Senator Cardin Wants More Oyster Farms In Chesapeake Bay

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- There is a state lab on the Eastern Shore helping to bring the oysters back to the bay.

As Mike Schuh reports, Senator Ben Cardin invited those who can open up the bay to more oyster farms to those who want to grow them.

There are two kinds of oysters coming out of the bay. One's caught from a boat by watermen with long tongs; there are also those grown in cages, dropped in areas leased to oyster farmers by the state and Coast Guard.

Near Cambridge, a state lab is helping both. Recently, Senator Ben Cardin toured the place.

"What I took out of here is that oyster aquaculture is growing in Maryland," he said.

It could grow more, but oyster farmers complain of paperwork, red tape and duplicate state and federal hearings that take years to complete.

"There are thousands of crab pot buoys out in the bay and people don't seem to have a problem with that," said Patrick Hudson, True Chesapeake Oyster Company. "But when we propose to put a buoy on an oyster cage, people seem to have a problem with it."

Hudson has farmed for two years and is looking for more acreage.

"We can operate a farm that is of commercial scale but is almost indistinguishable from all the other activities going on out in the bay," Hudson said.

He is encouraged by this meeting. Cardin got the state and the Coast Guard and the oyster farmers together to look at ways to expand aquaculture in the state---specifically speeding up the permitting process that can take years.

"We need to streamline the processing of permits to make it easier for them so they can do their business and put more oysters on our table and we can clean up the bay's environment," Cardin said.

"It shows some real commitment on their part to improve the process and supporting the industry," Hudson said.

An industry everyone agrees helps to filter the bay water, one oyster at a time.

The oyster farmers asked the state and the Coast Guard to have Maryland's system more closely model that of Virginia. There, a lease on an oyster bed takes three months---not two years---to get.