Environmental Entrepreneurship Program  

Oyster Partnership with Local Watermen

Environmental Entrepreneurship is a new program developed at the ERC to help individuals find effective business solutions to environmental problems. We are working with the Schools of Business and Engineering to provide technical assistance to help find technological solutions or to develop alternative business models to making these businesses profitable. By utilizing these academic departments at MSU, we are also providing student training in the application of marine and environmental sciences to create business opportunities. We have started two projects that we would like to expand under this initiative.

The proposed project is a partnership between the Calvert County Watermen’s Association and the ERC. The goal of the project is to develop an alternative business model where watermen have greater control over the entire oyster production process. To achieve this, watermen need to have control over the supply of oysters which can be facilitated by the development of local oyster hatcheries.

Maryland watermen have traditionally acted as separate, individual businesses. They harvest, market and distribute oysters individually. Because of this business structure, watermen are dependent on natural forces to provide oysters for harvesting, and individually have no influence on the market. However, if watermen were to combine their collective resources, they would be able to exert a greater influence on both oyster reproduction and the market, while also contributing to the state’s oyster restoration efforts. By working together they collectively could provide a larger, more stable market supply and thus would be able to command a better price for what they sell.

There are two products that watermen could used to generate a supply of market oysters, one is the eyed larvae and the other is spat. Watermen could be supplied with eyed larvae that they would set on old oyster shell and grown until they are ready to be placed in the river. This operation could be done in their backyards in raceways large enough to hold many bags of oyster shell. After the spat had matured, the spat on the shells would then be taken to public or private oyster bars where they would grow until they are ready to be harvested. In contrast, spat obtained already on old shell are ready to go directly onto a public or private oyster bar for growout to market size. The supply of eyed larvae or spat would be facilitated by the development of a local oyster hatchery and made available to local watermen. This project will look at the most efficient and economical way for watermen to use either larvae or spat as the source for growing marketable oysters.

The Morgan State University Estuarine Research Center in St. Leonard, Maryland is ideally suited to help develop this concept. Located on the shores of the Patuxent River in Calvert County, Maryland, the ERC has adequate space and an existing controlled sea-water system making ideally suited for the development of a prototype hatchery. The Center has many years of experience working with oysters and is extremely knowledgeable of the local natural oyster bars. The ERC would provide logistic support and coordinate the technical support from other parts of the Morgan State University structure. The Business School will provide support in the development of business models and in conducting a marketing study while the School of Engineering will help with finding more efficient ways to produce oysters and move them to river bottom.

At full operation, the hatchery at the ERC would be capable of producing at least six (6) sets yielding 810 million larvae or 18 million spat annually. Assuming 20% of the larvae or spat survive to harvest size (compared to the normal 40% survival), this would make 3.6 million oysters (12,000 bushels) available for watermen to harvest and sell to specialty markets. At current dockside prices of $29 per bushel, this should yield a dockside value of $348,000. We envision this project to last for five years. At the end of the five years, we shall have developed a business model that is reproducible throughout the Bay. Lessons learned from this project will be applied to watermen communities in other parts of the state. The project is part of the Environmental Entrepreneurship program at the ERC. Through this program market based mechanisms are used to increase the participation of nontraditional populations in business activities that have an environmental focus.

To continue this project we will need funding to support the development of the oyster hatchery at the ERC and also to provide technical support from the Schools of Business and Engineering at Morgan State University.

This project will provide a direct benefit to the state and local economy. Applying a multiplier of 3 for Maryland seafood to the estimated dockside value of the harvested oysters, this project would produce an economic impact of $1.04 million dollars annually. This provides a revenue stream to local watermen who will be able to continue in the seafood business and not have to look for alternative employment opportunities. Similar to the agricultural community, many of the local watermen communities have developed a social and economic structure based upon the fishing industry. This way of life has been in jeopardy with the reduction in the incomes from harvesting. By developing a means to produce a revenue source on a more predictable schedule, this project will help stabilize a declining industry and provide the means to stabilize the social and cultural foundation of many communities.


Students will have the opportunity to see new and alternative business opportunities and to gain practical experience in applying their business and engineering talents to marine related problems. This will increase the value added contributions students will be able to make in the work place.

Additionally, while the oysters are in the water, they are feeding by filtering food out of the water and providing an ecological benefit by helping to improve water quality.