Restoring Our Oyster. Cleaning Our Bay. Preserving Our Future. May/June 2013 News
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Support Oyster Restoration |
Don't forget to take advantage of tax benefits by donating to ORP now!
Workplace Giving:
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New and Improved ORP Website!
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Have you seen the new ORP website since it was updated and launched? What are you waiting for?
Check it out at www.oysterrecovery.org!
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Upcoming Events |
Mark Your Calendar
July 3: One For the Bay!
Join ORP and The Nature Conservancy for our monthly Bay-restoration themed happy hours at McCormick and Schmick's in Washington, DC. Give "One For the Bay" by attending our monthly events and supporting ORP and TNC recovery efforts in the Chesapeake Bay. Together we will help Build A Reef in Harris Creek.
Next Happy Hour will be:
These "One For the Bay" happy hour events continue at the K Street McCormick and Schmick's from 5-7PM on the first Wednesday of every month in 2013!
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Oyster Trivia
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Oyster Trivia
Oysters have been around for 15 million years and in some places their shell deposits are 50 feet thick.
Answer to last newsletter's trivia: C.
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ORP Store
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Check out ORP's new merchandise on our online store!
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Summer is ORP's favorite time of year when we are busy planting millions of spat on shell back into the Chesapeake Bay. With years of production and planting experience, our partnership with the Horn Point Laboratory Oyster Hatchery continues to get increasingly effective and efficient which means we are headed towards another record planting year. So far this summer we have already planted over 500 million oysters and we still have months to go!
The remote setting program, where watermen learn to grow their own oysters, has continued to grow for the third year of its existence. Since the program started in early June, we have had 10 participants who have produced over 100 million spat on shell that they planted on their leases. We also opened a new RST location in Crisfield, MD which is coming online in July. Remote setting participants have shared that the experience has been extremely educational and helpful. Program managers Alan Roache and Steven Weschler teach participants valuable RST lessons which impart knowledge that will allow growers to create their own setting systems in the future.
ORP's Shell Recycling Alliance continues to grow. Maryland Counties are setting up shell recycling locations. The newest county addition is Wicomico County which is using county transfer stations as public collection sites for recycling shell. These locations will allow area restaurants and residents to take advantage of the new oyster shell recycling tax credit recently signed into law in Maryland. Starting July 1, 2013 residents and restaurants are be able to receive a one dollar tax credit per bushel of recycled oyster shell, up to $750 per year.
-- Stephan Abel, Executive Director, ORP
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ORP at Pimlico for Black Eyed Susan Day!
On May 17, Finlandia Vodka, 98 Rock, and the Oyster Recovery Partnership hosted a shell bagging competition in the infield of the Pimlico Racetrack. 20 teams competed to take home the $1,000 cash prize and title of Fastest Shell Bagging Team! All the shell bagged at the event will be used in Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration activities.
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Oyster Shell Recycling Signed Into Law!
Maryland's Oyster Shell Recycling Legislation, which was passed by both the MD House and Senate in April, was officially signed into law by Governor O'Malley on May 2, 2013. The Oyster Recovery Partnership, Chesapeake Baysavers, and other Bay-minded organizations that helped the cause were in attendance for the signing.
For more information on how you can participate in shell recycling visit www.oysterrecovery.org
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Oyster Recovery Partnership Receives 2 Grants from Perdue Farms to Raise Oysters, Recycle Shell
The Oyster Recovery Partnership(ORP) was awarded two grants from Perdue Farms to expand efforts to raise oysters for the Chesapeake Bay and recycle oyster shells. The grants will allow ORP to expand its Shell Recycling Alliance and Marylander's Grow Oysters Program. The grants also strengthen a partnership between ORP and Perdue Farms, which has been a long-term supporter of Bay oyster restoration efforts. The grants were announced during a volunteer shell bagging event at the Perdue Farms Corporate Headquarters.
Perdue Farms is a great friend of oysters and the Chesapeake Bay. They have been active with the Marylander's Grow Oysters Program since 2009 and have helped us expand the important community based program throughout the Eastern Shore of Maryland. These grants mean more homeowners will be able to participate in raising oysters for the bay and more shell will be recycled to continue our restoration efforts. These grants will have a direct impact on the Bay oyster population and the entire Bay ecosystem.
