If you want to get into the oyster business, you need nerves of steel.
Over the last decade, close to a dozen oyster farms have cropped up in Maryland and Virginia. Everything that could go wrong for them has gone wrong.
One farmer's oysters were stolen when he put them in an unmarked bed. Another tells of losing much of his early crop to cownose rays. Another encountered the parasite Dermo, which wiped out thousands of dollars of profits in a single season. Still others talked of long waits to acquire the permits to build their operations, or battles with neighbors who were not keen to see oyster floats interrupting their view.
But they stuck it out. Today, they are pioneers in oyster aquaculture, an industry that both Maryland and Virginia want to see grow.
Getting into the industry isn't an easy sell, especially to the Chesapeake Bay's dwindling number of watermen. The wild harvest they pursue can be unpredictable, but it's nothing compared with the uncertainty of aquaculture, where oyster farmers sink thousands of dollars into a crop they hope will be around next year.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Chesapeake Bay Journal (Seven Valleys, PA).