By Max Stumpf, SMRWA Intern

This summer, the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association (SMRWA) released over 7.5 million oyster larvae into our 1,000-gallon oyster nursery tank at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. On three occasions, we filled our tank with over 200 half-bushel bags of clean oyster shell, circulated river water through the tank to “condition” the shells, and then turned off the circulation before adding the precious oyster larvae.

Oyster larvae are extremely small when first introduced to the tank, with 2.5 million of them taking up less than a golf ball’s worth of space. When we release the larvae into the water, they attach to the shells inside the bags within 48 hours and live the rest of their lives on the shell they settled on. Larvae are considered ‘spat’ once they attach to this shell, as the settling finalizes their transition from their larval to their juvenile stage.

After settling is finished, the “spat-on-shell” are moved to the shallows of the St. Mary’s River to grow for several weeks until the spat reaches about the size of a dime. At that point, they’re ready to be planted.

On September 13, we will be planting some of these baby oysters in Breton Bay with the help of volunteers like you! If you would like to join us, you can learn more and RSVP for this event using the button below.