Circle C Oyster Ranch - Cleaning the Bay One Bivalve at a Time
posted 2/20/09
Kendall, one of Circle C’s employees, says he has to bring some equipment over to the docks anyway, so we hop into the truckbed and he drives us over to the dock where Circle C’s oysters are grown. The wind blows in biting off the river. I pull my jacket down lower and zip up tight. We smile to each other as Kendall unlocks the gate to the dock. We are actually doing this.
Circle C Oyster Ranchers Association is located near the end of a peninsula in Ridge, MD a short drive from St. Mary’s City. At first when you think of an oyster farm, you may think of rows and rows of docks or tanks where the oysters are grown, but here it’s just one dock, about fifty feet long with 3 x 6 and 3 x 10 PVC pipe rectangles floating on each side. It is not glamorous, but it is simple, efficient, and functional.
Kendall shows us the wooden tanks along the length of the dock where seed oysters are raised, the tubes where the water is pumped in and out. He shows us the floats The PVC pipe floats that surround the dock have mesh bags stretched between them. Seed oysters are placed in these bags when they are ready and there grow to their full size. While the floats weigh about 25 pounds when empty they can weigh up to 300 or 400 pounds when the oysters are fully grown.
Kendall tells us about how when settlers like Captain John Smith first arrived, the oyster shoals were so tall that they rose out of the water. They were marked as hazards on navigational maps, being so strong that they could tear the bottom out of a boat. Back then, like every kid growing up around the Bay probably heard, the Chesapeake was crystal clear and you could see 20 feet down, instead of today’s sediment clouded water. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, mechanized harvesting methods became popular and drastically decreased the oyster population of the Bay. Without their oyster provided habitat, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAVs) grew scarce and the organisms that used them as habitat had no home anymore. Ecosystems broke down from the bottom up.
Circle C wants to demonstrate how oysters are integral to the Bay. On their site, they promote shore reclamation by dumping old oyster shells along the shoreline, helping to prevent erosion. The goal is to have the grasses grow out farther into the creek, and have habitat restored. Growing the oysters in their natural environment improves the surrounding water’s quality. Circle C is aware that oysters are a vital and efficient tool in the battle to clean the bay. As a native resident, their part in the ecosystem has already been etched out, but their overharvesting has endangered the Bay and all of its residents. Without oysters, there is no foundation for the Bay to rebound.
Before we go inside, Kendall cracks open a “cocktail” sized oyster for John to try, before we leave the dock. John nods as his jaw works, it is good.
The owner, Rich Pelz, invites us into his office, where we sit down and talk about the business of oyster ranching. While they do sell oysters to some local restaurants, Circle C’s main source of business at the current time is selling floats to people so they can raise their own oysters on their own docks. With a five hundred dollar tax credit from the state of Maryland, people pay $500 for the float and oyster seed and then they can grow all the oysters they want for free. Anyone with a dock can grow their own food as well as help clean the Bay at the same time.
There seems to be no drop in sales, even with the economic downturn. Maybe people want to be in control of their food or they are really into conservation. Either way, Rich’s phone rings constantly. The floats are now on backorder and it isn’t even growing season yet.
Rich is not just a businessman, but an ecologist as well. He tells us about methods of oyster farming that have harmed the bay, not helped it. A lot of people think of it in black and white. Oysters are good for the bay no matter where they are right? Just toss them in and everything will be better. That is not always true.
Rich enlightens us to some ecological truths. If oysters are growing too deep in a level where oxygen is little to none, they take up what is left of the oxygen and that leaves nothing left for other organisms. The ultimate goal is for grasses to grow to lower depths and provide oxygen to lower levels, making the bay cleaner and increasing visibility. In order to achieve this one must clear the water from the top down. Oysters growing closer to the surface, like with the PVC pipe floats, use oxygen that is already plentiful. As they clear the water, that allows light to reach farther down into the water. This makes it possible for plants to grow deeper and oxygen levels to rise in lower levels of the water. Oysters can be instrumental, not only preserving but promoting the health of the bay. It is a complicated cycle, but ultimately the goal is for the Chesapeake to become healthy once again.
He is already trying to convince others of the potential of these methods. He has graphics and maps ready to pull up, even during this informal meeting. Despite the promise his work, Rich comes up against opposition from unexpected sources. Though it may be hard to believe, Rich receives some serious pushback from political parties and even conservation organizations that one wouldn’t expect. No names here, but it is surprising. If you really want to know, just email me, I’ll tell you.
The phone rings a couple of times during our talk with Rich. He excuses himself and picks it up and talks for a few minutes. Just sold two floats, he says smiling. Ultimately, what is good for the bay is good for them. Oysters are a powerful force. An individual oyster can filter 2 gallons of water an hour. When colonists first arrived, oysters filtered the Chesapeake’s water, all of it, in 2 days. Now it takes an entire year. That’s two more floats sold, thousands of gallons of the Bay filtered.
To learn more about Circle C visit www.oysterranching.com.