CBF's Oyster Restoration Blog

Teamwork! MD + VA Oyster Crew & Volunteers Plant 225 Reef Balls In Lafayette River.

To help boost the river’s oyster population, CBF's Oyster Team placed 250 low-pro reef balls on state-protected sanctuary reefs and along designated shorelines at 5 sites in the Lafayette River. The reef balls, domed concrete structures full of nooks and crannies, are designed to attract baby oysters and help protect them from natural predators.  This river has had a great 'spat' set the past several seasons and we hope this year is no exception. These reef balls will provide a great surface for these baby oysters 'spat' to start a new reef. To tackle the reef ball job, CBF called upon its two uniquely designed oyster restoration vessels, the Patricia Campbell from Maryland and Chesapeake Gold from Gloucester, Va.

Other partners in the effort include Restore America’s Estuaries and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, funders of the project; the Rotary Club of Norfolk, which years ago raised money to build a sanctuary reef in the Lafayette; and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which oversaw construction of the reef and monitors its progress.

What an adventure, this great project wouldn't have been possible without some great teamwork from many orgainzations as well as all the volunteers who helped ensure planting 250 reef balls in two days seem like a piece of cake.  

Photo Below- The Va Oyster Center in Gloucester, VA with reef balls ready to load, the deck of Chesapeake Gold loaded with reef balls for the trip to Norfolk, and VA Oyster Team Tommy Leggett, Jackie Shannon, and Sara Rogers.

Photo Below- A bobcat helping maneuver reef balls in position and 225 reef balls being loaded on deck of the Patricia Campbell. 

- Meghan Hoffman 

The Oyster Shake Debut by Virginia Tech Spring Breakers

Spring Break is all about having fun and trying something new! A small select group of students in the Chesapeake Bay watershed decided to trade in a trip to some place warmer to give back to the Bay. This year Chesapeake Bay Foundation had three great alternative spring break groups: Virginia Tech, University of Virginia and University of Maryland lend their time and hands to making the Bay healthier.

Virginia Tech's Alternative Spring Break students joined CBF for their alternate spring break March 11th-15th. They helped to plant trees, built reef balls, cleaned oyster shells, visited Claggett Farm, and had a whole lot of FUN! Down at the Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side, Maryland we decided to add a little humor into an otherwise very physical task of shell shaking.

Shell-shaking: For those that have never participated before it involves taking oyster shells and removing any debris so that baby spat (oysters) can attach to hard shell. You shovel several loads of shell onto a wire screen and then rock the oyster pile back in forth to knock off the debris than dump the cleaner shell into a wire cage (repeat).

Even us oysterphiles let the ‘Harlem Shake’ craze sweep us up, and so please enjoy our own Harlem Shake video. We interrupted Virginia Tech’s shell shaking competition to have the incredibly creative students make the video that features: someone making a snow-angel in the oyster pile, a dancing cone, a giant crab, and what appears to be a giant sleeping bag worm. There have been many impressive Harlem Shake videos, but we personally think that ours is the BEST out there! Come on everyone and do the “Oyster Shake.”

 

The Harlem Shake craze was sparked by the Australian YouTube group The Sunny Coast Skate. Since their video was published in early February, thousands of videos have been made to a clip of the song Harlem Shake by Baauer which is about 30-45 seconds long. Celebrities from Jimmy Fallon to LeBron James have made their own videos. Although the craze is losing steam, the videos can still provide hours of entertainment.

--Emily Rieck with contribution by Meghan Hoffman, Video by CBF Staff/Meghan Hoffman, Photos by CBF Staff/Karl Willey

 

Volunteers Are Helping Make Reef Balls, Below Average Temperatures Don't Slow Them Down

 

Many thanks to Jacqueline Ho of American University in Broadcast Journalism and Public Affairs for filming one of our volunteer reef ball events for her school project. 

Each year Maryland's Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side Maryland (MD's ORC) has a goal to build and set (with oyster larvae) 240 mini-bay reef balls. To date so far with the help of volunteers 217 reef balls are out curing in the parking lot. Things are running ahead of schedule! In April we have another three day volunteer reef ball event where an additional 60 reef balls will be built. 

