Mario Bautista
The Great Baltimore Oyster Partnership is celebrating its 12th oyster planting season with the installation of Baltimore’s largest public oyster garden at the new Lighthouse Point Marina.
This joint initiative by the Waterfront Partnership and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is an expansion that builds on the success of previous years of oyster planting, which has continually enjoyed the support of the public, corporate, and student volunteers. 120 oyster cages and thousands of spat-on-shell (i.e. baby oysters) will be planted at the Lighthouse Point Marina.
An oyster, once mature, can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day. This makes them vital to improving water quality in the Baltimore Harbor.
Oysters also provide habitat for wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay and increase species diversity in the Bay by 40-60%. Volunteers at the oyster garden play a critical role by assembling wire cages, filling them with spat-on-shell, collecting data to estimate the quantity of oyster spat, and by suspending the cages from docks throughout the city. After nine months in the harbor, volunteers relocate the oysters to a protected sanctuary reef in the Patapsco River, which contributes to the restoration efforts for the Chesapeake Bay.
The program began in 2013, and since the partnership’s launch, more than 5,000 people have volunteered. As a result, over 1.6 million spat have been cultivated in Baltimore Harbor. The Great Baltimore Oyster Partnership receives partial funding from the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance.
There will be an open-to-the-public oyster installation event on Saturday, Sept. 14, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Volunteers should RSVP by emailing Rida Dhanani at rida@profilespr.com or Valerie Keefer at vkeefer@cbf.org.
The Lighthouse Point Marina is located at 2780 Lighthouse Point E, Baltimore, MD.
