Spring Newsletter

TENTATIVE OYSTER PLANTING DATES – JUNE 6 & JUNE 20 

Please join us on the water!

Why are there two dates? Because this year we expect to plant 2 barges of Spat-on-Shell in 2 to 4 locations in the Wye River.        

Why are these dates tentative? Our hatchery grows oyster larvae and then transfers them to tanks of recycled oyster shells, where they attach and grow to a point where they are ready to start their work filtering out excess nitrogen, phosphorus, and algae in our own Wye River. We need to make sure they are ready to go...and that the weather will cooperate as well. We had 15 boats of residents come out to enjoy the planting last year and would love to double that this year.                         

How many spat (baby oysters) oysters will we plant? Each barge will be launching at least 14M SOS, spread over 3 acres of historic reef bottom, areas where conditions are such that they once supported large, healthy reefs. How many spat end up growing on the shells depends on factors such as water and weather conditions at the time, with some random chance thrown in. Last year conditions were great and we ended up with a dense “spat set” and the barge was filled with an estimated 21M SOS.

Where will the SOS be planted this year? We coordinate this with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and will confirm soon. There are 23 locations that historically supported abundant reefs, covering 341 acres within the Wye River Oyster Sanctuary, where harvesting is not permitted.

THANK YOU... TO OUR FUNDERS

·     55+ households (so far), 100% of whose donations will go to planting oysters 

·     Queen Anne’s County Commissioners, who awarded WROP a $28K grant

·     Chesapeake Bay Trust, for a $5K Community Engagement “Mini Grant”  

...AND OTHERS SUPPORTING THE MISSION

·      Sushil at the Bennett Point General Store and Joe at Hunters Seafood for providing information about WROP (and hats!) to help “Spread the Word”  

·      the 35 people who bought WROP hats!

·      Shore Rivers, and Ben Ford our Riverkeeper, for supporting us with both expertise and encouragement

·      Oyster Recovery Partnership, for their leadership in oyster reef restoration and for targeting 2 large historic reefs in the Wye River this year for restoration

·      Mark Brush at Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), for helping assess thefiltration rate of our oysters

·      NOAA’s Office for Habitat Conservation, who has generously offered to work with us on our future restoration efforts