Restoring the Chesapeake Bay?s oyster population might not be a job just for environmentalists and watermen.
The Patuxent River chapter ofthe Coastal Conservation Association Maryland plans to reach out to waterfront property owners to teach them how to grow oysters from their docks or piers.
“You can eat them or you could donate them to us, and we will make sure they get to a sanctuary,” chapter president Scott McGuire said.
Next month, the group will work with a homeowners association in Calvert County to show residents how to purchase and grow oysters, which then can be transferred to a sanctuary.
Residents also can take advantage of a state tax credit of $500 for individuals, a credit McGuire said was little-known and underutilized.
But the first step for association volunteers is developing the oyster -rowing skills.
“When you talk about reaching out to an entire community, you better know what you are doing,” McGuire said.
The group plans to grow 25,000 oysters donated from Circle C Oyster Ranch on floats in St. Thomas Creek, which runs through Charles and St. Mary?s counties.
After two years, the oysters will be transferred to a permanent sanctuary on the Patuxent River.
For the final phase of the project, Coastal Conservation volunteers will write a manual on how organizations and individuals can raise oysters throughout the Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has been working with waterfront property owners for more than 10 years to restore the oyster population, said Stephanie Reynolds, a fisheries scientist with the foundation.
About 2,000 households have participated, and homeowners pay $75 for the first year to help cover the foundation?s costs, she said.
Reynolds said the foundation welcomes another group training homeowners, but said the oysters the Bay foundation helps grow are for restoration ? not consumption ? as the tributary waters tend to be too polluted.
Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen?s Association, also cautioned against eating the oysters. Simns was skeptical of the program, saying it was more of a public relations campaign that would make little difference to the oyster population overall.
“It?s like putting a grain of sand on the Ocean City beach to make the beach higher,” he said.