The reef balls just need one more thing before being deployed using CBF's Patricia Campbell later this year, oyster larvae. The oyster larvae used here at MD's ORC is produced by University of Maryland's Horn Point Laboratory in Cambridge, MD. The oyster larvae usually become available the first week of May. In just a few weeks the quiet at MD's Oyster Restoration Center will be replaced with the bustling sound of workers, volunteers, the bobcat (Miss Tina), the crane on abroad Patricia Campbell all buzzing about as the oyster restoration season officially begins. 

--Meghan Hoffman

Do You Have The Heart Of An Oyster?

 

Oysters don't typically celebrate Valentine's Day,

but hey lets spread some love and good cheer for the Bay!

"Thank you from the bottom of our pericardiums. Our numbers in the Bay continue to grow because of Oysterphiles like YOU!" -Crassostrea virginica

Photo By- Walter I. Hatch, St Mary's College of Maryland 

 

Did you know an oyster's body was such a complex system?

Where do your favorite aquaculture Chesapeake Bay oysters come from?

 

-Meghan Hoffman

What Is Your Favorite Oyster Reef Critter?

Pipefish

"Of All The Exciting Species Living On Oyster Reefs In Maryland Waters Of The Chesapeake Bay, Pipefish  Are Mesmerizing And Just Captivate My Attention!"- Meghan Hoffman/CBF Staff

These small fish, related to seahorses, can be found hiding among oyster shells and underwater grasses in the Bay. Each oyster season I get exhilarated when I come across the Northern Pipefish as I lift an oyster cage out of the water, it is very rare to see 2 or 3 sightings! After a few moments of joy, then show and tell with other staff and volunteers, we all bid the pipefish farewell. If you have never had the pleasure of holding one in your hand, it can best be described as holding a squirming twig, it's unlike any other Bay critter and seeing one always make my day!

Photo by- Joe Reynolds

 "A little known fact about the pipefish is that it can move each of its eyes separately, although we don’t know exactly how this helps it."- Rugters Discover Fish Field Guide

Blenny

"Blennies are my favorite Bay critter! I think they are so notorious and they look like little old men. Unlike other small fish around oyster reefs that hide, a blenny has no problem attacking your finger or any other fish that moves into its house!" -Carmera Thomas/CBF Staff

Photo by- Chesapeake Bay Program

An oyster reef is not complete without its own version of the mafia; "the blenny," is a species that always keeps order around the reef. Two different species (feathered and striped blenny) are predominate in the Maryland tributaries of the Bay. These fish grow to about 4 inches in length and are very feisty when you enter ‘their’ territory. These active fish will dart out, flair open their mouths and puff up their bodies to let humans and other critters to stay out of their neighborhood. They even try to put up a fight out of the water. Good news is, they don't pose any immediate danger to humans, they are all bark and no bite! 

Skillet Fish

“The first time I picked up a skillet fish it attached to my hand, which was a little terrifying, but I grew to enjoy finding them among the oyster cages and they are now my favorite critter. The Skillet Fish is the most resilient and interesting critter found among oyster reefs in Maryland. ” - Emily Rieck/CBF Oyster Intern

Photo by- Virginia Institute of Marine Science 

A skillet fish's most unique feature is its sucker! How many fish can top that? Evolution modified its pelvic fin into a sucker, what a stand out feature. If you have every tried to remove one from a fish tank or your dock they are tricky and determined to stay put.  Its almost cheetah-print like pattern is beautiful. This pattern allows the skillet fish to camouflage itself in shallow water, to hide and survive in the reef. 

Photo by- Virginia Institute of Marine Science

American Eel

 “Let’s be honest, the American eel is the most patriotic fish on the oyster reef.” –Ray McClain/ Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteer, CBF

Illustration by- MD Department of Natural Resources, Duanne Raver

What is so great about the American eel? Well, besides having “America” right in its name, this slippery fish lives a quite mysterious life. The American eel is one of the few fish species that is catadromous (living in fresh water but migrating to saltwater to breed). While the eel lives in the more freshwater areas of Chesapeake Bay, every January this mysterious creature will swim out to the saltwater of the Sargasso Sea to spawn at depths near 6,000 feet. If that is not cool enough, this fish can breathe through its skin!

