We are proud to announce that on Saturday, September 30th at 10:30 am Friends of St. Clements Bay, the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association (SMRWA), and ShoreThing Shellfish, LLC will be planting another one million oysters in the Breton Bay Oyster Sanctuary.

Last year, volunteers planted one million oysters in Breton Bay, but to ensure a sustainable population, we are adding another million. We will meet at Abell’s Wharf with two pleasure boats and a large barge to plant 300 bags of spat (oyster larva that has settled on shell) on oyster shell.

Breton Bay was classified as one of 51 oyster sanctuaries in 2010. These sanctuaries were chosen because of their potential to support oyster reefs. Maryland Department of Natural Resources even chose Breton Bay to be one of the five oyster sanctuaries for large scale restoration. However, in 2018, they revoke that decision and decided not to restore the Breton Bay Oyster Sanctuary due to low current oyster populations.

SMRWA believes that the low oyster populations are the exact reason to restore Breton Bay. SMRWA along with Friends of the St. Clements Bay have planted one million oysters in Breton Bay already and have seen great success. The oysters are growing and even reproducing. We hope to show the state that with a little effort, we can restore Breton Bay with the help of oysters. Oysters provide habitat for commercial and recreation fisheries, including the Blue Crab, support the economy, and improve water clarity by filtering out nutrients.

Please bring a life jacket and join us on September 30th to plant one million oysters in Breton Bay. We will provide gloves.