RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — With summer comes the time to highlight oyster restoration in Virginia by fostering a baby oyster, and as a result, helping to save the Chesapeake Bay.
According to a release from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), the nonprofit is urging volunteers across the Commonwealth to become oyster foster parents and join one of 10 upcoming oyster gardening events, including in Hampton Roads, the Eastern Shore, the Middle Peninsula and the Northern Neck.
“Fostering oysters is like watching your little ones grow up and go off to school, except their school is the Chesapeake Bay, and their job is saving the planet,” said Jessica Lutzow, CBF Virginia Oyster Restoration Specialist. “Oyster gardeners get a real sense of pride when the oysters are returned knowing they’ve personally helped create a healthier, happier Bay for everyone.”
The CBF emphasized that gardeners welcome tiny, shelled oysters into their lives and raise them in cages before they “then return the year-old oysters to CBF, which plants them onto sanctuary reefs.”
They added that more than 600 CBF oyster gardeners are nurturing oysters in Virginia’s tidewater. The foundation is partnering with marinas and parks to offer public outdoor gardening locations, which they say help build camaraderie and connection.
To kickstart the system, CBF shared that there will be interactive workshops that allow people to learn the following about what it means to foster these baby oysters:
- How to set up your oyster cages
- Keep your oyster babies sparkling clean
- Understand just how vital these little filter-feeders are
- Send your babies off to their forever homes on sanctuary reefs
“It’s more than growing pretty shells; it’s about helping the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance hit its ambitious goal of adding 10 billion new oysters to the Bay,” the foundation added.
“On a personal level, I take in the water differently than I would at the beach. It puts you in a state of mindfulness. I know the other gardeners. I’ve gotten to know more of the watermen community. It’s the dirtiest job I do, and I love it,” public oyster gardener and Hampton volunteer Anne-Marie Marivoet said.
627 volunteers across Virginia raised and returned and returning 110,000 oysters last year, according to CBF.
The follow are the locations in Virginia where the CBF will be hosting these oyster gardening seminars:
- Virginia Beach Oyster Gardening Seminar I: 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 14,
- Tappahannock Oyster Gardening Seminar: 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 17
- VA Eastern Shore Gardening Seminar: 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 21
- Norfolk Oyster Gardening Seminar: 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 24
- Hampton Oyster Gardening Seminar: 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 26
- Irvington Oyster Gardening Seminar: 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 19
- Newport News Oyster Gardening Seminar: 6 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, July 22
- Gloucester Point Oyster Gardening Seminar” 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 24
- Portsmouth Oyster Gardening Seminar: 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 31
- Virginia Beach Oyster Gardening Seminar II: 9 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 2
For more information about the foundation or how to foster a baby oyster this summer, click here.
