Watermen express needs for aquaculture

U.S. Senator Ben Cardin along with many other state leaders joined Maryland oyster farmers at Horn Point Lab in Cambridge on Tuesday. The goal was to learn about oyster aquaculture and how to improve it.

Oyster aquaculture is essentially oyster farming. Scientists at the University of Maryland Horn Point laboratory, as well as oyster farmers, are continuously looking to find ways to produce their product at a faster, easier, and more cost efficient way.

The senator hosted a round table discussion at the lab to hear concerns from watermen about the industry. A major issue discussed was the permit process to conduct oyster aquaculture.

Right now, it’s apparently inefficient and drastically slows down the process for someone to get involved in the industry.

It also causes great obstacles for those that already have a permit. Scientists say this is a crucial point that needs to be addressed because oysters are needed to maintain the health of the Chesapeake Bay.

Murr Meritt, the manager of the oyster hatchery at Horn Point says “They provide a hard substrate, a bottom substrate that is colonized by a lot of other organisms many of which are also filter feeders. They are a very valuable part of the Chesapeake bay Eco system. You can’t have a healthy without a healthy oyster population.”

Senator Cardin, the new commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District,  as well as other officials present Tuesday have vowed to look further into the concerns presented by the watermen and see what improvements can be made.