On this season’s second day of oyster dredging, Bob Hambleton got his limit in just two hours. He’s been working on the water since 1967, and has seen it all. He’s unhappy about the state closing off Harris Creek, but he says it looks like it’s going to be a good year for local oysters.
At Neavitt Landing, Lisa Gowe connected with local watermen who were donating oysters for tomorrow’s OysterFest at CBMM. “It’s wonderful”, she said. “There are lots of market size oysters, lots of little ones, and lots of spat. You just never know, there were hardly any oysters here last year.”
But with two years of strong spat set in local waters, the oysters coming out of Broad Creek are looking great.
When asked about potential effects of Hurricane Sandy on local shellfish, Jay Apperson of the Maryland Department of the Environment said that there is no reason for concern. “At this point,” he said, “there are no pollutants near enough to shellfish harvest areas that would elevate bacteria levels”. The MDE routinely monitors all waters for harmful bacteria, and maintains a daily advisory on conditionally approved shellfish harvesting areas.
That’s all good news for oyster lovers, for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum and Talbot County Watermen’s Association, the organizers of tomorrow’s annual OysterFest, from 10am – 4pm. For more information on OysterFest, click here.
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