Chesapeake Oyster Alliance Announces 2025 Innovation Awards

Maryland 2024 - To promote innovation in oyster restoration, aquaculture, and education, the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance (COA) announced $150,000 in grants distributed to 17 organizations across Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Oyster Innovation Awards Program is funded by Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) and administered by Chesapeake Bay Trust.

The 2025 grant awardees will use the funds for creative approaches to restoring Chesapeake Bay oysters through a variety of projects, including new interactive technologies, public education initiatives, and new restoration techniques.

Oysters are a keystone species in Chesapeake Bay, where they filter water, remove pollutants, and serve as essential habitat for hundreds of other species, including blue crabs and the Bay’s iconic finfish. 

“Investments in oysters are investments in clean water and a healthier future for all residents of the Bay region,” said Tanner Council, CBF COA Senior Manager. “This program accelerates oyster innovation and aims to unlock more of the economic, ecological, and cultural benefits of the Bay oyster. Ultimately, these efforts will bring COA and its partners closer to our goal of adding 10 billion oysters to the Bay.”

COA, which was founded by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in 2018, is a coalition of more than 100 non-profits, academic institutions, oyster growers, and other businesses. This is the fourth year COA has provided funding for oyster-related grants, totaling $570,000. In 2024, COA distributed $140,000 in oyster innovation grants to 15 different organizations.  

“We are proud to administer this program that empowers more people to get involved with oyster restoration,” said Jana Davis, Ph.D., president of the Chesapeake Bay Trust. “This year’s awardees will lead impactful projects across industries to raise awareness and build lifelong stewards to promote the long-term protection of oysters and the Chesapeake Bay.”

This year’s grant recipients include:

Maryland

  • Coastal Conservation Association Maryland’s “Building Habitat and Educating Consumers Oyster Experience” will expand the existing Living Reef Action Campaign to a new geographic location, reaching communities who may face barriers accessing public health information and local, sustainable, affordable food options provided in the Chesapeake Bay region. The initiative will involve two events in Caroline County, focusing on culinary education, recreational fishing, and habitat awareness. 
  • Living Classrooms Foundation’s “Oyster Restoration and Education at The Crossroads School” will engage135 Baltimore County middle school students in oyster restoration through hands-education and activities, including sailing trips, where they will raise and monitor oysters from spat to maturity, and students will transplant adult oysters to a local oyster reef.
  • Maryland Department of Agriculture’s “Bay-to-Tray” educational journey will offer the public a variety of educational and volunteer programs that demonstrate the ecological importance of Bay oysters. The goal is to increase the inclusion of Maryland oysters on restaurant menus, and the popularity of oysters among diners by taking 30 chefs and 30 social media influencers on a hands-on, deep-dive into oyster aquaculture and restoration.
  • Minorities In Aquaculture’s internship program will provide career development opportunities for minorities and women of color to fill the current demand gaps in the aquaculture workforce. MIA is able to provide fully-funded internships that provide on-the-spot data collection training to monitor oyster survival and growth, and that help marginalized individuals grow their career in aquaculture.
  • ShoreRivers’ “Eastern Bay Oyster Restoration Monitoring and Outreach” project will elevate oyster restoration in the Eastern Bay complex through expanded monitoring and outreach. The Miles-Wye Riverkeeper will use these funds to monitor restored oyster sanctuaries and create a variety of social media posts and videos based on their monitoring results to educate the public in the novel ways.
  • St. Mary's River Watershed Association’s “Bay Observation Boxes” offer a new, inexpensive, automated water quality monitoring technology for oyster restoration sites. The project will use low-cost Internet of Things technology to increase the limited spatial and temporal water quality data collection in the St. Mary’s River and beyond.
  • Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore’s “Great Baltimore Oyster Partnership” oyster gardening program gives Baltimore residents a unique volunteer opportunity to engage in the oyster restoration process right in their community. A predicted 400,000 spat will be returned to the Patapsco River as a result of the 2025 season, and about 637 public volunteers will attend installation, cleaning, and planting days to help raise the spat.

