(Photo by Glenn Fawcett, Baltimore Sun)

The Oyster Advisory Commission will be taking a tour of Marinetics, the Choptank Oyster Company, on Saturday, March 29. This will be followed by a tour of Choptank oyster bars.

Marinetics has an interesting story to tell, I think. I wrote a story about them a few months ago, around Christmas. The company founders, Bob Maze and Lori Landeau, are both scientists who wanted to research oyster diseases. In order to fund that, they figured they'd start a hatchery and grow some oysters.

That has become their business, and they're already sold 365,000 of them. Locally, you can get them at Gertrude's at the BMA, and at Bobby's in Cambridge. I'm sure there are other places too. they are marketed as "Choptank Sweets."

Scientists have long been talking about how aquaculture is the future of our industry. Or, as VIMS oyster biologist Mark Luckenbach likes to say, the present of the oyster industry worldwide, if you look at Virginia and France and Ireland. The commission, in its first report, talked about how aquaculture would have to play a large role in the survival of the industryin the Chesapeake Bay.

Over the past couple of years, the state has relaxed the rules for aquaculture in the state, streamlining permits and helping entrepreneurs get a start in the business. But even so, Maryland still has only a handful of oyster aquaculture businesses.

And there are struggles. Marinetics tangled with its neighbors, who didn't want to see the oyster "floats" obstructing million-dollar views. Clam entrepreneur Steve Gordon is still fighting with two of his neighbors in court over whether he can lease bottom near their property to grow clams.

One advantage of aquaculture is that oysters grow year-round, so throw that whole "R" month thing out the window. Also, the oysters are tended to, making them more of a uniform quality. Some restaurants like that for presentation purposes.

But how do they taste?

Loyal readers of this blog know that, while eating oysters is an occasional job perk, I am not the best judge of bivalves, having grown up kosher and having never tasted one until I started covering the Chesapeake Bay four years ago. I'm not partial to the salty Chincoteague variety, but I do enjoy an oyster every now and then.

At Bobby's, we were presented with a beautiful plate that defintiely wouldn't have passed muster with the rabbis: A raw Choptank Sweet, topped with Crab Imperial, then a bit of bacon. I have to say it was delicious. (Sorry, dad.)