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Restoring Our Oyster. Cleaning Our Bay. Preserving Our Future. |
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Support Oyster Restoration | |
Don't forget to take advantage of tax benefits by donating to ORP now!
Workplace Giving:  |
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Did You Know? | |
Everyone agrees that Chesapeake Bay oyster populations are severely depleted. However, what has been debated for decades are what exactly constitutes a successfully restored oyster reef. Recently scientists and governmental agencies have worked together to formalize quantitative guidelines to determine the goals and metrics for oyster restoration in both the Maryland and Virginia portions of the Chesapeake Bay.
Now, based on the new guidelines, an oyster reef will need to have an oyster population with a average density of 15 oysters and 15 grams dry weight biomass per square meter covering at least 30% of the target restoration area at 3 years post restoration activity. A tributary can be considered restored if these reef-scale goals are met on a minimum 50 percent of the restorable oyster bottom. These goals will help us get back to oyster densities in sanctuaries that approach densities from the early 1900's.
While this does not qualify as the navigational hazards of oyster reefs once littering the Bay, it is a step towards more successfully achieving our mission to recover the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population. With sustainable oyster reefs they Bay will have more filtered water and more habitat for other precious marine life.
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Oyster Trivia | |
Oyster Trivia
For the 5th year in a row, ORP planted over ____ million spat-on-shell back into the Chesapeake Bay in 2011.
a. 50 b. 100 c. 350
d. 500
Read the next issue of The Bay Restorer to learn the answer!
Answer from last issue's question: ORP recycled 150 bushels of shell from the Old Ebbitt Grill Oyster Riot and Oyster Matinee!
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| Meet Our Board Members |
 Misty Allen
Vice President Asset Management, GenOn Energy Inc.
Misty currently serves as Vice President of Asset Management (Eastern PJM) for GenOn Energy Inc. - one of the largest competitive generators of wholesale electricity in the United States. In her position at GenOn, she has contributed to the development of company legislative and regulatory policy and has directed government, community and media outreach efforts for the Eastern PJM assets located in New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia. She specializes in corporate community involvement programs and direct government relations management for the development of sound energy and environmental policy within the states where GenOn operates. Prior to this role, Misty was at MidAmerican Energy Company, an Iowa based utility company, where she developed market entry plans and business best practices so that the business remained flexible to the ever-changing regulatory and political environment. Beyond work and her involvement with the Oyster Recovery Partnership, Misty is the Vice President of Reaching Out Now, Inc. (RON), a non-profit organization servicing low income families with children in public school systems. Misty enjoys golf and is an avid reader. She also loves to spoil her two nephews and is eagerly anticipating the arrival of her new niece to "finally enter a world of dresses and bows, instead of cleats and gym socks." |
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March/April 2012 Newsletter
 | | Local Shipleys Choice elementary students excited to recycle shells in Annapolis. |
The Oyster Recovery Partnership is excited to welcome spring and the start of oyster spawning season! Over the last month, the University of Maryland Horn Point Lab Oyster Hatchery has been working hard to condition brood stock (future oyster parents) and prepare their facility for springtime spawning. The ORP field crew is busy cleaning and stockpiling oyster shells for this season's spat setting and planting. Official larvae production should start any day now, with plantings starting in May. Our focus this year will be Harris Creek on the Eastern Shore. Aimed at fulfilling President Obama's goal of enhancing the oyster habitat in 20 Bay tributaries by 2025, this project is one of the largest reef restorations ever conducted. We anticipate planting over 50 acres of oyster reefs this year including planting on 22 acres of substrate constructed by the Army Corp of Engineers. We are looking forward to another season of hard work, along side our restoration partners, producing and planting new oysters into our Bay. -- Stephan Abel, Executive Director, ORP   Left: The UMD Horn Point Laboratory Oyster Hatchery team hard at work picking some of this years brood stock for spawning. Photo by D. Abbott. Right: HPL Hatchery's finished product. These oysters will help produce the spat-on-shell which will be planted back into the Chesapeake Bay. Photo by S. Alexander. |
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Are You an Oyster Insider?
