“Oyster Lobby Day” aims to protect the efforts to restore the bay

Annapolis, Md. –

Maryland Austernbauer and Chesapeake Bay advocate organized an oyster roast in the Lawyers Mall in front of the State House on Tuesday.

There were oysters on the grill, oysters on the half -shell – and many of them.

“Oyster Lobby Day” attracted a large, hungry amount of cross -party legislators, since the financing of the oyster restoration and the recovery of bay at the state and federal level is at risk.

While environmentalists say that the health of the bay is improving, they fear that the Trump administration's plan to reduce the environmental protection authority's employees will lead to a setback in financing, and declares that the state cannot be traced due to its own budget deficit of 3.3 billion US dollars.

“For the entire history of the Chesapeak restoration, federal authorities were an incredible partner, not only in terms of financing, but also in terms of technical support, specialist knowledge and coordination and cooperation with agencies in the local government,” said Allison Colden, the managing director of Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Oysters play an important role in the bay ecosystem. Timelapse photography shows how even an oyster can clean 50 gallon water per day.

“Everything else is based on oysters – not only for water quality, but also for habitats. Many organisms find protection,” said Brian Russell, a native of St. Mary's County, who heads Shore shellfish and whose father and grandfather were commercial watermen.

Watermen, Aquafarmers and Bay are all advocated for the adoption of the Chesapeake Bay Legacy Act by the governor, which would modernize the management of fishing and promote nature conservation practices. Proponents reject legal templates to weaken the punishments for poaching and to limit the expansion of the aquaculture industry.

“We have made so much profit. I have the feeling that we are ready to have a healthy bay and bring all of these communities together. It would be very harmful to lose this dynamic,” said Johnny Shockley, a Waterman in east coast.

The Chesapeake Bay Alliance, a co-sponsor of the event on Tuesday together with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, would like to add 10 billion oysters to the bay by the end of this year. So far they have planted 6 billion.

“It is an industry that was not only a pillar of Maryland's economy and culture forever, honestly, as long as we were a state,” said Josh Kurtz, secretary for natural resources from Maryland. “I think it is important to remind people and to engage people in all ways in how oysters benefit us. Clean water, good foods, local economic advantages, it is really fundamental to the success of our state.”

Bay Advocates said that it was dependent on political measures to protect fishing every year, and that oyster education is an important step, because if people know something about an oyster, they take care of the fate of the mollusk.