We had a good day, today, doing work for the first Patuxent River Chapter oyster project. 16 volunteers gathered at 10am @ Circle C oyster ranch in Ridge, MD. The goal of today was to prepare 30 floats for our deployment on March 18th. Since the floats get used over and over there, were plenty in stock to choose from. We just had to knock off the growth, check the bags for holes, and replace a few parts and pieces. In all it took about 5 hours, including lots of time to learn how the floats get put together, and take a short tour of the operation.
Special thanks to the volunteers that came out today. It wasn't glamorous work, but it does prepare us to put our oysters in the water on March 18th. I really enjoyed myself, and I can tell that everyone else did as well.
To see pictures of the day see:
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If you'd like to help in the future, email me @ smcguire20653@gmail.com or the Patuxent River Oyster Committee Chairman, James Cotugno @ jcotugno@verizon.net. There are two volunteer dates coming up.
Monday, March 17, Noon - Wells Cover Oyster Nursery, Broomes Island/Battle Creek - Volunteers needed to help load oysters into a pickup truck bed. Work Gloves, and Chest Waders recommended. Flat shovels would be helpful as well. Work should be done by 4pm.
Tuesday, March 18, 8:30am - St Thomas Creek/Hollywood, MD - Volunteers needed to help put oysters in floats. Work Gloves needed. There will be a small press conference at 10am. Work should be done by Noon.
Just to give you some background about our Chapter and oyster projects -
The Patuxent River Chapter of CCA was formed last May. We are a group of recreational fishermen that get together every month at the Elk's lodge to talk about fishing and conservation. From the beginning we decided that we wanted to get involved in oyster restoration. We believe that oysters are the key to restoring the bay, and I think it's pretty cool that a bunch of fishermen care enough to spend a sunday not fishing.
About a month ago we formed an Oyster Committee to manage the chapter oyster projects. At the January meeting it was clear that we had a lot of people that want to help, and a lot of good ideas, so it was important to create a committee with some structure to identify project ideas and follow through with the planning.
Right now we have one active project, and one project in planning. The active project is a co-op with Circle C oyster ranch to grow 25,000+ oysters (in floats) at an aquaculture site on St Thomas Creek (Off the lower Patuxent). These oysters were donated to our chapter, and they will remain in St. Thomas Creek for 2 years. At the end of two years we will place them on a sanctuary. Between now and then we will be working to identify which sanctuary they should be placed on - and how to properly protect them from Poachers.
Overall, this project will serve as a training opportunity - we'll use it to learn how to grow oysters in floats, and get members actively involved in the process. More projects are in the planning stage - to include getting grant money to get as many people growing oysters as possible. I'll do my best to keep posting the updates here, but the best place to get information are the chapter meetings at the Elk's Lodge in California, MD on the 4th Wednesday of every month @ 730pm.
For more info about CCA visit CCA Maryland HOME
Special thanks to the volunteers that came out today. It wasn't glamorous work, but it does prepare us to put our oysters in the water on March 18th. I really enjoyed myself, and I can tell that everyone else did as well.
To see pictures of the day see:
<embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf" width="600" height="400" flashvars="host=picasaweb.google.com&captions=1&RGB=0x000000&feed=http%3A%2F%2Fpicasaweb.google.com%2Fdata%2Ffeed%2Fapi%2Fuser%2Fsmcguire20653%2Falbumid%2F5173274551294458401%3Fkind%3Dphoto%26alt%3Drss" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed>
If you'd like to help in the future, email me @ smcguire20653@gmail.com or the Patuxent River Oyster Committee Chairman, James Cotugno @ jcotugno@verizon.net. There are two volunteer dates coming up.
Monday, March 17, Noon - Wells Cover Oyster Nursery, Broomes Island/Battle Creek - Volunteers needed to help load oysters into a pickup truck bed. Work Gloves, and Chest Waders recommended. Flat shovels would be helpful as well. Work should be done by 4pm.
Tuesday, March 18, 8:30am - St Thomas Creek/Hollywood, MD - Volunteers needed to help put oysters in floats. Work Gloves needed. There will be a small press conference at 10am. Work should be done by Noon.
Just to give you some background about our Chapter and oyster projects -
The Patuxent River Chapter of CCA was formed last May. We are a group of recreational fishermen that get together every month at the Elk's lodge to talk about fishing and conservation. From the beginning we decided that we wanted to get involved in oyster restoration. We believe that oysters are the key to restoring the bay, and I think it's pretty cool that a bunch of fishermen care enough to spend a sunday not fishing.
About a month ago we formed an Oyster Committee to manage the chapter oyster projects. At the January meeting it was clear that we had a lot of people that want to help, and a lot of good ideas, so it was important to create a committee with some structure to identify project ideas and follow through with the planning.
Right now we have one active project, and one project in planning. The active project is a co-op with Circle C oyster ranch to grow 25,000+ oysters (in floats) at an aquaculture site on St Thomas Creek (Off the lower Patuxent). These oysters were donated to our chapter, and they will remain in St. Thomas Creek for 2 years. At the end of two years we will place them on a sanctuary. Between now and then we will be working to identify which sanctuary they should be placed on - and how to properly protect them from Poachers.
Overall, this project will serve as a training opportunity - we'll use it to learn how to grow oysters in floats, and get members actively involved in the process. More projects are in the planning stage - to include getting grant money to get as many people growing oysters as possible. I'll do my best to keep posting the updates here, but the best place to get information are the chapter meetings at the Elk's Lodge in California, MD on the 4th Wednesday of every month @ 730pm.
For more info about CCA visit CCA Maryland HOME
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