Citizen-raised oysters get 'planted'
The first batch of oysters raised under Maryland's citizen oyster-growing program have "graduated" to a new home on the Eastern Shore.
Cages of oysters grown by 177 waterfront pier owners along the Tred Avon River in Talbot County were collected by staff from the Department of Natural Resources and the Oyster Recovery Partnership, a nonprofit group. As the DNR-supplied photo above indicates, several watermen and volunteers also helped.
The oysters from 858 cages were moved to a sanctuary near Oxford, where they're to be protected from harvest for eating so they can help clean up the water.
The program was begun last year by Gov. Martin O'Malley in a bid to enlist the public in restoring the Chesapeake Bay's signature bivalve, which helps to filter pollution from the water. Oysters raised by residents since last October were produced by hatcheries run by the University of Maryland and by DNR.
Plans are to expand the citizens' oyster growing effort this year to other rivers and creeks around the bay. For more information, go here.
Comments
These kind of efforts need to be extended ansd multiplied.
We should exercise our control over the mortality of oysters by stopping any harvest - indefinitely. No waterman is making a significant portion of his earnings by taking the depleted oysters (roughly $2,000,000/year harvests the last few years spread over about 600 watermen - roughly $3000/year each).
Funds (stimulus money, or whatever) should be found to pay the watermen for $3000/year worth of Bay Stewardship - planting grasses, restoring waterways/habitat, keeping the poachers in check... we all would be better off. Let the oysters grow and breed and filter water for the next ten years. It would be a start to restoring the resource...
Posted by: Philip Morrison | August 12, 2009 11:04 AM