Half-shell hope Program to restore oyster beds surpasses expect

HOLLYWOOD, Md. -- Tom and Julie Kemp are master gardeners of oyster cultivation.

Each year, they shepherd thousands of young oysters, called spat, through their early stages of life in cages floating off their dock in an inlet near the mouth of the Patuxent River.

The Kemps tend the shellfish that cling to old oyster shells, pulling the floats out periodically to clean off sediment and grapelike sea squirts that can clog the cage. They check for disease and measure the oysters' growth.

For the past six years, the Kemps have raised a crop of several thousand oysters off their dock in St. Mary's County as part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's "oyster gardening" program. Started in 1996, the project is meant to get residents involved in restoring oyster beds in the bay and preserving one of the bay's most critical and threatened life forms.

The project has surpassed the foundation's expectations.

The Kemps have gotten their neighbors involved, stuffing mailboxes with fliers about the project. The work has paid off -- oyster floats hang off many nearby docks.

'My babies'

After a year, the Kemps put their cages in their powerboat and motor out to a protected reef. The oysters go overboard with the hope that they will help restore the bay's dwindling oyster population, but it's a bittersweet moment.

"I call them my babies," Julie Kemp said. "You get attached. You see them so small, you watch them grow and you want them to thrive. There's a sense of satisfaction and hope."

Oyster growers taking part in the program deposited 882,900 of the mollusks into the bay last year, close to half of the 2.06 million oysters raised during the program's lifetime. People in Virginia and Maryland participate, and several schools in both states have set up oyster floats.

"We've gotten more interest than we dreamed of," said Stephanie Reynolds, the self-described "oyster wrangler" who runs the project for the nonprofit group.

Ravaged by overfishing, pollution and disease, the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population has plummeted to an estimated 1 percent of its population a little more than 100 years ago, according to Bill Goldsborough, senior scientist at the foundation which monitors the bay's health.

Oysters filter water

A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day, removing particles and harmful nutrients from the water. Oyster clusters also form reefs that prevent erosion and provide habitat for other animals.

"Oysters are the most important animal in the bay," Goldsborough said. "They are essentially the aquarium filters."

Legislation approved by the General Assembly will help recreational gardeners and commercial outfits that sell oyster floats and spat to waterfront owners. Individuals will be able to claim a credit of up to $500 on their state income tax forms for the cost of buying an oyster float.

"It is a win for the bay, for homeowners and for small businesses," said Delegate Anthony O'Donnell, lead sponsor of the legislation.

The legislation would be a minor boost for gardeners in the foundation's program who could probably claim the $75 they pay up front for the float, Reynolds said.

The state has large-scale efforts under way to replace oyster reefs and stock them with spat. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's gardening project is geared toward waterfront property owners who can throw the floats out from their docks, Reynolds said.

Gardeners who start out with about 3,000 spat in a cage usually turn in around 2,000 1-inch oysters after a year, Reynolds said. The oysters are deposited on several developing reefs throughout the bay and the gardener gets a new batch of spat.