How Oyster Farms Clean Up Water Quality | Maryland Farm & Harvest

At Orchard Point Oyster Company in Stevensville, founder Scott Budden and his team work hard to manage the roughly six million oysters they're currently growing on a float lease on the Chester River. While the COVID-19 pandemic did hurt their sales, there is good news for their industry. A new Water Quality Trading Program allows organizations to buy and sell nutrient credits to help clean up the bay. This means organizations who discharge nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus can trade credits with Orchard Point, whose oysters help remove nutrients. This financial incentive helps clean up the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay, and encourages the growth of oyster aquaculture.
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Episode 811

[@PhatChin]

Fisherman shows exceptional intelligence and articulates the intricacies and challenges of the industry very well - good interview and great video

[@a6277w]

Love this!

[@aungtunnaing4810]

I want to start this business. I love it.

[@reddirtfarm7704]

Getting hungry watching this!!

[@albertshilton5336]

I grow oysters for our family. What’re can I buy the gear you use on line? Do you sell and ship seeds? Triploids?

[@poorwotan]

I understand that there are 2 types of oysters. There is one that can reproduce and one that can't. Most farms use the ones that can't because they grow much faster (hence are harvestable faster). Wouldn't it make sense to also grow some regular ones? They'd help repopulate the Bay naturally, no? What I mean is maybe the credit should be (partially?) used to grow the other ones, let them reproduce once or twice before harvesting.

[@mdurst2009]

Part of it is brand consistency. Diploid(wild) oysters vary in quality across the year, whereas triploid ( the kind we grow in aquaculture) are basically the same year around.
Also, growing triploids still help wild oysters. Oysters need a surface to grow on. Preferably other oysters. As the triploids clean the water it makes it easier on wild oysters which improves breeding. And some farms, such as the one I'm at, dump our old shells back into the water which provides surfaces for the wild oysters to cling to and grow.

[@saxon6]

As an oyster gardener I have both in my boxes now. One for stocking and one for eating

[@sarah_farm]

excellent video again, i like the bamboo shoots, they taste good, keep up the excellent videos and get your farm the way you like it🥰❤ ! And it's an honor to have you visit our channel, we can discuss more about our experiences in harvesting and building farms.

[@anthonymorales842]

The issue that I see is these filter feeders are also consuming zygote,gamete and larvae of many different species. Phytoplankton do not contain the essential fatty acids and proteins that is needed to generate the individual biomass. We have these unprecedented algal events so the obvious linear expectation is a dramatic increase with the aggregate natural oyster biomass. We know that's not the case.

[@RJohn177]

How about we prioritize growing those oysters to put back in the bay instead of eating them. 🤷🏾‍♂️ seems like that would go a lot further than restoring the ecology of the bay