Resources

This week – we bring you the latest episode of the Delaware Humanities’ podcast – ‘People and Planet.’

In this episode, we focus on Delaware and oysters, exploring the history, science, and economic and cultural of oysters in First State with Ed Hale, Assistant Professor in the School of Marine Science and Policy and the Delaware Sea Grant Program at the University of Delaware and Morgan Krell, Science Technician at the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays.

As she asked the Sussex County Council to help fund the Delaware Environmental Coalition, Mimi Perdue asked council members to remember three words that describe its importance: economy, environment and education.

“This is a win-win-win project for anyone. There is no downside to this,” she said, reminding the council, at the Tuesday, June 3, meeting, that the University of Delaware is investing — as is the U.S. Congress and Delaware State Legislature — “and we are hoping the county council will see fit to do the same.”

She was at the council meeting with Rick Chamberlin, president of the coalition, as well as University of Delaware Professor Ed Hale and Kim Hoey Stevenson, who said she got involved because she believes in the coalition, formed to help communities protect the environment and living shoreline, enhance environmental sustainability and support Delaware’s ocean-centered “blue” economy.

With an eye toward increasing shellfish aquaculture participation and production in the Inland Bays, the state will host a public hearing Tuesday, March 25, on proposed changes to state code related to shellfish aquaculture.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control issued a notice for the public hearing March 4. The proposed changes come from the work done by the Shellfish Aquaculture Task Force, which was created by the General Assembly last year and charged with examining all aspects of the program.

LEWES — The world is Delaware’s oyster, according to professionals in a new up and coming industry – the aquaculture industry. But the field of rearing and harvesting oysters can be an expensive one to navigate these days.

While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines aquaculture as the breeding, rearing of harvesting fish, shellfish, algae and more, Delaware state officials are focused on the potential of oyster farms in the Rehoboth and Delaware Bays, as well as clams in the Assawoman Bay.

Richards, Derrickson sworn in for new terms

Henlopen Acres Mayor Joni Reich officially announced Anna Fagan as the new town manager at the town’s Sept. 13 organizational meeting.

The mayor had sent an email to town residents the day before.

Fagan, a resident of Rehoboth Beach, will begin Monday, Oct. 14. She is currently deputy director at the Delaware Center for the Inland Bays, is a graduate of the University of Delaware and has master’s degree from Marylhurst University.

Reich said the employment offer to Fagan reflects a salary of $100,000, plus three weeks of vacation eligibility, and the town’s standard employee benefit plans package. It contains no provision for relocation benefits or purchasing a house, or any other special allowance, she said.

Hatchery hands off first seed oysters to Inland Bays farmers

Carol Friend picked up 50,000 oysters in Lewes, but she did not need a bigger boat.

The tiny seed oysters fit in a small bag, right in her hand.

Friend, who owns the Salty Witch Oyster Company in Lewes, came to the University of Delaware’s hatchery on Pilottown Road Aug. 28 for the first handover of seed oysters destined for the Inland Bays.

“This program is awesome,” Friend said. “This gives us first dibs as opposed to an outsider coming to get the seed.”

Friend is not alone. She is one of nine commercial oyster farmers in the Inland Bays. Some of the others will also pick up seed oysters from the university hatchery.

Friend said she will first place the oysters in floating cages or bags, and let them grow a little before placing them in a cage on the bottom.

Exposure outside Cape Region needed

Sen. Tom Carper, D-Delaware, sat down with oyster farmers Aug. 31, when they pushed for more marketing help.

Delaware oysters, with their salty taste, are a popular commodity in the Cape Region, but don’t have a far reach beyond the Eastern Shore boundaries.

Carol Friend of Friends Clams & Oysters was one of several oyster farmers who met with Carper at the University of Delaware campus in Lewes asking for help to get the word out about Delaware oysters.

“If people don’t ask for them, it limits it,” she said. “You’ve got to be able to sell the product.”

Oyster farmers, many of whom are small business owners, must harvest and sell their product to pay the state for leases, leaving little money left to market their oysters.

“We’re fighting that battle of getting our name out there and getting that market,” said Jesse Atkinson, owner of Delaware Delicious Oysters.

Partnership between UD, DSU, Sea Grant aims to provide local seed for local aquaculturists

From going out to leased aquaculture sites in Rehoboth Bay to sitting through hours-long meetings, I’ve covered the state’s fledgling aquaculture program fairly extensively over the past few years. It’s an interesting subject on a number of different fronts, and I want it to succeed.

I’m not the only one, which is why the University of Delaware, Delaware State University and Delaware Sea Grant have been working together to build out a shellfish hatchery off Pilottown Road in Lewes for the past year or so. A successful hatchery would benefit local aquaculturists in at least two ways – oyster seed, or spat, grown in Delaware is not required to go through the same testing as spat coming from out of state; it will reduce the bottleneck in the supply chain.

Delaware Sea Grant sends first batch of baby oysters to a commercial aquaculture operation in Delaware

When Delaware Sea Grant (DESG) began operating the first oyster hatchery in the state of Delaware aimed at serving research, industry and restoration purposes alike, those involved in the process knew that one day, the hatchery would be able to send baby oysters to commercial fisheries in the state of Delaware. They just didn’t expect it to be so soon.

But that’s exactly what happened when, in early July, DESG’s oyster hatchery sent 200 bags of shell with roughly 105,000 oyster spat—or baby oysters—to a commercial aquaculture operation in the Delaware Bay using larvae that the pilot hatchery produced.