--Meghan Hoffman with contribution by Emily Rieck, Carmera Thomas, and Ray McClain 

Keep The Shell Flowing

Chespeake Bay Foundation's Save Oyster Shell program just keeps growing. Since 2010 CBF's oyster team in Maryland has been recycling oyster shells. Shell is a limited resource and as restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay continue to grow, recycling every shell matters.

CBF's Maryland Save Oyster Shell (SOS) program targets individuals who eat oysters and smaller communtiy oyster roasts. In the past three years the program has expanded from one site at our Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side, MD to four drop off locations and two particpating resturants. Each year our success continues to grow through the enthusiam of the volunteers that are the backbone of this program. 

Just before the holidays the oyster collection bin outside CBF' headquarters in Annapolis was full, it was emptied one last time for the year in a effort to calculate how much shell the program recycled in 2012. Nearly doubling last years effort, our volunteers helped recycle 344 bushels of oyster shells. If that wasn't a good enough suprise in itself, what happened next blew our minds away.

In the span, just shy of a week beteween Christmas and New Year's, the bin at headquarters went from completely empty to over full! What a way to start the new year. I am happy to report just as I was placing the finishing touches on this blog an email came through that bin located in Severna Park, MD is full as well. Hip Hip Hooray! 2013 off to a great start already. To learn more about CBF's Save Oyster Shell program please visit, http://www.cbf.org/how-we-save-the-bay/programs-initiatives/virginia/oyster-restoration/save-oyster-shell . If you have an questions or want to volunteer please contact mhoffman@cbf.org. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

-Article and Photos by CBF Staff, Meghan Hoffman

 

HOLY 'SPAT'

This year was terrific for so many reasons! Our record setting season wouldn't have been possible without the time, passion, and determination of our volunteers. The numbers have finally been tallied and the moment we have been waiting for is here:

How Many Spat On Shell Did MD's ORC Produce In 2012?

This season our tanks were reloaded a total of 18 times, with 144 tons or 3,600 bushels of shell

and set with larvae producing a whopping 25,814,493.60 new baby oysters 'spat'! 

--Meghan Hoffman

Record Season for CBF's Maryland Oyster Restoration Center

CBF’s Maryland Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side (Photo by Karl Willey/CBF Staff)

Several of the 23 million ‘spat’ produced this year at MD’s Oyster Restoration Center. At this size approximately 2 weeks old they are placed our on a sanctuary reef to grow immediately they start to improve water quality and provide 3-dimensional habitat (Photo by Meghan Hoffman/CBF Staff)

At Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side, Maryland it has been a recording setting season, with just over 23 million ‘spat’ (baby oysters) seeded on oysters reefs between May and October. Typically the center averages a ‘spat’ production between 15-18 million. We are ecstatic with this season’s numbers and the health of the young oysters being placed on sanctuary reefs throughout Maryland’s waters in the bay. Our success each season is due to the hard work and dedication of our volunteers. 

 

CBF Staff and volunteers about to seed ‘spat’ on shell on an oyster reef (Photo by Meghan Hoffman/CBF Staff)

At the Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side, MD, we are especially indebted, as much of what we do would be nearly impossible without the help of our volunteers. Whether they have given us their time for year, a matter of weeks, or for just one event each and every one is an integral part of what makes the work we do possible. Many come from different backgrounds of discipline and are experts in varying fields, and each provides their own invaluable knowledge to the oyster restoration program.

CBF’s MD Oyster Center’s 2012 Oyster Restoration Focus Areas

 

This season MD’s oyster restoration efforts were focused in the Choptank, Severn, and West Rivers. All of CBF’s projects in Maryland waters occur in sanctuary (non-harvest) areas as designated by Governor O’Malley.  After building or re-seeding existing reefs CBF’s oyster team monitors the health of our reefs checking for density, survival, natural ‘spat’ set, and presence of disease. The monitoring data is very encouraging; generally the reefs after one year have better than 75% survival rate. That is great news for the Chesapeake Bay. Check out what is going on below the surface.  The learn more about our program please visit our website. If you have any questions or want to volunteer please contact mhoffman@cbf.org

