Shore Thing Shellfish

"A rising tide lifts all oyster boats"

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:59:02 -0500

Ronnie Gist with the Maryland Industrial Partnerships grant...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:57:06 -0500

Ronnie Gist with the Maryland Industrial Partnerships grant program (MIPS) is about to enjoy a fresh oyster from our lease in St. George Creek. We were awarded a grant through this program to research alternative “in-water” setting methods compared to traditional land-based setting systems.

In September I had an opportunity to do some work renovating...

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 09:53:58 -0500

In September I had an opportunity to do some work renovating condos on Siesta Key in Florida. Swimming and laying on the beach after work, not bad. Every restaurant offered oysters but I didn’t see any Chesapeake’s on the menus… yet.

Water visibility improves in the fall and winter. It was time...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:48:54 -0400

Water visibility improves in the fall and winter. It was time to enjoy some of the hard work and checkout the lease bottom snorkel style. Oyster reefs are the equivalent to coral reefs in the Chesapeake Bay. Not quite the Caribbean clarity but maybe in time. Oysters improve water quality so I can only hope that as we and other growers put more oysters in the water, visibility will improve. Some of the shell piles look great!

Stylochus, or as we call em, “Pigglies”, are a...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:48:20 -0400

Stylochus, or as we call em, “Pigglies”, are a species of flatworm that eat young oyster spat. They are effective predators and can greatly increase spat mortality densely set areas.

This summer we produced over 1 million oyster seed at our indoor...

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:47:56 -0400

This summer we produced over 1 million oyster seed at our indoor hatchery facility. To produce oyster seed, larvae is set on small pieces of oyster shell resulting in individual oysters referred to as singlets rather than the clusters of oysters that are produced from setting larvae on whole shells.

One year old spat on shell. Purdy!

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 13:41:33 -0400

One year old spat on shell. Purdy!

Check out our website!

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:54:37 -0400

www.shorethingshellfish.com

We set up a remote setting tank for the St. Mary’s River...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:52:49 -0400

We set up a remote setting tank for the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association along the waterfront at St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Using our system SMRWA was able to set over 3 million spat for restoration.

All this shell is gone now. All moved, one bushel at a time, to...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:52:15 -0400

All this shell is gone now. All moved, one bushel at a time, to our lease bottom. Its delivered to the property by tractor-trailer then allowed to age before going overboard.

Silt fence to prevent sediment from running into the creek. ...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:49:29 -0400

Silt fence to prevent sediment from running into the creek. Oyster restoration is two fold. We need to put more oysters back in the bay, but we also need to keep the sediment out of our waterways that will smother them. We need to control stormwater runoff, slow it down, infiltrate it into the ground. To many of our creeks and streams are treated as glorified ditches.

Taking the last of our shell for the season out to the lease! ...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:46:52 -0400

Taking the last of our shell for the season out to the lease! This summer we placed 10,000 bushel of shell on our lease, by hand, one at a time…..

The shell deposits are already a great place for fishing and crabbing! Placing shell will catch natural spat set and allow us to plant our own spat without it getting buried in soft bottom substrates.

Albino blue crab. Or pretty darn close… First one...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:42:00 -0400

Albino blue crab. Or pretty darn close… First one I’ve ever seen like this.

Much of what we do gives back to the environment, growing...

Thu, 27 Sep 2012 23:40:56 -0400

Much of what we do gives back to the environment, growing oysters improves water quality and enhances all other fisheries. One of our goals is to have as little negative impact on the environment as possible. We use solar panels to power the pumps and bubblers for our remote setting tanks.

Oyster shell from shuck houses in Virgina is delivered to our...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:36:00 -0400

Shell delivery from Virginia

Loading Totes

Totes to Boats

Boats to Lease

Oyster shell from shuck houses in Virgina is delivered to our property where it ages and any remaining meats are composted. When the shell is ready we bring it to our lease the hard way. First it is loaded into totes, then onto the boat and brought to our lease where it is dumped overboard. Most growers will barge shell directly to their leases. Our method ensures the shells are properly aged and we can plant them exactly where we want. By putting clean shell on our lease in the spring we create good oyster habitat and are able to take advantage of Mother Nature’s natural spat set.

Two month old spat on shell. This is what you want!

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:36:00 -0400

Two month old spat on shell. This is what you want!

We served our first oysters at Morgan Day in Annapolis as part...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:31:00 -0400

We served our first oysters at Morgan Day in Annapolis as part of a presentation opportunity for Morgan State University. Morgan State operates a small estuarine research center in Calvert County, a large part of which is dedicated to oyster restoration.

Tonging for oysters. There are still a few big ones out there.

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 13:30:55 -0400

Tonging for oysters. There are still a few big ones out there.

Setting tanks are first loaded with clean oyster shells. Then...

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 09:57:00 -0400

Tank loaded with oyster shells.

Spat on shell after one week.

Bags of spat ready to be planted.

Emptying the spat bags overboard.

Setting tanks are first loaded with clean oyster shells. Then oyster larvae is added. The larvae take 2 days to find a home and “set” on the shells. After a week you can easily see the small baby oysters on each shell. Oysters at this stage are called spat. The bags of spat are loaded onto a boat, taken to our lease, and planted overboard to grow to market size.

Not a mirage… even in the Desert. This photo was taken...

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:37:00 -0400

Not a mirage… even in the Desert. This photo was taken during my January visit to Joshua Tree National Park in Southern California. Not a real oyster bar but a pretty popular rock climbing spot.