Homeowner oyster spat collection6/16/2023 *Please note that the submit button on the form is for the background check - not the application. Volunteer forms can be either emailed to: mailed to: 423 Griffing Avenue, Suite 100, Riverhead, New York 11901-3071 Volunteer to assist in administrative tasks to.Volunteer for hands-on operations Monday, Wednesday and Friday 8:30.Participate in monthly seminars to learn more about local marineĮnvironment and the role you can play in your community.Keep 100% of your garden harvest for personal use.Monitor seed oysters, clams and scallops in your own shellfish We invite you to join us in our 22nd year of creating a model for our community based shellfish restoration Our doors to the community for new membership. Our facility is closed on the weekends and holidays! SPAT starts up in late spring and runs until about Thanksgiving time, when you will over-winter your oysters.Īfter many exciting years of SPAT (launched in 2000), we continue to open Please sign up for the email (right sidebar), to stay updated about news and events. If you are an Ambassador member (growing at your own dock or bulkhead), please confirm with Darci that we have your NYS DEC license before you pick up oysters and gear (during SPAT hours only). Once you send in your membership form and risk waiver you can visit the Marine Center in Southold during SPAT hours to get started. SPAT hours are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings between 8:00 a.m. If you are a member or want to become one, please make sure we have your application and risk acknowledgement waiver. The SPAT Program is operated from the Marine Center in Southold. * The current tax rebate is a topic to be voted on in Maryland Legislative session in April and we will know following this if the tax credit has been continued.Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest> SPAT Membership Distribution of cages and spat in your area is planned for early fall. If you are interested in participating in this important program or if you have any questions, please contact Tom Leigh by email at or by phone at 443.385.0511. Once mature the oysters can be consumed, or by request to MRC, moved to the sanctuary reef. Oysters grown in floats, unlike in the MGO program, belong to the homeowner. The floats with spat cost $250 each, but Maryland provides a dollar for dollar income tax credit* of up to $500 per person for floats, so all of the costs for up to two floats per person is rebated at tax time. Oysters less then a year old are called ‘spat’. The floats contain approximately 500 dime sized spat. There is no cost to those who participate, but there are rewards – both personal and ecological.Īlternatively, MRC will build and deliver oyster floats for your dock. At the end of that growing period, the oysters are placed on the reef sanctuary in that particular tributary. The Marylanders Grow Oyster Program (MGO) is a cooperative effort between MDNR, MRC, the Oyster Recovery Partnership, other NGOs, and private dock owners to grow oysters from spat in wire mesh cages suspended from their piers for the first year of the oyster’s life. Approximately 85,000 oyster spat were supplied. In 2012 we supplied over 300 cages and floats to 106 property owners to grow oysters. MRC manages oyster programs on the Choptank, Miles and Wye Rivers. The Oyster Recovery Partnership has planted over 3.88 billion oysters over the last 20 years. It is encouraging to see results after only two decades of restoration efforts. Now, because of decades of overharvest, disease, poor water quality, and the loss of hard bottom habitat, the oyster population in the Bay is less than 1% of what it once was. As you can see in the attached Spatfall Intensity Map, some of the highest spat counts in the Chesapeake Bay are in Broad Creek!Īt one time, oysters were so abundant in the Chesapeake that their reefs defined the major river channels. So we can expect to see even more oysters in 2014.īroad Creek was also a winner in the 2012 MDNR Fall Oyster Survey. The Army Corp of Engineers, Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) and the Oyster Recovery Program will all be working on oyster restoration in Harris Creek this year. Harris Creek oyster restoration is a part of Governor O’Malley’s budget for 2013. The amazing thing was the thousands of oysters of differing ages, indicating successful spatfalls over a number of years. In my four years as the Choptank Riverkeeper, I have never seen spatfall density like there is in Harris Creek. “ You literally couldn’t take a step without walking on oysters. Drew Koslow, our Choptank Riverkeeper, could not believe how many oysters were growing in the intertidal zone while walking on the shoreline of Harris Creek.
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