A Toadfish blending in among healthy mature oysters in Choptank River (Photo by Michale Eversmier)

This oyster reef in the Choptank River is healthy and thriving. Rare sighting of a Black Sea Bass in Maryland waters, yet another signs restoration is working (Photo by Michale Eversmier)

--Meghan Hoffman

 

 

 

 

 

 

Things Are ‘Spat’astic at CBF’s New Office in Easton, MD

On June 11, 2012 the Chesapeake Bay Foundation opened a new office on the Eastern Shore (pictured below), located in the heart of Easton. The new office in the Bullitt House on E. Dover Street (right across from the Tidewater Inn) will directly support our efforts to defend and implement the Bay clean water blueprint in Maryland.

CBF's MD Oyster Gardening Program was established in 1998 and has been serving as a method of direct engagement with improving the Bay's water quality for more than a decade. The fight for clean water is well under way but more needs to be done. CBF's Eastern Shore office is focusing on educating and motivating citizens to help support clean water efforts and fighting back against efforts to increase pollution in the area.

On September 14^th and September 22^nd CBF's MD Oyster Gardeners stopped by Chesapeake BayFoundation's new office in Easton, MD to meet Bess Trout, MD's Eastern Shore Grassroots Field Specialist (shown below), and to pick up their new set of 'spat' from Meghan Hoffman and Carmera Thomas. Year after year CBF's oyster gardeners' on the Eastern Shore produce some great looking oysters.

Excited new gardeners Lee Travers and Barbara Catherwood (both shown in the photo below) attended CBF's Oyster Workshop on Sept 22^nd and built 8 cages to hang off their pier. Recently they purchased a 10 acre tract of land (4 acres of wetlands) on the Little Choptank and were eager to help SAVE THE BAY!

Noah Bradshaw (shown below) a long time gardener from Crisfield, MD made the drive to Easton to pick up 8 bags of 'spat'. With the help of several volunteers, he tends a collection of Taylor Floats and cages at the Crisfield Museum. There is an educational oyster reef at the museum where visitors can learn the history of oystering in a watermen's community, and enjoy an interactive experience of tonging up oysters using hand nippers.

Just as the event was winding down on the first official day of fall, Eric Axilbund (shown below) pulls into the Bullit House parking lot eager to pick up his new set of 'spat' and to drop off close to 4,000 large and healthy yearling oysters. He is an energetic and enthusiastic gardener that keeps 12 cages of oysters off his dock, while a typical gardener keeps four. Most gardeners return their 'spat' in May, but Mr. Axilbund likes to see how big his oysters will get, so he tends his cages for a full year. His contribution doubled our oyster returns for the day!

CBF's Maryland Oyster Gardening Program only has two workshops left this fall, and we look forward to signing up new gardeners who are excited about restoring an important species in the Bay! Individual actions do make a difference, make a stand for CLEAN WATER NOW and join CBF's Oyster Gardening Program.

(Photos by Meghan Hoffman/CBF Staff. Photo One: CBF's Eastern Shore Office on the 3rd Floor of the Bullit Building. Photo Two: Choose Clean Water Now! and 2012 Oyster Gardening 'Spat' on Shell. Photo Three: Bess Trout CBF's Eastern Shore Grassroots Field Specialist covered in oyster much at Horn Point Labratory. Photo Four: Lee Travers and Barbara Catherwood of Cambridge, MD making their oyster gardening cages. Photo Five: Oyster Gardener Noah Bradshaw of Crisfield, MD. Photo Six: Oyster Gardener Eric Axilbund with his 2012 crop of yearling oysters. Photo Six: Oyster Love, Stickers, 'Spat' and More.)

-- Meghan Hoffman with contribution from Carmera Thomas

CBF's Yearly MD Oyster Gardening Trip To Horn Point ('Spat' Attack)

This year’s annual trip to Horn Point Lab/ Hatchery (HPL) was on August 22^nd, 2012 in Cambridge Maryland to pick up CBF’s supply of ‘spat’-on-shell bags for MD’s Oyster Gardening Program, was nothing short of a great success.  Half the volunteers arrive by land and the other half by sea, in a united effort with the help of the Oyster Recovery Partnership’s Work Crew to empty two tanks of shell bags, slinging oyster muck at one another in the process. Within minutes of the first bags are being lifted out of the tanks, and passed along an assembly line of people to their temporary home of wooden pallets, the mud starts accumulating on the volunteers’ gloves and more!  

