Chesapeake Bay Mag, Oyster Farm Leader & Scientists Developing Synthetic Oyster Shell
There’s a concerning shortage of oyster shell available in the Chesapeake Bay, both for restoration projects and for the oyster-growing aquaculture harvest industry. Prices on shell are sky-high. With the help of a new Chesapeake Bay Trust-Oyster Alliance grant, an Eastern Shore oyster farm is researching a cost-effective synthetic shell that could change the game for aquaculture operations.
Oysters really aren't that that fussy about what they set on. I've seen them set on random rocks, concrete, fiberglass, even plastic. They seem attracted to the "biofilm" of algae and bacteria that form on hard substrate soaked in "living" sea water.
If wes hadn't pulled almost all the oysters out the Bay, we'd have more shell to work with; but then, if you'd left more oysters there, you wouldn't need to plant shell for oysters.
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