The Truman Charities Podcast
Join Jamie Truman on a transformative journey as she connects to individuals making a difference in their communities. From New York Times bestselling authors to compassionate doctors and visionary farmers, our podcast unveils untold narratives shaping our communities. Whether it's a doctor revolutionizing healthcare or a farmer transforming food systems, our guests are trailblazers, influencers, and innovators driving positive change.
Truman Charities, a charitable organization with a mission, donates $250 toward their causes for every powerful story shared on the podcast.
The Truman Charities Podcast
Why Are Oysters Crucial To The Survival And Growth Of Other Marine Species? What Impact Do Oysters Have On Our Waterways? | Oyster Recovery Partnership | Paul Schurick Ep. 136
You’ve eaten them, but do you know what oysters do for our waterways? These unassuming shellfish play a vital role in cleaning and protecting our waterways, but decades of overharvesting and destruction of their homes nearly wiped them out. Now, a major restoration movement is rebuilding oyster populations throughout the Chesapeake Bay.
In this episode, Paul Schurick of the Oyster Recovery Partnership shares how this nonprofit is leading large-scale efforts to plant billions of oysters and rebuild reef habitats, support marine life, and protect the Bay’s future.
From fascinating oyster facts to simple ways you can get involved, our conversation reveals just how much of an impact oysters — and people — can have on the environment. Tune in now!
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This episode was post produced by Podcast Boutique https://podcastboutique.com/
Welcome to the Truman Charities podcast. I am Jamie Truman, your host. Did you know? Oysters play a crucial role in the survival and growth of other marine species, but how exactly do they do that and why can't marine life thrive without them? I recently spoke with Paul Schreck from the Oyster Recovery Partnership in Annapolis, maryland, an organization that is focused on restoring the oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay. Since its founding in 94, the Oyster Recovery Partnership,000 bushels of shells.
Speaker 1:I learned about this organization from Russell Lacey. He is a board member for Truman Charities and I was amazed to discover how critical oysters are in our waterways and the devastating impact of losing our oyster population. You know, paul and I discuss not only the importance of oysters, but also what exactly, because I actually never knew this. What exactly makes oysters taste different, why shell recycling is important, what exactly is an oyster reef, and how you can actually grow oysters and how oysters make those pearls inside their shell. I always wondered that, so I couldn't wait to ask Paul. Now I bring up some really fun facts about oysters that you would not believe and that you can also look up on their website.
Speaker 1:Since Russell got involved with this organization and speaking with Paul, I have learned how everyone can help the oyster population and we discuss those steps in detail. But before we get into this conversation with Paul, please pause for a second and rate and review this podcast. As a 100% volunteer-based organization, these reviews significantly impact us and help new listeners discover our podcast. I know you'll enjoy this important but also fun and fascinating conversation about oysters. Paul, thanks so much for coming on to talk with us today.
Speaker 2:Good morning Jamie.
Speaker 1:So I was really interested in your organization because Russell Lacey, one of our board members, introduced me to the Oyster Recovery Partnership and I was like, oh my gosh, I grew up in Annapolis, so when I went onto your website, you guys have pictures of like downtown Annapolis and you know I used to work down there and so it was really great because I've, you know, growing up learned a lot about the Chesapeake Bay, but I didn't really learn a lot about oysters and why they're important, and so I really loved learning about that. So, paul, I want to know, like, why oysters?
Speaker 2:Why oysters? That's a great question. I mean, the history of oysters and Maryland are sort of tied at the hip. They really are. Maryland at one point was seen and recognized as the oyster capital of the world. There were millions and millions of bushels of oysters being harvested out of the Chesapeake Bay that were being shipped all over the United States, all over the world. In the last several decades, due to a number of reasons, due to loss of habitat, due to overfishing, due to a few diseases that are natural to the Chesapeake Bay, the oyster population has really been decimated. So about 30 years ago the state of Maryland made a very conscious decision to make a long-term commitment to oyster restoration.
