November 6, 2014 — Oyster farming, also known as aquaculture, is one of the few growing businesses here on the western shore of Maryland, a sleepy outpost best known for the sunburned watermen who have pulled crabs and fish from bays like Chesapeake and Calvert for generations. Recent changes to state policy and a growing national affection for oysters (sprinkled with lemon juice only, please) have brought back the shellfish, once as much a staple to Maryland as corn is to Iowa. In the past few years, the state has issued 111 oyster farming leases across 2,240 acres of waters; scores more are pending.
The booming oyster business has come into conflict with the watermen of this region, who argue that the cages used to cultivate oysters are a menace to fishing lines and crab pots, and in some cases an eyesore for residents with waterfront homes.
Unlike commercial oyster farmers, watermen can fish, crab and seek wild oysters with a mere license on public waterways. Farmers must get state-issued leases, which some watermen are pressing the state to limit.
“You don’t put one person out of business to start another,” said Robert Brown, the president of the Maryland Watermen’s Association. “If you put a bunch of cages on the bottom of the water, how are you going to put your trot line down? You can’t sift for crabs, you can’t clam there, you can’t fish there, you can’t even sport fish there. I am worried about all of it.”
Oyster farmers — a mélange of scientists, businesspeople, new-career seekers and others — argue that by recreating oyster reefs, they are helping to clean the area’s bays, stimulate the very ecosystem that sustains crab and fish populations and return a tradition to the region.
“I think we can be the modern watermen and bring back this area’s heritage,” said J. D. Blackwell, whose company 38° North Oysters is among a handful of players here.
Read the full story at the New York Times