Virginia Oyster Gardening
Help rebuild the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population by becoming an oyster gardener. Grow oysters alongside your dock and then help CBF plant them on sanctuary reefs.
Registration for this season’s seminars and roundups is now open.
New Gardener Seminar Schedule | Current Gardener Spat Roundup Schedule
Did you know a single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day? You can contribute to clean water in your community by becoming an oyster gardener and “fostering” hundreds of baby oysters at your dock or at a CBF partner location. Everything oysters need to survive is in the water, but they need you as an oyster gardener to clean and maintain their cages to ensure optimal survival and growth. Join a community of more than 700 oyster gardeners in Virginia who are doing what they can to clean up the water.
What Is It?
Oysters are the Chesapeake Bay’s best natural filters. They also provide essential habitat for fish and other Bay creatures. Unfortunately today’s oyster population is a small fraction of what it used to be. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Oyster Gardening Program gives citizens an opportunity to help bring back this vital species by growing oysters alongside their docks. Once grown, the adult oysters are returned to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for planting on sanctuary reefs.
How Is It Done?
First-time oyster gardeners are required to attend a short seminar to learn how to maintain their oyster garden over the coming year. At the end of the seminar, they will have the option to take home spat-on-shell oysters (baby oysters set on recycled shells) and two 18″ x 9″ cages to grow them in. Gardeners will grow and care for their oysters in the cages for about one year and will return the mature adult oysters to CBF at an Oyster Roundup the following summer. All of the returned oysters are transplanted onto sanctuary (non-harvest) reefs in nearby waters. Each oyster gardener can then start over with a new batch of baby oysters to care for. Seminars and roundups typically take place between June and August.
CBF is proud to partner with the Elizabeth River Project, Friends of the Rappahannock, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Portsmouth Parks and Recreation, and The Tides Inn to help expand our oyster gardening program.
Want to become an oyster gardener? Attend a new gardener seminar. Returning your oysters? Register for a roundup event. Join our email list to be among the first to learn about upcoming events or submit our Volunteer Interest form.
