Special Delivery for the South River

The oyster stork made her stop along the South River delivering to us thousands of baby oysters!  Okay, so maybe the stork didn’t really come, but the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) truck did. 

On a beautiful fall morning, volunteers unloaded our special delivery into Glebe Bay and Duvall Creek.  Volunteers waded out into the chilly water to lay pallets – where we keep the spat out of any muck on the river bottom so they don’t get buried!  Next, they stacked almost 200 bags of spat.  The spat will stay there until they go to their new foster homes for the next year.

So where are all these thousands of baby oysters going?  For now, they are going to about 90 homes and communities along the South River where they will grow for the next nine or ten months as part of the Marylanders Grow Oysters program.  The baby oysters, called spat, are placed in protective cages and hung off of piers.  The cages not only protect the young spat during their vulnerable first year of life, but also provide habitat for countless other aquatic organisms.  Then around June, all of the spat will be collected and deposited onto the Glebe Bay Oyster Sanctuary.

If this sounds like something you would like to do, it’s not too late to participate!  There are a few simple requirements to join:

1.       Have access to a private or community pier to hang the cages.

2.       Live on the South River in an area appropriate for oyster growth (We will help you with this one!)

3.       Be a current member of the South River Federation

To sign up or learn more, contact: Jennifer Carr (410-224-3802, jennifer@southriverfederation.net) if you live on the South River.  If you live on the Rhode River, have no fear!  They now have an MGO program too.  Contact Joe Ports (410-867-7171, joe@westrhoderiverkeeper.org).