oyster festival

it's that time of the year to celebrate the chesapeake bay oyster!

it doesnt matter what side of the bay you are on: you are covered. the urbanna oyster festival begins today and tomorrow marks the start of oyster fest at the chesapeake bay maritime museum in st. michael's. 

oyster bar

oysters are making a come-back in the bay-i have seen their resurrection myself- so learn about oysters today and consider becoming an oyster farmer this summer.

oyster poacher busted

although oyster season closed march 31, poaching in maryland waters continues...as do the arrests.  a waterman was charged april 28 with poaching oysters, nearly a month after the March 31 close of the maryland season.

ben harrison marshall, 34 of newcomb was charged by maryland natural resources police (nrp) with taking oysters during closed season and operating a power dredge in an area reserved for hand tongs.

marshall was  observed by an nrp office on a commercial work boat power dredging for oysters in the ted avon river, near the bellevue public landing in talbot county. when marshall was questioned by the officer after coming to shore, he stated that he had been perch fishing, although no fish or fishing poles were found on the vessel.  upon inspection, the officer found five and a half bushels of oysters hidden under clothing in the cabin of the boat.

marshall's charges carry a fine of $320 for operating a power dredge in an area reserved for handtongs and $125 for taking oysters for commercial purposes during closed season.that's a pretty light-weight fine: he is lucky!

oysters for sale!

j&w seafood out of deltaville have york river oysters on sale just through halloween: they ship everywhere! i sent soft shells from j&w to the west coast in june: they arrived icy and were delicious. good stuff.

st. mary's oyster festival

i had planned on getting the proline from the shop and driving it today across the potomac today or riding my new busa to the st.mary's oyster festival, but the flu combined with a nasty storm has made both impossible. think i will stay in and watch the speed channel...and nap.

raw oysters

the oysters i caught(?) last weekend were finally eaten today and they were delicious! i did not rinse them after capture and i kept them in an open plastic baggie: super fresh!

oysters away!

i am very happy to see the oyster bar across from the cabin continuing to produce product! from my kayak, i only took these two out for "testing", but there were a lot in there!
this was a year we did not see many cownose rays up the creek to devour the crop.

chesapeake bay skipkack

this is a photo of the chesapeake bay foundation's skipjack stanley norman, built in 1902 for dredging oysters, currently used as a floating classroom for kids. adults can sail away on another one of the cbf's skipjacks this september and october.

chesapeake bay oysters on the rebound?

a recent article in the new york times revealed that oysters in the chesapeake bay are coming back! the virginia institute of marine science in partnership with the army corp of engineers created large experimental reefs at the mouth of the great wicomico river five years ago. today, these areas are home to more than 180 million native oysters! i am surprised these beds are doing so well, considering how polluted that river is, but this is great. a few weekends ago we drove the pro-line down there to get some crabs at cockrell's creek and saw all of markers designating these new beds: kind of difficult navigating the entrance to the river from the bay. worth it!

cownose rays in the chesapeake bay

last weekend i saw a few cownose rays in cod creek thrashing about: probably eating oysters on the bar i found. their barbed tails are poisenous, so i'll be keeping the dog out of the water during feeding time. here is a photo of one caught recently and uploaded yesterday by jwerry. i wonder if they ate it?

oyster farmer

i met a guy tending to his oyster cages on presley creek this weekend. he had been an oyster farmer about 4 years now, ever since his friend on the great wicomico gave him a bag of seedlings. he now has bushels and bushels of fresh oysters! he said i should buy a bag of seedlings and put them off my pier and i would have some of my own to give to john. i am really thinking about it. i few weeks ago, i discovered an oyster reef about 15 feet from my pier! back in the day, (george washington's day, that is), oysters could filter all of the water in the chesapeake in about 3-and-a-half days; in 1988 that filter time increased to 325 days. considering only 2% of the oysters are left, i guess they filter about nothing now. the chesapeake bay foundation has a program for oyster farming in maryland, but i might do may own thing in virginia. the photo above is a skipjack oyster buy-boat i shot in urbanna, virginia.

oysters

the tide went down so low yesterday i spotted a healthy (and not condemned!) oyster bed about 15 feet off of my pier! plucked this one out of the creek for the photo.