Good morning.

Maryland Sea Grant puts out a great publication called Chesapeake Quarterly. It's sort of a mini-magazine where they take on topics such as the history of oystering, what next after pfisteria, and the science of counting blue crabs in the bay.

This quarter, it's the seafood industry. They interview Karen Oertel, a longtime advocate for the Shore's few remaining packing houses, and owner of Harris' Crab House in Kent Narrows. Oertel and her family run one of the bay's last remaining shucking houses, and she has been an advocate of putting the Asian oyster in Maryland's waters.

It's safe to say Oertel is not a huge fan of mine, despite the award the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association bestowed upon me and my colleague, Chris Guy, for our "outstanding commitment and dedication to the continued success of the Maryland seafood industry" in 2005 -- an award that I assume we won for our extensive H2B coverage. (My former editor dropped the award off at my desk one day; seems it arrived in my old office and had been on my old desk for a couple of months while someone else had occupied it.)

She did not appreciate the stories I did about the Asian oyster three years ago, when the Ehrlich administration was eager to put the species in the bay quickly despite concerns from scientists that it could wreak all kinds of havoc. Oertel got so animated while talking to me in her crab house that she knocked over a huge tray of steamed crabs destined for a table behind us. I felt awful.

But despite all of that, this is a woman who tirelessly advocates for her industry. She serves on many committees, spending many of her evenings at the Department of Natural Resources' Annapolis headquarters. She has been a powerful voice for the seafood packers, and she never hesitates to speak up if she feels a wrong has been committed.

The quartlerly's articles, mostly written by Jack Greer, talk about the H2B visa issues, the move toward sustainable aquaculture and other issues that I have covered over the years in this newspaper. It's just always nice to see them tackled in one place, with such good writing. If you enjoy the publication, you can ask to subscribe; it always has great pictures, too.