With oysters mounting a mini-comeback in the Chesapeake, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) will hold an Oyster Expo in Easton next week to learn from some of the region’s top oyster scientists, oyster farmers and oyster restoration specialists about the progress and wonders of Crassostrea virginica. This is a public, family-oriented event, featuring videos, exhibits and speakers.
The Oyster Recovery Partnership recently celebrated the construction of the largest man-made oyster reef in the world in Harris Creek off the Choptank River. With over 2 billion oysters planted over 350 acres, the project is one of three massive oyster areas being created in tributaries of the Choptank.
But there is more good news for the Chesapeake oyster, the lowly, unattractive, but much beloved denizen of the shallows. Those who relish oysters on the half shell are more likely than ever to find the Chesapeake variety on their plates. In previous times, even Eastern Shore restaurants often served oysters from Louisiana or the Pacific Northwest, a real insult. But there just weren’t enough Bay oysters. That’s changing, although the oyster population has a long, long way to go before it’s healthy.
Oyster harvest numbers in the Chesapeake last year were the best in three decades, about 900,000 bushels this past oyster season.
Oyster farming is another big story. According to recent reporting, Maryland has 4,000 acres under lease and 474 people working in shellfish aquaculture. The dockside value of those farmed bi-valves at $3 million is still well below that of so-called wild-harvest at $14 million in Maryland, but the aquaculture industry is surging.
It got a late start. Virginia has been farming oysters for decades, and demonstrates the potential of the industry for Maryland. Last year, the dockside values of Virginia’s farmed oysters and clams was nearly $56 million.
The Oyster Expo is an opportunity to learn about the state of the Chesapeake oyster. It will be held Nov. 18 from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at the Eastern Shore Conservation Center, the new home of CBF offices on the Shore, 114 South Washington Street in Easton.
Chief scientists scheduled to speak are Peyton Robertson, director of the Chesapeake Bay Office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Bill Goldsborough, director of fisheries at CBF.
Other organizations also will be involved with exhibits, including: Oyster Recovery Partnership; U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR); Horn Point Lab of the University of Maryland; Hooper Island Oyster Aquaculture Company; Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy and Phillips Wharf Environmental Center on Tilghman Islanders Grow Oysters.
The public is asked to register prior to the event at www.cbf.org/events.
Front image: Volunteer resting on Patricia Campbell, the CBF oyster restoration vessel.
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