PVC Floats Nurture Oysters, Clean Chesapeake Bay
HELLEN CREEK, Md., August 22, 2008 (VNS) – Oyster ranchers along Hellen Creek in Maryland have launched several floats made of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipe in a passionate effort to replenish the oyster supply, which in turn helps improve the water quality. Hellen Creek is a tributary of the Patuxent River, which feeds into Chesapeake Bay.
Twenty-five Lusby homeowners along the creek and Blount's Cove have launched 45 of the 3-foot by 6-foot floats which are made of PVC piping and each contain about 600 juvenile oysters, about the size of a nickel.
PVC is lightweight, durable, and resists corrosion, so is well suited for use as an oyster float.
"The floats are designed to suspend the oysters in water near the surface, where diseases that threaten them are less prevalent," according to Rich Pelz, president of Circle C Oyster Ranching Association in St. Mary's County.
In these PVC floats, the young oysters are expected to grow and mature to a size of about three inches. Oysters are natural water filters, and at maturity, can filter up to 55 gallons of water a day. The oysters in Hellen Creek are expected to filter nearly a million gallons of water in a year.
Some oyster ranchers plan to donate the mature oysters to a reef sanctuary. Others will eat them. But the effects of the ranchers' efforts are already evident in Hellen Creek.
James McVey, who is the former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's oyster disease research program, has noticed under the oyster floats at his pier the return of underwater grasses, which provide food and shelter to other organisms, and more grass shrimp, minnows and young eels.
The Patuxent River Chapter of Maryland's Coastal Conservation Association is seeking out other potential sites for oyster sanctuaries to expand the project, and has more than 30,000 oysters floating in St. Thomas Creek in St. Mary's County.
For more information, read Christy Goodman's article in "The Washington Post."
The Vinyl Institute represents the leading manufacturers involved in the production of PVC vinyl in the United States, and promotes the value of PVC vinyl to society.
For more information, contact:
Jeffrey B. Palmer
Director of Marketing & Communications
The Vinyl Institute
(703) 741-5669
jeff_palmer@plastics.org
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