Virginia

  • Batten School of Coastal & Marine Sciences’ project will evaluate biodiversity and behavioral complexity within oyster aquaculture farms using GoPro cameras. By doing so, they’ll qualify marine life diversity within aquaculture structures using citizen science, partnering with oyster farmers to collect data. They’ll also collaborate with oyster farmers and present a story map to inform regulators and the public about the habitat ecosystem services provided by oyster farms.
  • Friends of the Rappahannock’s “Clean Carters Creek” project will enhance the new Oyster Heritage Park on Carters Creek by establishing a setting tank to grow spat-on-shell at the park, improving oyster reef restoration and educating the public on oyster history.  The project aims to engage local schools and volunteers, promoting hands-on learning and ecological awareness.
  • Lynnhaven Oyster Club is constructing a mobile bottom-rack system that incorporates motion to mimic a floating system within 12 inches of the bottom. Their primary goal is at least a 10-15% reduction in mortality of their aquaculture oysters and overall improvement in shell density over the first year of implementation. Lynnhaven Oyster Club will partner with the Virginia Beach Public School’s Environmental Studies Program for the build out, expansion, and monitoring of the project.
  • Nansemond River Preservation Alliance’s “Celebration of Oyster Education and Culture” will enhance oyster knowledge in Suffolk, including the publication of a children's book called An Oyster's Tale and a community-wide event, Celebration of Oyster Education and Culture. The Oyster's Tale, authored by local oyster enthusiast Karla Smith, will highlight the incredible science and history between oysters and humans. The book launch event will bring together Nansemond Indian Nation, Suffolk Public Schools, Barrett’s Seafood Company and more to connect with community and leaders.
  • Portsmouth Public Schools’ Oyster Project will engage students in Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences with a focus on an experimental comparison of oyster growth between populations in Hoffler Creek and Paradise Creek Nature Parks in Portsmouth, Virginia. Students will collect data and investigate the impact of water quality on oyster growth. Students’ final products will educate residents through local media platforms.
  • Shored Up LLC’s “Culinary Oyster Vocational Experience (COVE)” program equips culinary students at New Horizons Career & Technical Education Center with farm-to-table knowledge that is important to expand oyster consumption demand, and habitat stewardship. The programs will enhance aspiring local chefs’ appreciation of oysters as a valuable, nutritious, all-season food as well as a keystone environmental species.
  • Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association (TOGA)’s “Middle School Writing Contest” will inspire young adults to learn about oysters and the impact they have on the Chesapeake Bay.  The theme of the contest is “Consider the Oyster,” which is intended to be wide open so various aspects of oysters and their habitat can be selected for the essay. TOGA will promote the contest through various outreach efforts, reaching over 5,000 people annually.
  • Virginia Institute of Marine Science will take a holistic mixture modeling approach for monitoring Crassostrea virginica (the Chesapeake Bay’s only native oyster). The project’s goals include identifying oyster cohorts, tracking their lifespan over time, and assessing how environmental changes affect these lifespans. The project will have a comprehensive dataset from the Virginia Oyster Stock Assessment and Replenishment Archive to develop sophisticated statistical methods for better management of oyster resources. 
  • Vogt Oyster Company LLC / Big Island Aquaculture Oysters will test the co-culture of seaweed and oysters’ effect on consumer perception in its “Sea Lettuce and Merroir” project. Their study aims to understand if the co-culture of Ulva (sea lettuce) and oysters in the Chesapeake Bay alters an oyster’s taste, if consumers perceive the differences between the two varieties, and to gauge consumer willingness to pay for this new oyster variety. 
  • Virginia Oyster Trail’s “Oyster Education and Engagement” project will inspire stewardship through interactive learning and digital outreach. The effort aims to educate both children and adults about the importance of oysters in Virginia's ecosystem, economy, and cultural heritage. This initiative will develop and distribute 700 copies of an oyster-themed activity book to after-school programs and public outreach events, covering topics such as oyster anatomy, ecological benefits, and restoration efforts. It will also include a social media campaign to increase public awareness of oysters.

Oyster population levels in the Bay have dropped to a fraction of historic levels due to pollution, diseases, and overharvesting. Ongoing restoration efforts, as well as new technology and a growing oyster aquaculture industry can bring back the species from the brink of collapse and increase oysters’ natural ability to provide habitat and filter water across the Bay watershed.