The story begins with you standing by a gigantic body of water, its not the ocean but a bay you have discovered on the east coast, of a place that will one day be called America. The body of water is sparkling in the sunshine, and as you begin to wade out, you realize it is crystal clear for miles out and all the way to the bottom. You can clearly see schools of fish, racing crabs, and most abundant of all, towering reefs of oysters from the bottom of the bay, to the top of the water. What you have discovered is the Chesapeake Bay.
It breaks my heart that we have to now use our imagination to see this vision, because once upon a time, this was what the treasure of our region looked like. Lucky for us, nobody is more committed to cleaning the Chesapeake Bay than oysters. An adult oyster filters 50 gallons of water a day, and in the 19th century the abundant oyster population would filter the entire bay within a week. With the diminished number of oysters due to disease and harvest this job now takes the dwindling oyster population a year to filter the bay. BUT you can easily help this oyster population grow in population and in turn, clean the Bay. When you buy seafood, look for labels that say "Sustainably Sourced". If you don't see this label, demand your grocery store to carry such products.
Last night I had a chance to learn all about this topic at the Baltimore Aquarium's "Fresh Thoughts- Sustainable Seafood Series" http://www.aqua.org/freshthoughts/
Check out the link to learn more. "National Aquarium’s Fresh Thoughts sustainable seafood dining series not only offers a delicious evening out, it’s also a way to increase your understanding of sustainable seafood practices and to help you make informed choices." Source found at: http://www.aqua.org/freshthoughts/
Happy Shucking!!!
To learn more about oyster restoration, go to: http://www.cbf.org/Page.aspx?pid=1063Baltimore Event Photography. Baltimore Aquarium, Baltimore Maryland
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