ORP Field Operation

The Oyster Recovery Partnership’s field operation is located in Cambridge Maryland at the UMCES Horn Point Lab facility. The site includes a shell pile, 348 stainless steel containers, a state of the art shell cleaner and a large shed facility to house the cleaner and field supplies.

The addition of stainless steel containers to the field operation has enabled us to move oysters more efficiently and at greater quantities than before. The movement of the containers, which can weigh up to a ton when full, necessitates heavy field equipment such as the boom truck and forklifts. The construction of these containers has been generously donated by our partners the Mirant Corporation.

Eddie Walters, the ORP field manager, has been with the Partnership since 1999. Under his guidance the field operation has steadily grown and has been able to readily meet the increase of spat-on-shell produced by Horn Point Lab. The Partnership’s operation handles all logistics of moving the hatchery seed from setting tanks onto the Robert Lee where the load will be transferred to various recovery sites in the Bay. Eddie also oversees the plantings either assisting Boat Captain Doug West behind the wheel or spraying the oysters within a highly specific designated area.

In preparation of these moves, the field crew is actively preparing shell to be used for the hatchery operation by cleaning the shell, filling stainless steel containers and moving these containers into the setting tanks.

Close Window