The Center for Environment and Society of Washington College, (CES), hosted the first annual “Picnic at the Pavilion” for local waterfront property owners participating in Governor O’Malley’s “Marylanders Grow Oysters” program.
The event, held Sunday, April 10 at the Leila Hanson Pavilion in Wilmer Park, Chestertown, MD, was designed as a “meet and greet” session. Attendees included local oyster growers, as well as Frank DiGialleonardo and Steve Sharkey from the Corsica River, Gary Zelinsk, Coordinator of the Swan Creek, (Rock Hall), MGO program, John Seidel, CES director, and Mike Hardesty, Chester River MGO Coordinator. Maryland Department of Natural Resources MGO director, Chris Judy, was there to answer questions and discuss the program, which is managed by the MD-DNR in conjunction with the Oyster Recovery Partnership, the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and local organizations; in this case Washington College CES.
CES successfully applied to the program last year, purchased oysters in September, and currently have 55 community members growing oysters in 260 cages hanging from their piers along the Chester River. Hardesty stressed that these oysters are grown for habitat restoration, not human consumption. The oysters are grown in protective cages for the first year, and then planted in local sanctuaries where they enrich the ecosystem and the oyster population.
According to the “Marylanders Grow Oysters” website, https://www.oysters.maryland.gov/, there are now 8,000 cages actively growing oysters in 18 participating Maryland tributaries.
In an email, Hardesty wrote, ” ‘Planting Day’, (tentatively scheduled for early June), will be a highly celebrated event by the College. We hope to have dignitaries from the College, Town, County, and State join us on our research vessel,
the Callinectes, commemorating this first planting as members and others cast oysters over board. Growers from the Chester River, Corsica River, and Swan Creek will join us on the river as well.”
For more information on the Marylanders Grow Oysters Program see https://www.oysters.maryland.gov/
or contact Mike Hardesty, Chester River MGO coordinator
[email protected] or 410 699 1940
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