsequent restart of the blast furnace led to the need to dispose of [...]

More of the Daily Drip »

Below the Fold

  • January 27, 2012

    • Catching up on a slew of interesting things to do and read this weekend that we almost lost track of in the Kickstarter hub-bub. Here are just a few: SATURDAY (1/28/12) New Mercury Non-fiction Reading – Check out tell-it-like-it-is education blogger Edit Barry (see below) and a pack of other feisty non-fictional characters from the [...]

Twitter

Facebook