Earth Day with the Shell Recycling Alliance!
Earth Day is just around the corner and ORP recently worked with a group of enthusiastic and environmentally-minded students eager to begin early volunteer projects in preparation for the big day. The group of students from Shipley Choice Elementary School joined ORP in Annapolis to help our Shell Recycling Alliance (SRA) team to recycle oyster shells from participating local restaurants. These girls flexed their impressive muscles and helped ORP carry 5 gallon buckets full of oyster shells from local restaurants to our recycling truck - and in doing so discovered that recycling oyster shells is tougher than it sounds!
As part of their Earth Day project, these eco-minded girls plan on decorating additional shell recycling buckets and helping ORP spread the shell recycling message to potential future SRA member restaurants. With their help hopefully we will soon have even more Annapolis restaurants recycling their oyster shells!
 | | Enthusiasm for our Bay runs deep with these Shipleys Choice Elementary School girls. |
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Shell Recycling Alliance Newest Members!
The Oyster Recovery Partnership's most publicly-recognized
program - the region's oyster Shell Recycling Alliance, launched by the Partnership in 2010 -- is made up of nearly 100 restaurants, caterers and seafood distributors from the DC, Maryland and Virginia region, as well as citizen volunteers who collect used oyster shells from area businesses to aid in restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Oyster reefs are one of the most endangered marine habitats on the planet, but eating oysters can help save the Bay. For every shell recycled, ORP can plant 10 new oysters back into the Bay.
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ORP's Shell Recycling Alliance provides 15% of Maryland's shell needs at current oyster production levels! |
Our newest SRA members:
Baltimore:
Wit and Wisdom, Four Seasons Hotel
Washington, DC:
Pearl Dive Oyster Bar
Salt & Pepper Restaurant
Blue Duck Tavern, Hyatt Hotel
Bistro 525, Washington Court Hotel
Poste Modern Brasserie
Cambridge, MD:
The High Spot
Canvasback Restaurant and Pub
Jimmie and Sook's Raw Bar & Grill
Glen Burnie, MD:
Mutiny Pirate Bar
Reistertown, MD:
The Grill at Harryman House
Kent Island, MD:
The Narrows Restaurant |
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Out & About
Hey Oyster Lovers! ORP will be attending a wonderful upcoming oyster festival for Earth Day! And... all shell from this event will be recycled for future Bay restoration.
Poste Earth Day Oysterstock
Join ORP and Poste Brasserie for a fun, delicious, Earth Day celebration. Poste will be serving delicious oysters in a variety of ways: oysters on the half shell, grilled oysters, oyster stuffing, and oyster stew...Plus many other tasty items! They will also be serving great local wine, beer, and spirits. Music from 3 live bands!
When: April 22, 2012 from 2 PM - Sunset
Where: Poste Modern Brasserie - 555 8th Street, NW Washington, DC
Price: $75
Why: Supports Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration. Great time for a great cause!
Information: Click Here!
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On The Bay | | Abandoned crab pots collected from the Bay by watermen participating in the Derelict Gear Retrieval Program. |
2012 Derelict Gear Retrieval Program
This month ORP assisted with the coordination of the "Derelict Gear Retrieval Program," often called the "Ghost Pot Program." This program, occurring from mid-March to mid-April 2012, hires local watermen to remove abandoned nets, crab pots, and other fishing gear from the Bay's bottom. This supports our local economy and watermen, but also provides an ecological service by preventing animals from getting caught and perishing in the derelict gear.
ORP received nearly 1,000 applications to participate as captains and crew in the 2012 program. Based on the eligibility requirements for the project, a total of 736 applicants were accepted into the program- 438 captains and 298 crew members. The program is occurring at 14 sites around the Chesapeake Bay, primarily at the mouths of rivers where derelict crab pots are highly concentrated, from the Sassafras River down to Smith Island in Tangier Sound.