 Before you know it, the group has broken a sweat and volunteers have fallen into a rhythm of passing shell bags from the tank onto the pallets; which engages a friendly competition between the two tanks. The mission is to see who can (light-hearted friendly competition) empty a tank of approximately 600 ‘spat’-on-shell bags first.

1200 ‘spat’-on-shells bags later, divided into 24 pallets of 50 bags a piece, the mission is complete. The towering pallets are transported by bobcat down to the docks. Using the crane on the deck of RV Patricia Campbell  all 24 pallets are lifted and stacked aboard her deck, soon to make their way back across the Bay to Mill Creek and Harness Creek (CBF’s oyster nursery locations). 

Part two of the journey is about to begin, but not before Stephanie Tobash Alexander, Oyster Hatchery Manager at HPL,  is kind enough to give CBF staff and volunteers a tour of the hatchery. During the tour we are guided through the lab where oysters are spawned and larvae is collected.   Each year the hatchery produces oyster larvae from May until late August/ early September; batches of several million larvae are sent throughout the state for restoration and commercial use.  Prior to leaving the lab every batch of larvae is reared in tanks. During their larval stage which lasts 10-14 days computers and scientists monitor their health and growth. The tanks are periodically drained and the larvae are sorted by size.

  
The hatchery continually cultures 4 different strains of algae to feed the larval oysters. With the integration of technology all the larvae batches can be fed unique blends of algae every several hours, even during weekends and holidays when staff isn’t present. This unique system allows the larvae to be constantly fed ever several hours dramatically reducing their stress. Healthyand “happy” batches of larvae have higher setting efficiencies (higher ‘spat’ counts per parent shell) than batches which experience stress during their growth (lack of food, changes in water temperature or salinity).  All the larvae used at CBF’s Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side, Maryland for our spat on shell and spat on reef ball projects come from HPL.

After the tour, CBF and some volunteers, make the trip back across the Bay to deposit the spat bags into two different rivers. This is the second part of the day. The RV PatriciaCampbell’s first stop was at Greenbury Point in Mill Creek. This is the nursery location of MD’s Oyster Gardening program.
The oyster ‘spat’ will continue to grow and thrive here while they wait to be handed out at upcoming events this fall.  The second stop is Harness Creek in the South River to deposit 150 spat bags in partnership with South River Federation’s Flood Bucket Program. A founding member and current board member of the South RiverFederation, JohnFlood devised a system of growing young spat in 5 gallon paint buckets suspended underwater with numerous holes drilled to provide flush and exchange of nutrients.

After a long, fun and messy day, the trip finally ends back at the Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side. This annual trip is a great way for volunteers to be involved with oyster restoration; to hear more about theMD Oyster Gardening Program and continued restoration efforts in Maryland and Virginia as a whole. If you want to get involved in CBF’s MD Oyster Gardening Program, please register to attend one of our workshops this fall and fall in love with oysters and vibrant life that call their reefs home.  

To learn more about our oyster restoration efforts, visit our website.

To sign up to attend a fall oyster gardening workshop vist our MD Oyster Gardening website.

 (Photo One:CBF's MD Oyster Team & Volunteers at Horn Point Pre Oyster Muck. Photo Two:Staff and Volunteers Passing Spat On Shell Bags From Tank To Pallet. Photo Three: Volunteer Llyod Lewis on Deck PC With 2400 Bags Of Spat On Shell. Photo Four: Stephanie Tobash Alexander Explaining How HPL Hatchery Operates. Photo Five: Sterile Algae Cultures Which Feed The Oyster Larvae At HPL Hatchery. Photo Six: Unloading Pallets At Mill Creek Oyster Nursery. (Photo exception taken by  Nikki Smith/CBF Volunteer) Photo Seven: CBF's MD Oyster Team & Volunteers at Horn Point Post Oyster Muck. All Photos by Meghan Hoffman/CBF Staff.

-- Meghan Hoffman with contribution from Carmera Thomas