Speaker 2:Oysters are important for a number of reasons certainly the economic activity of the commercial harvest and the millions of dollars that that industry generates each year, the number of jobs that are associated with the industry. But there are equally important ecological benefits of oyster restoration. In the Chesapeake Bay An adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day and that oyster will be removing sediment and, most importantly, some very harmful nutrients phosphorus and nitrogen which are really the enemies of the bay. So the state's commitment to this large-scale oyster restoration project is now paying off. We're seeing the largest commercial harvests in 35 years.
Speaker 2:We're seeing some unquestionable support with the state's restoration program. That's a sanctuary based restoration program. So we're planting oysters on sanctuaries that are there really just to filter the water and reproduce and we now see the results of that. Those efforts are paying off. So this is a long-term commitment and it's taken a long time to get there. It's taken a long time to kind of rebuild and frankly, we have a long way to go. Clearly everyone from state policymakers down to the scientists and including the commercial watermen, are seeing the importance of oyster. That's a long answer to your question about why oysters. Oysters are important for those economic and ecologic reasons.
Speaker 1:So basically, what you're saying and this is kind of what I got just from when I was on your website is that the oysters are really the filtration system for the bay, so they're extremely important to keep the water clean. Is that kind of correct?
Speaker 2:It is. It's absolutely correct. And in addition to that they are very much a keystone species for the Chesapeake Bay, because you kind of picture what an oyster reef might look like and all the three-dimensionality and the nooks and crannies and the activity around there. Those oyster reefs are providing habitat for any number of other marine species, from little microscopic things to little worms and minnows, which obviously attract bigger fish and crabs and rockfish, and so they're really just rebuilding that entire underwater habitat and we're seeing some tremendous success doing that.
Speaker 1:And then who eats the oysters?
Speaker 2:There are not many natural predators of oysters. Certainly, humans are probably at the top of that list. I'm happy to say I do my part. There are a few marine species that do prey on oyster reefs. The scale that we work on we're putting the Oyster Recovery Partnership is planting about a billion oysters juvenile oysters every year. Last year about 460 million oysters went on commercial reefs. Those are oysters that will be eligible for harvest when they reach maturity in about three years. We put about 400 million juvenile oysters on sanctuary reefs last year. The momentum behind this is strong. It's taken us 30 years to build this capacity the capacity to plant. At that scale. We are the largest oyster restoration entity in the United States. We're very proud of that. We are building the largest man-made oyster reefs in the world.
Speaker 2:About 10 years ago, the state of Maryland made a commitment under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement Watershed Agreement. State of Maryland made a commitment to rebuilding oyster populations in five Chesapeake Bay tributaries. I'm happy to say Virginia did the same. So we're really large-scale restoration on 10 Chesapeake Bay tributaries and the Oyster Recovery Partnership. Here in Annapolis. We execute that restoration strategy for the state of Maryland. We have finished work in four of those tributaries. We started work in the fifth and final and we'll complete that work this year and those are all sanctuary reefs. These are very large scale. As I said, when they're completed they will be the largest man-made oyster reefs in the world.
Speaker 1:Wow, do you know what I found interesting when I was on your website and I was reading you guys have some really fun facts about oysters. So when you're talking about, you say on your website and I was reading, you guys have some really fun facts about oysters. So when you're talking about, you say, okay, well, we plant X amount of juvenile oysters. But then, when I was reading on your, your facts on oysters was that sometimes they can switch sexes depending on, like, where they are. I don't know you, of course, and I don't. How does that?
Speaker 2:work.
