Oyster farming on the Chesapeake Bay
Oyster farming is growing in Maryland, with bivalves being raised on 300 leases covering 3,600 acres of Chesapeake Bay bottom and water.
- Timothy Devine, Easton, owner of Barren Island Oysters started growing the bivalves in June 2013. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Select oysters from the Choptank Oyster Company are rinsed in the Choptank River. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Timothy Devine, Easton, owner of Barren Island Oysters, holds one of his farmed oysters. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Kevin McClarren, general manager of the Choptank Oyster Co, has been selling farm raised oysters since 2005. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Choptank Oyster Company oyster grow in floats on the surface of the Choptank River. The company sold its first farmed oysters in 2005. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Kevin McClarren, general manager of the Choptank Oyster Co, has been selling farm raised oysters since 2005. He farms 4 acres of the Choptank River using a float system he devised. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Left to right, Hector Meduena and Kevin Covey, of Chesapeake Gold Oysters, return oysters to a cage before lowering it into Tar Bay. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Timothy Devine, Easton, owner of Barren Island Oysters, lifts one of his farmed oysters from an upwelling tank. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Choptank Oyster Company oysters are seen through the mesh of the floats they grown in on the Choptank River. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Left to right, Hector Meduena and Kevin Covey, of Chesapeake Gold Oysters, pull an oyster cage from Tar Bay. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Regan Gifford, with the Choptank Oyster Company, carries buckets of oysters down the pier. The bivalves are grown in floats on four acres of the Choptank River. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Left to right, Hector Meduena and Kevin Covey, of Chesapeake Gold Oysters, return an oyster cage to Tar Bay. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Manuel Garcia, lifts a tub from a floating upweller. Inside the tub are oyster spat that being grown by Chesapeake Gold Oysters. They will eventually be moved to Tar Bay to further develop. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Johnny Shockley, Woolford, co-owner of Chesapeake Gold Oysters, pilots a boat. His company grows oysters for the half-shell market in cages on five acres in Tar Bay. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Manuel Garcia, a worker for Chesapeake Gold Oysters, holds a hand full of oyster. The company is farming oysters for the half shell market. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- Manuel Garcia shucks a Chesapeake Gold Oyster. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)
- A Chesapeake Gold Oysters boat works their oyster beds in Tar Bay. (Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun)