BALTIMORE — Oyster numbers are up this year, but they're nowhere near historic levels for the Chesapeake. So, oyster growers, the Oyster Recovery Partnership and the nature conservancy have teamed up to improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, boost oyster numbers and the economy.
To do that oysters are going back to the sand bar, instead of the oyster bar.
Watch the oyster restoration efforts
"So instead of somebody eating them they're gonna go right overboard," says Kevin McClarren who helps manage the Choptank Oyster Company. "These are adult oysters that are getting ready to spawn as soon as they hit the water."
Because these mollusks are important for the environment, and the culture, of the Chesapeake Bay region.
"Oysters are really a keystone species both for the habitat but also for people, right?" said Amy Jacobs, the Chesapeake Bay Director for the Nature Conservancy." "I mean, it's part of our culture here. Everybody loves oysters. We love to eat oysters. We think about them and how they were harvested from way back when and using the skipjacks, and it's just part of the iconic nature of the Chesapeake when we think about the Chesapeake."
(SOAR), short for Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration, buys up oysters that otherwise wouldn't be sold to seed them around the Chesapeake.
"The program was started during COVID during the pandemic as a way to support oyster farms in the Chesapeake Bay region and across the U.S. because restaurants are closed, there's no market for oysters, at least half shell oysters, aquaculture oysters," said Olivia Caretti, the Program Manager at Oyster Recovery Partnership. "So, TNC started this program back during COVID to basically use those oysters, purchase those oysters from growers to provide them economic support and then plant those oysters out on oyster sanctuaries."
The oysters then repopulate, cleaning and filtering the water.
"They are filtering water at whatever size they are," Caretti said. "They are providing habitat as they grow for other fish and crabs and other invertebrates out in the bay. They're sequestering nutrients and helping us reach our water quality goals, and they're also a food source for people and other animals as well."
Beyond that the program provides economic support for an industry hit hard during the pandemic.
"So, this kind of boosts not only ecologically in the bay but also economically in all these farms that grow," McClarren said. "So, this money goes to help pay my guys, helps to pay their health insurance — it really does lift up everybody as long as everybody participates."
