Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Oyster Train




PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL:  We were at the edge of the land and a long way from open water, and the oyster farmers had built a tiny railroad across the marsh to where they tended their oyster beds. Oysters like the brackish water in tidal estuaries. Chesapeake Bay is the largest oyster producing body of water in the U.S., and the population of oysters there used to be able to filter all excess nutrients in the water in 4 to 5 days. Oyster farming helps to preserve the quality of water in the bay for all of the traditional species.

Alas, we never got to see the beds, never got to ride the train.  The words of Jonathan Swift come to mind, "It was a bold man that first eat an oyster."