CONSERVE & RESTORE - Save Oyster Shell

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) needs your help–and your oyster shells–to restore native oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. Donate your empty shells to CBF so we can recycle them into more oyster reefs and repopulate the Bay with more oysters.  Oyster shells are literally the foundation of our reef restoration efforts!

Oyster shells are becoming increasingly scarce.  So through the Save Oyster Shell program, shells that would typically be thrown away are saved and used in a variety of oyster restoration projects.

Your shells are used as homes for baby oysters (spat) like the shell in the photo.  We place your recycled shells in tanks of water with millions of microscopic oyster larvae swimming and attaching to the shells.  After a few days the spat-on-shell will be transported via the R/V Patricia Campbell to build a new oyster bar.

CBF has two convenient drop-off locations for your shells in Maryland, one at our Oyster Restoration Center in Shady Side and the second at the Philip Merrill Environmental Center in Annapolis.