Similar to many of ORP's projects, the Derelict Gear Retrieval Program could not be completed without the assistance of our supportive partners. ORP and the Maryland Watermen's Association have been handling the administrative elements and logistics coordination in assigning more than 400 boats! In the field, monitoring is overseen by the environmental consulting group Versar Inc. Funding for this program is made possible by the remaining funds in the federal Blue Crab Disaster Recovery grant.  | Local watermen "spring clean" the basement of our Bay for the Ghost Pot Retrieval
Program. |
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Ask a Scientist
 | | Baby oysters that have set on a recycled oyster shell - Photo by Erika Nortemann |
Q: Onto what type of surface can oyster larvae set?
A: Oyster larvae are typically mobile in the water column for three to four weeks before they are ready to settle on any available hard substrate. If a suitable substrate is not available, the larvae will die.
Oyster larvae require a relatively clean, hard substrate on which to set and grow. They can set on almost any hard substrate; however, oyster shell is preferable. There are also conservation groups testing alternate forms of substrate for oyster reef rehabilitation.
In the Chesapeake Bay there is a lack of necessary substrate or cultch material. This is due to silt and sediment flowing into Bay waterways, further compounding the oyster's inability to repopulate itself.
The Oyster Recovery Partnership uses oyster shell recycled from local restaurants (through the Shell Recycling Alliance) or obtained from shucking houses for restoration purposes. It is necessary to age and clean shell before setting them with oyster spat and releasing them into the Chesapeake Bay.
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Partner Profile
Since 1999, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has been the primary federal funding agency for ORP's cooperative oyster restoration effort. NOAA provides restoration planning, coordination, funding, and technical expertise, including NOAA-developed data products using state-of-the-art technologies for bottom mapping, habitat characterization, and monitoring.
Additionally, NOAA provided the funding for the Derelict Gear Retrieval Program through their funding of the Blue Crab Disaster Recovery fund.
Website: www.noaa.gov |
Aw Shucks!
The man had a sure palate cover'd o'er
With brass or steel, that on the rocky shore
First broke the oozy oyster's pearly coat
And risqu'd the living morsel down his throat
- John Gay, English Poet and Dramatist |
Oyster Recipe
Grilled Oysters an Emeril Lagasse Recipe
Ingredients:
10 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
2 tablespoons finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tablespoons minced parsley leaves
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon minced fresh chives
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce, optional
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
24 shucked oysters, half of each shell reserved and washed
Directions:
1. In a bowl combine all ingredients except the oysters and mix thoroughly to combine. Transfer butter mixture to a piece of plastic wrap and roll up to form a tight log and freeze until firm.
2. Preheat a grill to high.
3. Place the washed oyster shells on a baking sheet and top each shell with 1 oyster. Remove the butter from the freezer and unwrap. Slice the butter into 24 rounds and place 1 round on top of each oyster. Place the oysters on the preheated grill and cook until the oysters are just cooked through, curled around the edges and the butter is melted and bubbly, 4 to 6 minutes.
4. Serve immediately.
Recipe and photo found at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/grilled-oysters-recipe/index.html |
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About the Oyster Recovery Partnership |
Working with more than a dozen stakeholder groups to rehabilitate historic and relic oyster bars, the Oyster Recovery Partnership has planted more than 3 billion new oysters, rehabilitated more than 1,500 acres of once viable oyster reefs, and recycled more than 15,000 bushels of shell. Learn more.
Restoring Our Oyster. Cleaning Our Bay. Preserving Our Future. This is the mission of the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) -- a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Annapolis, MD. ORP actively promotes, supports and restores oysters for ecologic and economic purposes. We engage in numerous Chesapeake Bay-related projects by conducting science-based "in-the-water" and "on-the-land" recovery efforts, while conducting public outreach and education in our quest to protect our environment, our heritage, and our knowledge of the Chesapeake Bay, its marshes and rivers, and the life that it sustains.
A copy of our current financial statement is available upon request by contacting the Oyster Recovery Partnership, Inc. at 1805A Virginia Street, Annapolis, MD 21401 or 410.990.4970. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary of State for the cost of copying and postage. Oyster Recovery Partnership, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization -- donations to which are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. |
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