A Day On The Eastern Shore- Rebecca Shaw

Today our class awoke to a bright sunny morning on the bay, the rains of the past few days have moved on and the sky looked clear for our day on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. After a delicious breakfast of fresh Rockfish, caught and prepared by members of our class, we headed off to the far side of the bay.

Our first stop was the Horn Point Laboratory (http://www.umces.edu/hpl), where we received a tour from Julie, the general assistant. This laboratory is located on the Choptank River near Cambridge, and it is a major player in bay restoration projects. At this lab scientists and interns work to grow Eastern Oyster larvae (Crassostrea virginica), these larvae are then set on shells and placed in the bay to help rebuild the dwindling oyster reefs. During our tour we learned about the entire process of breeding the oysters, rearing the oyster larvae, or spat, the food these oysters are given, and a variety of other topics related to the bay oysters.

Horn Point is primarily run through State and Federal funding, and the generous donations of citizens concerned with the state of the bay. This laboratory gives back to the locals by offering tours and classes, including classes for watermen that are interested in learning more about the oysters that provide their livelihoods. We left the laboratory with a cooler full of oyster larvae to be transported back to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation Headquarters in Annapolis. We were given the honorable task of carrying 12 million babies that will be introduced to the bay tomorrow during our restoration work.

Our next meeting was with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Easton MD. While we were there we met with Bess Trout, the Eastern Shore Grassroots Field Specialist for Maryland. Over a lunch at a local cafe we spoke about Trout's work with the CBF and plans for the area regarding bay restoration and education. One of the events that we discussed is the Clean Water Concert Series (http://www.attractionmag.com/index.php/event/clean-water-concert-series/), one of these concerts which  be held next weekend on June 8th. During this lunch we also met with Tom Leigh, a local Riverkeeper. Mr. Leigh described his work which includes helping with the project Marylanders Grow Oysters (MGO), patrolling rivers in the area, helping locals with questions about the bay and it's tributaries, and many other duties. Mr. Leigh's job is especially important because he is a link to the locals out on the water. He serves both as a guardian to the rivers but also a source of information to people in the area. We also spoke with Eric Fisher, who works with the CBF on issues of policy at the local, state, and federal levels.

This meeting was extremely educational because it showed us the level of collaboration involved in the restoration of the bay. This work needs to be implemented across state lines, in small towns and major cities, throughout the entire bay watershed. With the hard work of these organizations and their volunteers, the bay has a real chance to be restored to it's former glory.

Becca Shaw leaves with a special delivery:
12 million larval oysters in a cooler.