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Md. Oyster Season Begins, Helping Hands Are Key

BALTIMORE (WJZ)—Sometimes nature needs a helping hand and that's especially true for the bay!

WJZ's Alex DeMetrick reports, this help comes on the half shell.

Maryland's oyster season has opened on the bay and the goal is harvesting.

Clean oyster shells each carry a tiny passenger.

"This here's a little oyster spat. They're really small at this stage. They grow for the six months they're with our oyster growers," said Kelsey Spiker, Oysters For the Bay.com.

Four years ago, Eastern Shore volunteers started with just 16 people.

This year, they have 265 growers who will tend the baby oysters from their docks.

The  oysters help clean the water and the growers say they volunteer because they like a clean bay.

"Hopefully this will help restore the bay," said Norm Franck.

Six months from now, the oysters will leave their adopted homes.

"They go out to a sanctuary on the Tred Avon River. That's where they spend the rest of their life doing what they do," said Chris Judy, Maryland DNR.

It may not be the life journey nature intended, but a helping hand can aid the restoration of healthier oysters.

There are currently 5,000 oyster growers in Maryland tending 7,500 cages from their docks.

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