Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy (MRC) will host its annual State of the Rivers Party and 2015 Report Card Release on Friday, April 29 at 5 pm in the Steamboat Building at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum in St. Michaels, Maryland. The event is free and open to the public. Wine, beer and light fare will be served. Guests are encouraged to arrive early to ensure a seat.
During the State of the Rivers Party, MRC Riverkeepers will release the results of the 2015 State of the Rivers Report Card. These results assess water quality samples collected by MRC Riverkeepers, scientists and 50 Creekwatcher volunteers in sampling jurisdictions on the Choptank River, Miles River, Wye River, Tred Avon River, Tuckahoe River, Harris Creek, Broad Creek, Island Creek, La Trappe Creek, and Eastern Bay on the southern tip of Kent Island.
The 2014 State of the Rivers reported an overall average score of C+ for the Miles and Wye Rivers and Eastern Bay, and B- for the Choptank River. The 2015 results will reveal whether grades improved over the past year and how specific testing parameters contributed to overall scores.
Author Kate Livie will serve as honorary speaker and will discuss her book, Chesapeake Oysters. Livie will read excerpts from her narrative, describing the evolution of Crassostrea virginica, the eastern oyster. These humble bivalves are the living bones of the Chesapeake and the ecological and historical lifeblood of the region. When colonists first sailed these abundant shores, they described massive shoals of foot-long oysters. But the bottomless appetite of the Chesapeake’s Gilded Age and great fleets of skipjacks took their toll. Disease, environmental pressures and overconsumption decimated the population by the end of the twentieth century.
While Virginia turned to bottom-leasing, passionate debate continues in Maryland among scientists and oystermen about whether aquaculture or wild harvesting is the better way forward.
Today, boutique oyster farming in the bay is sustainably meeting the culinary demand of a new generation of connoisseurs. With careful research and interviews with experts, author Kate Livie presents this dynamic story and a glimpse of what the future may hold for this vital species.
There will be a second State of the Rivers presentation on Thursday, May 5 at 5 pm at the ArtBar at 317 High Street in Cambridge. For more information, email [email protected] or phone 443.385.0511.
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