This summer, we collected around 450 cages of oysters from about 80 docks around the St. Mary’s River as a part of the Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO) program. In July, we planted these oysters were planted in the St. Mary’s River West of Horseshoe Point with youth from the Cove, a program for youth and teens whose families have been affected by substance abuse.
Volunteers maintain cages filled with baby oysters on their pier or dock during the colder months of the year ensuring that baby oysters aren’t smothered by sediment or exposed to freezing weather while they are more vulnerable to stressors as juveniles. In the spring, we plant the oysters with community groups like the Cove.
This year, the program funding has been cut dramatically. Before this year, the program was funded through a small allocation from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR) budget and through grant funds secured by the administrators of this program, Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP). ORP was not able to secure grants for MGO this year, and therefore, we will not be receiving spat-on-shell or cage materials from ORP.
For the past several years, we relied on MD DNR and grants that the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) secured for cages and spat-on-shell (baby oysters attached to oyster shells). The staff and boat time are funded by our generous donors. We plan to supplement this program with spat-on-shell from our oyster nursery tank and cut down on the number of cages at each dock so that this program can continue, but we are also calling on MD DNR to fully fund MGO.
Nineteen MGO coordinators signed onto this letter urging MD DNR to fully fund this program. Please consider using this language by SMRWA and the Friends of St. Clements Bay to send your own letter to Josh Kurtz at josh.kurtz@maryland.gov.
