Coming May 31, 2013

It’s already an incredible story. Last year, York County, VA. Oyster Farmer Anthony Bavuso (Seaford Oyster Company) was denied a Special Use Permit (SUP) by the York County Board of Supervisors for a commercial oyster farm on the Poquosin River. In a reversal of the Board’s decision, the Circuit Court ruled that Mr. Bavuso needed no permit.

Seaford Oyster may have won the right to farm, but the struggle depleted the family’s finances. To scale the operation to a more sustainable level, more enclosures (cages) are needed to grow the young oysters to commercially-harvestable size. Each 2′X3′ cage is hand built using wire materials costing ~$60. The company has asked Ahyayha for help with funds to partially cover expenses associated with the creation of 75 cages. Collectively, these cages will remove roughly 414 pounds of nitrogen and 132 pounds of phosphorus over 10 harvest cycles to clean-up the Bay. And the nitrogen and phosphorus removal is not the only benefit.  The oysters and cages provide a mini-reef structure as habitat for a multitude of marine animals.  The oysters also filter algae out of the water increasing water clarity and promoting growth of aquatic grasses.

In return, Seaford Oyster will ship fresh oysters to Supporters along with other rewards (Kudos) such as hats, t-shirts, oyster knife, and discounts to local restaurants that serve Seaford Oysters.

So, all you York Point native oyster lovers, stay tuned – we’ll launch this project May 31.