Speaker 2:Well, let me I'll step back and maybe talk about the life cycle of an oyster, Please do so you know, we, our capacity to plant a billion juvenile oysters a year is heavily dependent on a number of partnerships. We have Partnerships with the state of Maryland, partnerships with the federal government, partnerships with the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science, federal government partnerships with the University of Maryland's Center for Environmental Science. And that last partner operates a hatchery, an oyster hatchery, down on the Choptank River, not far outside of Cambridge, maryland, and they are producing larvae at a massive scale. And when those larvae, when they're first produced, they're microscopic. If you look at them under a microscope, they look like a little oyster. They have a bottom shell and the hatchery feeds those microscopic larvae a very tailored diet and after a few weeks the larvae will undertake a physical transformation where they will start, instead of sort of swimming or just kind of being back and forth in the water, they will start crawling and they'll put a little foot out and that and that indicates that that larvae, which at that point is maybe the size of a grain of pepper, maybe even a little bit smaller, it'll indicate that juvenile oyster is looking to attach itself to something. And it's really. It's mostly going to look and try to attach itself to the first hard surface it comes to. It comes to late encounters Out in Mother Nature in the Chesapeake Bay. These larvae are just at the whims of the wind and the currents. The chances of those larvae finding a hard surface are probably fairly small. So the university hatchery at Horn Point is able to up those odds. University Hatchery at Horn Point is able to up those odds. So when that larvae starts to crawl and starts looking for a surface to attach, they're put in tanks full of cleaned oyster shell.
Speaker 2:I brought a couple here. We use an enormous amount of recycled oyster shell every year, probably at least 100,000 bushels. We buy a lot of those oyster shells from commercial shucking operations. We also operate a regional shell recycling program where we are recycling oyster shells from restaurants. We currently pick up oyster shells from about 200 restaurants in the region in Washington suburban Washington, suburban Baltimore, baltimore, the Eastern Shore, washington suburban Washington, suburban Baltimore, baltimore, the Eastern Shore. All of these shells are transported to the Hornpoint Hatchery in Cambridge. They're aged outside for about a year and then they're washed. It kind of goes through a very large outdoor dishwasher, if you will, and they come out as clean as that.
Speaker 1:And why are they aged for a year?
Speaker 2:Because typically when we will pick them up, either from the restaurant or the commercial shucking operation, they're still covered in some organic material. Okay, in the restaurants it might be anything from cocktail sauce to lemons. In the commercial shucking operation it's usually just a little bit of residual tissue is still in there. So we age those and clean them and then we put them in very large tanks Picture kind of giant hot tub if you will filled with clean oyster shell, and we fill those with river water from the Choptank River and then the hatchery staff will pour the larvae into those tanks. And the larvae will be circulated through the water in those tanks for a few days and after a few days they all will have found a resting place. They all will have found a hard surface to attach to.
Speaker 2:So now picture, we've got a tank full of Oyster shells. Each one may have a dozen or more baby oysters attached to it. Those shells then get transported to the deck of a very large workboat and that workboat sails out to whatever reef is being planted that day. A typical day for us might be planting anywhere from 15 to 25 million baby oysters in a single day. Go back to your question. Oysters are unusual animals? Yes, they are. They do have the ability to swap back and forth, swap gender, back and forth. I'll point out quickly that I'm not a scientist. I'm going to avoid answering any scientist's question. They are fascinating animals, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I was reading on the site. There's a reason why that is. It depends on, like, the temperature of the water or something like that.
Speaker 2:I believe that's a material factor. But again, I'm going to I'm going to stay away from trying to answer any science questions.
Speaker 1:Okay, I just found that so interesting. You had like a lot of facts on oysters.
Speaker 2:When the hatchery staff is spawning these oysters, they go out in January of each year into the Chopdang River and they will harvest what they will use for broodstock. What's broodstock Broodstock will be the adult oysters, the females that are going to produce the eggs and the males that are going to produce the sperm.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:They will bring those oysters in and keep them in tanks in and keep them in tanks and there's really only without opening the oyster which would kill it. There's really only one way to determine is that a male oyster or a female oyster? And the staff will just observe these oysters in the tanks and then they'll be looking for kind of the characteristic reproduction activities. If an oyster opens up and sort of claps eggs out into the water, then they will pull that out because now they know they have a female oyster and they'll put that in a tank with female oysters.
Speaker 1:Oh, interesting.