The grant for Marylander's Grow Oysters will allow ORP to expand the state-wide program along the Eastern Shore, the Nanticoke River watershed and Ocean City. This grant will be leveraged with State funding to allow ORP to deliver thousands of oyster cages filled with hatchery-produced oysters to communities throughout Maryland. Homeowners raise the oysters off their piers for about a year, until they are large enough for ORP to be planted them on sanctuary oyster reefs. The Shell Recycling Alliance (SRA) grant will allow ORP to support and expand the shell recycling program in the Delmarva region.
Perdue Farms will also provide volunteer support to enhance the oyster population Bay-wide. On June 20, Perdue Farm employees and family members teamed up with ORP to fill in hundreds of bags with oyster shell bags for future oyster restoration projects. The bags are needed for oyster hatchery production and will help provide a home for approximately 1 million oysters. Young larvae will attach themselves to the clean oyster shells at the University of Maryland Horn Point Laboratory Oyster Hatchery in Cambridge where they are produced. These bags of "spat on shell" are used in the Marylanders Grow Oysters effort.
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ORP and TNC "One For The Bay" Happy Hours
"One For The Bay" is a monthly celebration of the Chesapeake Bay and its oyster population. On the first Wednesday of every month ORP and TNC head to McCormick and Schmick's on K Street, DC to educate guests about our oyster restorations in the Bay. Please join us at one of our future events to support the cause! Upcoming "One For The Bay" happy hours will occur on July 3, August 7, September 4, and October 2!
Click HERE for more information.
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ORP Welcomes New SRA Members
The Oyster Recovery Partnership's widely-recognized program, the Shell Recycling Alliance consists of over 150 restaurants, caterers and seafood distributors from the mid-Atlantic region, as well as citizen volunteers who collect used oyster shells from area businesses to aid in restoring the Chesapeake Bay. Oyster reefs are one of the most endangered marine habitats on the planet, but eating oysters can also help save the Bay. For every shell recycled, ORP can plant 10 new oysters back into the Bay.
| ORP's Shell Recycling Alliance provides 15% of Maryland's shell needs at current oyster production levels! |
In the past year, ORP has collected nearly 15,000 bushels of used shell from our SRA partners bringing our total to nearly 30,000 bushels or 1,200 tons!
Our newest SRA members:
Baltimore, MD:
For a complete list of participating restaurants click here. Please patronize these wonderful partners!
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The Adventures of Shelly and Lucky |
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About the Oyster Recovery Partnership
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Nearly 20 years ago, the Oyster Recovery Partnership was commissioned as a cooperative coalition of multiple partners that contribute toward a large-scale restoration program that plants disease-free oysters back into the Chesapeake Bay. As a result of this successful Partnership, nearly 4 billion oysters have been planted on 1,500 acres of oyster reefs and 1,200 tons of shell have been recycled to provide homes for new oysters. As Maryland's leading non-profit restoring oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, the Oyster Recovery Partnership also operates the region's Shell Recycling Alliance, supports the State's Marylanders Grow Oysters program and provides shellfish aquaculture and fishery support services. Learn more.
Restoring Our Oyster. Cleaning Our Bay. Preserving Our Future. This is the mission of the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) -- a 501(c)(3) non-profit based in Annapolis, MD. ORP actively promotes, supports and restores oysters for ecologic and economic purposes. We engage in numerous Chesapeake Bay-related projects by conducting science-based "in-the-water" and "on-the-land" recovery efforts, while conducting public outreach and education in our quest to protect our environment, our heritage, and our knowledge of the Chesapeake Bay, its marshes and rivers and the life that it sustains.
A copy of our current financial statement is available upon request by contacting the Oyster Recovery Partnership, Inc. at 1805A Virginia Street, Annapolis, MD 21401 or 410.990.4970. Documents and information submitted to the State of Maryland under the Maryland Charitable Solicitations Act are available from the Office of the Secretary of State for the cost of copying and postage. Oyster Recovery Partnership, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization -- donations to which are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
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