Many of them are working their knowledge on approximately 7,000 acres of bottom leased from the state. Then, in 2015, Ratcliffe financed a feasibility study on the need for additional hatchery capacity in Maryland.Ībel said 175 watermen have been trained in aquaculture techniques. Ratcliffe first participated by underwriting a training program at Anne Arundel Community College in 2013 to help watermen get started in aquaculture, specifically for raising oysters on leased bottom in the Chesapeake and its rivers.
One area of focus has been helping Maryland’s watermen. The organization focuses its efforts on enabling students to apply their various educational endeavors through entrepreneurial business ventures. Ratcliffe Foundation is a philanthropic funding organization that grew out of successful real estate enterprises on Maryland’s Western Shore. It’s taken five years, and most importantly the involvement of the Ratcliffe Foundation and its financing, to reach opening day anticipated in January.
That’s the niche Ferry Cove aims to fill. High demand and low supply equals opportunity. “In Maryland,” said Abel, “the biggest hindrance to meeting that potential demand is getting more larvae – seed oysters – to the producers.” Meanwhile the actual annual harvest is stuck at about a million bushels. That number has since doubled to potential sales of about five million bushels per year. It determined there was enough demand in the market to sell – between Maryland and Virginia – 2.6 million bushels of oysters per year. “Although introduction of a new species – different than the Chesapeake’s native Virginica species – went nowhere for a lot of reasons, part of the review involved a market study of the economic potential for a healthier oyster population. “About 20 years ago there was lengthy discussion about bringing an introduced species of oyster into the Chesapeake to help revive the faltering industry,” said Abel. His understanding and recognition grew out of years of employment with Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources and the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Recovery Partnership that started in 1994. Within weeks of beginning actual production at the sparkling new, multi-million dollar, state-of-the- art oyster hatchery, Abel took time last week to explain the opportunity. Stephan Abel is the driving force behind bringing the private, non-profit Ferry Cove vision to reality. Shown are (l-r) Steven Weschler, Stephan Abel and Matthew Martin, a phycologist – algae specialist – in charge of managing this component of the operation These state-of-the-art algae-production tanks will be providing a steady supply of food to be piped into the oyster seed growing tanks.
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