Speaker 2:It's absolutely fascinating husbandry. It really is, and these are the scientists that make the magic happen. None of the oysters that we're planting on this large scale are possible without the work of our partners at the Horn Point Hatchery. Hats off to them for making that, beginning the magic down there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I loved your organization because A I learned so much about oysters when I was doing research for you guys, and then also the real need to have them in the water source to filtrate the water. So what do you think would happen to the Chesapeake Bay if you guys I know you were founded in 94, and you guys didn't start making this a priority to have these. What are you calling them the?
Speaker 2:reefs the sanctuary reefs, public reefs.
Speaker 1:So if you guys wouldn't have started this, what do you think would happen to the bay?
Speaker 2:We've had a good look at what happens to the Chesapeake Bay.
Speaker 2:When the oyster population was absolutely decimated about 30 years ago, there were two important functions that were taken out of the water. One is the filtration taking the harmful nitrogen and phosphorus out of the water, and secondly is the habitat that they create. Without oyster reef there really is very little habitat for the other marine species to live and thrive. That was the driving force behind the policy decision by the leaders of the state of Maryland three decades ago is that they recognized that the filtering capacity of the oyster population is essential to the health of the water, or the water quality in the bay and the reefs. Those three-dimensional reefs are essential to helping other marine species survive and grow.
Speaker 2:We've had a look at what happens when oyster restoration is not being done at this scale and then, conversely, we now are seeing what happens when the oyster restoration is done at this scale. We're seeing the return of habitat, we're seeing measurable increases in water quality. The federal government now recognizes oyster restoration as a best management practice, meaning we can measure precisely the amount of phosphorus and nitrogen a given oyster reef is removing from the Chesapeake Bay, kind of know what works. We've seen what doesn't work, and now we're experiencing the success of the large-scale restoration.
Speaker 1:Now, do you see this as an issue throughout the United States, because I know you guys are just focusing on the Chesapeake Bay, but is this something that is an issue you think that is prevalent throughout the United States?
Speaker 2:I'm hesitant to speak about other bays and estuaries. I know the eastern oyster, which is the oyster that Maryland has embraced. The eastern oyster is the species on the east coast of North America, from Canada down to the Gulf of Mexico. I know that there have been some extremely significant problems with oyster populations in the Gulf. I know some typically large oyster production states of Texas, alabama, mississippi, louisiana have seen their populations decline. Maryland is now a net exporter of oysters which again 30 years ago it would have been hard to believe, you know, with the population has decimated that as it was at the time, that just a few decades later the population would be one here. That is leading a significant commercial export to other states. I suspect that there are other states and waterways that are experiencing these declines. I said before that Oyster Recovery Partnership is the largest restoration organization in the country. It's a very unique model to the Chesapeake Bay that certainly could be exported to other regions. It's hard to say what those other states are doing, right?
Speaker 1:now Right. So tell me, is there a difference when you go to a restaurant and they have different types of oysters? Is there any real difference between them when it comes to in the marine life, like, tell me a little bit about the differences between the oysters.
Speaker 2:Simplest way to answer that is, an oyster tastes like the water that it's grown in. Okay, Picture an oyster grown in the Chesapeake Bay, which is a relatively low salinity, very minerally water. An oyster is going to taste. You're going to be medium salty and somewhat minerally. There are other oysters, for example, that are grown in very high salinity environments, Some here in Maryland, down in the coastal bays near the ocean, particularly up in New England. They're fond of growing these in high salinity water. So that's where you see these oysters with kind of very briny, a very marketable briny taste because consumers seem to be drawn to saltier oysters, seem to be drawn to saltier oysters. So when you go to restaurants and they will make you know you'll look up on the wall and they'll see the daily offerings of oysters. I would encourage people to sample those and see it's kind of really a profound difference. Oysters can vary from really creek to creek or river to river depending on the salinity and the minerality of the water, and then certainly kind of get that bracing brininess as you get down closer to the ocean.
