On July 3, a delegation from the Republic of Colombia paid a two-hour visit to Phillips Wharf Environmental Center (PWEC). Their primary interest was learning how an American community-based non-profit organization dedicated to environmental education is operated and funded.
PWEC Executive Director Kelley Cox took the visitors on a tour of the center’s new facility located beside the Tilghman Bridge. In the oyster house building they examined the live animal displays and asked about how each species was faring in the wild. At the eel display, Ms. Hoyos Moncayo expressed interest in the eel fishery in the Chesapeake Bay and learned about the international market for eels. Mr. Willington Angarita was very curious about the live horseshoe crabs on display, and Ms. Cox explained their value to the eel and conch fishery.
Although relatively modest in area, Colombia is a country of great biodiversity, with nearly 10% of all the species on Earth. Of birds alone, it has than 1,900 species – more than North America and Europe combined. Colombia has less than 1,000 miles of coastline, but half is on the Pacific and the other half on the Caribbean, so its marine environment is rich and varied.
One purpose of the visit was to explore how local environmental programs can be operated successfully without ongoing government support. Cox explained that PWEC is operated mostly by unpaid volunteers and interns; she herself has only recently begun to draw a modest salary. Virtually all PWEC’s operating costs are paid for by user fees and private donations. “We do get some program grants, which we welcome because they help us reach additional audiences,” she said. “But such money is earmarked and doesn’t generate additional income for PWEC; it’s a dollar in and a dollar out.”
PWEC has recently obtained significant financial support from the State of Maryland to assist with its Oyster House Project — adapting its new property to a variety of educational purposes, replacing a collapsing bulkhead, and creating a water access area. “We know the Oyster House Project is going to be costly, but we want to do it right,” said Phillips. “We welcome help from all sources — government, private foundations, and individual donors.” The waterfront enhancement phase of the project begins this month.
Later, oyster specialist and PWEC Vice-President Carol McCollough explained that the Environmental Center is committed to “citizen science,” the effort to forge a strong link between residents and the Bay by giving them a first-hand understanding of its nature and requirements. PWEC’s primary citizen science program is the Tilghman Islanders Grow Oysters (TIGO) program, which involves more than 80 waterfront homeowners who grow baby oysters in cages suspended beneath their docks from August to June. The yearling oysters are then transferred by PWEC to a natural bar in the Harris Creek sanctuary, where McCollough monitors their growth and health. “We realize that 300,000 additional oysters is a very small contribution to the overall oyster restoration effort in Harris Creek, but that’s not really the purpose of our program,” she said. “Our goal is primarily educational: to establish a corps of private citizens who understand and care about the Chesapeake oyster situation, and provide the means for them to take direct action to improve it.”
McCollough and her team closely monitor the health and development of the oysters they plant, providing exceptional data that demonstrates the value of the effort. Cox, McCollough and other PWEC volunteers fielded many questions from the Colombians about the various diseases and other threats to the oyster in our waters.
The group then posed for a photo before returning to their bus and the ride back to the city. This tour, arranged by the U. S. Department of State, was the second international visit to PWEC. Last July, the center played host to Almost two dozen visitors from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Haiti and the Philippines, who came to learn about its Chesapeake Bay conservation and biodiversity efforts, as well as its community outreach initiatives.
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