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Oyster Restoration
Come Grow With Us!
Oysters are an important natural resource. A mature oyster filters 30 to 50 gallons of water each day and their reefs provide habitat for other aquatic life. Sadly, the number of oysters in the Bay is less than 2% of historic levels. Arundel Rivers facilitates the Marylanders Grow Oysters program (MGO). This program, managed by the Dept of Natural Resources and the Oyster Recovery Partnership, supplies waterfront citizens the materials and knowledge needed to nurture an annual class of baby oysters to then be planted in sanctuary areas of our rivers. The spat are placed in cages and then hung off personal or community docks until the baby oysters mature enough to survive on an oyster sanctuary reef.
Oysters are delivered to growers in late fall and the program runs through late spring, when the spat are planted on our Glebe Bay reef. If you’re interested, Growers need to shake their oysters cages once a month to knock any excess algae off the cages, so that the oysters have plenty of water circulation. Oysters cannot be grown in freshwater. If you have barnacles on your pier, it is probably salty enough to support oysters.
If you’re interested in growing with us and want to learn more, click the link below to email us for more information. Sign up for the season usually closes at the end of June.