Speaker 2:By the way, we're talking about restaurants. I want to make a sincere pitch for shell recycling. As I said, there are about 200 restaurants in the region that are currently recycling their shells. Last year we were able to recycle 27,000 bushels of shells from those restaurants. That's not only 27,000 bushels of shells of a natural commodity that will be returned to the Chesapeake Bay for beneficial use, but it's 27,000 bushels of shell that will not go to the landfill and permanently taken out of the ecological cycle. So I encourage consumers not just to kind of do the Pepsi challenge with the different oysters that are on a daily board, but also to seek out those restaurants that are consciously recycling shells. On our website, oysterrecoveryorg, we have a list of all of the restaurants that are currently recycling shells. Those restaurants are broken down by state and county and cities where they are, so they're very easy to find. So I would absolutely encourage people to choose those restaurants that are participating in this oyster restoration process.
Speaker 1:So if I am either an owner of a restaurant and listening to this or I work for a restaurant and this sounds like something that they would be interested in participating in, how do they go about doing that?
Speaker 2:It's very simple. Even on that same website, oysterrecoveryorg, there is a form for restaurateurs to simply sign up and say yes, I want to participate. We also, jamie, operate about 80 sites around the state of Maryland for individual citizens to drop oyster shells off. These so-called public drop sites, I'm happy to say, are very popular. It takes a special kind of person, a special commitment, after you eat a couple dozen oysters at your home to not put those in the trash, to put them in bags and then physically take them to one of these drop-off sites. More people than I think we might suspect have made that commitment to drop their own oyster shells off at some of these public drop sites and also a lot of restaurants. People can take their shells to a lot of the participating restaurants who will agree to allow them to put the shells in their barrels out back, where they're saving their shell too.
Speaker 1:Oh, that makes sense, okay, so how could someone like myself help your organization?
Speaker 2:Any number of ways. First of all, eat oysters. Eat oysters at restaurants that are recycling those shells. Number two, talk to your elected officials and the policymakers and emphasize sort of the demonstrable success that the state of Maryland is seeing with this large scale restoration program. We have a number of activity or projects here at Oyster Recovery Partnership aimed at public participation. We encourage people who live with waterfront properties to grow oysters in cages at their piers. We have a number of volunteer activities where people come and they help us build cages, they help us collect shell Any number of opportunities for volunteers to get hands-on.
Speaker 2:We do a program called Shuck Like a Pro where we teach people to shuck oysters, which is a lot of fun. That's usually based in one of our restaurant partners, aimed at bringing people in, usually on a weekday evening, for a very fun hour or two of learning how to shuck oysters. And then, of course, I will remind everyone that we are a nonprofit organization. We're heavily dependent on government grants to do the work, but we also have a lot of appeal to corporations and foundations and individual citizens who support our work through financial contributions. So it's, there's any number of opportunities for the public to be involved.
Speaker 1:Right. So our board member, russell, and his wife Sian, are very much involved within your organization and that's how I got introduced to you. Yeah, so he is actually doing a having a fundraiser for you guys. So he's trying to raise a minimum of $10,000 through the Montgomery County Rotary Clubs, so that would purchase one million oysters to be planted on a protected reef in the Chesapeake Bay. So typically what we do is for everyone that we speak to, truman Charities donates $250. But because it's Russell's event, so we're going to donate $1,000 to our organization for Russell's event. So I also think that, just like Russell and his wife Sian, you could always have a small fundraiser too to raise, because it's kind of cool that he was able to say, okay, well, this amount of money will purchase X amount of oysters on a reef. So you can see, because it is local and they're working with you guys, the direct impact that you have, yes, which I think is fantastic.
Speaker 2:First of all, Jamie, thank you very, very much for that support. I want to thank and kind of a shout out to Russell as well. We met Russell maybe two years ago. He is a Montgomery County businessman who obviously I think he's got he and his family have roots here in Anne Arundel County and he recognized the impact that oysters can have on our waterways and stepped forward with a phone call. He just said I want to get involved. How can I do that? And here we are, a year and a half or two years later, and, number one, I'm on this podcast with you. And number two, Russell is really taking the lead to raise some funds. Hats off to you for paying attention to the math on our website when you said $10,000, we'll plant a million oysters. When you do it at this scale, we're able to kind of really kind of wring the efficiencies out of the process and been able to prove that we can do this on an affordable basis. So thank you again very much.
