Environmental Groups Join in Raising Oysters

Md. Expands Program to Increase Bay Population

Several Southern Maryland environmental organizations are joining an innovative program that grows baby oysters in cages before planting them on reefs.

The Marylanders Grow Oysters project, handled by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, expanded this year to 11 tributaries of the Chesapeake Bay, including the St. Mary's, Wicomico and Patuxent rivers.

"Some of these places are known historically . . . for their oyster populations," said Bill Montgomery, chairman of the Wicomico Scenic River Commission. "There were tremendous oyster populations in the Patuxent River, just like there were baywide in former years."

The oyster-raising program, launched by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) last summer, follows years of inconclusive studies and millions of dollars spent by federal and state governments to find a way to bring back the native oyster, which has fallen victim to overfishing, disease and pollution. The bay's oyster population is at 1 percent of its historic levels, experts say.

The expansion of the program this summer is expected to add 5,000 cages in the 11 waterways, ultimately producing about 2.5 million spat, or baby oysters. More than half the cages will be in Southern Maryland waterways, according to DNR applications. An additional 1,000 cages will be in the Magothy, Severn and South rivers of Anne Arundel County. The remaining cages will be along creeks and rivers on the Eastern Shore.

The project aims to improve the quality of the water in the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. One DNR cage with spat about a half-inch to an inch in size can filter up to 50 gallons of water an hour unimpeded, said Christopher C. Judy, DNR's shellfish manager who runs the state project. One adult oyster at three to four inches will filter 50 gallons of water per day, making oysters the bay's natural filter.

The Marylanders Grow Oysters project began on piers in Talbot County's Tred Avon River last year. The caring and tending of the oysters was primarily done by DNR and its crew. That workload will now be mimicked by the four Southern Maryland groups and other organizations.

"People are just really excited to participate in a project like this," said Lindsay Tempinson, the oyster-growing project manager for the St. Mary's River Watershed Association.

More than 175 volunteers in the Tred Avon program cared for some 850 cages filled with 500 to 1,000 spat, Judy said. Half the Tred Avon oysters, now about the size of a quarter, will be planted on a sanctuary reef this summer; the other half will continue to grow in cages and possibly reproduce.

The wire mesh cages, constructed by inmates in Maryland's prison system, are slightly larger than a mailbox. The spat are grown at the state's oyster hatchery in Cambridge. The cages and spat, already affixed to shells to help support their growth, will be trucked late this summer to the 13 associations.

The local groups will regularly knock silt off the oysters or scrape barnacles and other growth from the cages to ensure the oysters' growth, Judy said.

The Southern Maryland Oyster Cultivation Society plans to recruit volunteers in the Solomons Harbor area, including Back and St. John's creeks. Later they will expand into other Patuxent tributaries and creeks in the watershed, said Len Zuza, society president. The Coastal Conservation Association Maryland Patuxent River Chapter will receive 500 cages from the state program and will focus on adding oyster cages to Cat Creek in St. Mary's and Battle Creek in Calvert County.

Stephan R. Abel, director of the Oyster Recovery Partnership, which provides transportation and other logistical support for the state project, said pier owners "are learning about the value oysters play" even as they contribute to large-scale reef rebuilding projects. The partnership has planted more than 175 million oysters on reefs throughout the Chesapeake this year, he said.

"It starts with an oyster cage. Maybe next year it will be a rain barrel," Abel said. "It is awareness with a benefit."