Maryland Senator Urges Oyster Purchases
(DORCHESTER COUNTY, Md) – One Maryland state senator is pushing for more people to buy oysters this winter season with two goals in mind, the first being to help out watermen like the ones who visit the Cambridge Harbor, and the other being to help the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
Maryland State Senator, Johnny Mautz says there’s a sharp drop off for oyster purchases after the holiday season, and that impacts a sizeable portion of the watermen who dredge the Chesapeake Bay for them.
Mautz tells WMDT, “Right now, people aren’t buying oysters. People should go out and buy oysters for Christmas, not only because they taste good and are good for you, but because it keeps watermen out there working these oyster beds and protecting the bay. It’s the greatest thing that we got going.”
Mautz says he’s met with Governor Wes Moore in regards to how a lack of regular dredging can do not just to the watermen, but the oysters available.
Scientists at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation also say oysters are important in maintaining a healthy bay environment.
“…people enjoying oysters and then restaurants and private citizens, recycling those oyster shells is what drives that restoration work and allows us to keep doing, you know, the important habitat and, and clean water work that we’re able to do,” says CBF Coastal Resource Scientist, Julie Luecke.
In fact, every half shell of an oyster recycled to the bay becomes home to on average about 12 more oysters.
Being able to send watermen out multiple times a week in the winter helps not only the oyster population, but the local businesses above the surface.
And they’re hoping the work done at the state level will be having people buy a few more local oysters beyond the holiday season.
“I’ve been imploring the administration to take a look at this and see what they can do to encourage consumers, especially the markets on the Western shore, not just to buy aquaculture oysters, which are fine, but make sure you also buy those wild caught Chesapeake Bay oysters,” says Mautz.
According to the Chesapeake Bay foundation, oysters dredged from the bottom, it clears the way for the oyster spat to settle over the course of a year.