Speaker 1:Of course, and so what I want to know is what is your future plans, what are your goals?
Speaker 2:We will finish the state's five tributary strategy this year. The state of Maryland right now is looking at its own future for oyster restoration. It has identified three new priority areas for large-scale restoration. I believe that once we finish that fifth and final tributary we will sort of pivot and set our sights on some of the new target areas for restoration. Much of this is going to depend on the availability of state and federal money. I'm happy to say that there's not a lot of federal money in this space, that the vast majority of the public commitment to oyster restoration is here in Maryland using state funds.
Speaker 2:I do know that we have the ability to plant a billion juvenile oysters a year. That's nothing to ignore. It's taken us quite a number of years to build that capacity. We feel very strongly that that capacity can and will be preserved, used, hopefully on the new target areas in the Chesapeake Bay. We've also been approached by other organizations outside the Chesapeake Bay. We've also been approached by other organizations outside the Chesapeake Bay region looking to learn about building the capacity to do it on that scale. So you know our future is. We feel our future is bright, a little bit uncertain, but we do know that what we do. Works Policy administrators, scientists, government officials recognize the success of this, so we're confident that we're going to continue to be able to bring this level of restoration to the Bay, to Chesapeake Bay, and even outside the Bay as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I didn't know that wishers actually are part of the filtration system of the Bay, and so I think it's just the more people know then they understand how important it is, because I personally, as I told you, I grew up in Annapolis Like I worked out in downtown Annapolis never heard about this, so I think it's just more educating the public on how important that they really are.
Speaker 2:We spend a lot of time making sure that, in addition to the science that is driving the restoration, that we are reaching out to the public for public education. We find that most people, like you, once they learn a little bit about this work, are fascinated by it and always ask what can we do? How can we be involved? We're cognizant of the importance of public awareness and public education, everything from recycling shells to supporting government expenditures, to policy decisions about what's next.
Speaker 1:That's why I thought it was great. When Russell came out to me, I was like, oh my gosh. Well, yes, we should do a podcast. I was like this is the perfect way for a ton of people, a lot of people in the area and we have a lot of listeners to learn about what you guys are doing and we have a lot of listeners to learn about what you guys are doing. But you know, I wanted to ask you, when you're listening to this, you have to go on the website and you have to go on, because I was like mesmerized by all the oyster facts. But there is one when you were talking that just like pops in my head Are the oysters the ones that the pearls? Is that oysters where you're like open and there's a pearl?
Speaker 2:What is that? First of all, the pearls that we know. I'll picture a pearl ring or a pearl necklace. Those are. It's a different species of oysters. I believe primarily it's an Asian species that are being cultivated specifically for the purpose of producing those beautiful pearls. But it is not uncommon, when we are opening oysters, to find sort of a Chesapeake Bay version of that pearl. It is far from kind of perfect and luminous and white and shiny and pretty.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:But I believe the process is the same. There was some foreign substance that got inside that oyster and I guess that oyster's natural protection, if you will, is to kind of coat it with some type of material that, like I said, in the species that produces the pretty pearls results in pretty pearls. But it's not uncommon, when we're opening oysters, to find what looks, but frankly, what looks like a little stone inside the oyster.
Speaker 1:That's so funny.
Speaker 2:Often misshapen yeah, kind of brown and gray and misshapen, but it's unmistakable. We were at an event in Baltimore last night where I shucked about 200 oysters at this reception and there were a couple oysters that had little stones in them. I used to keep them all. Then after a while it looks just like a little piece of gravel, but it's not uncommon, jamie.
Speaker 1:I've always wondered that. So that's really interesting to know. So I want to know how can people follow you and get in touch with your organization.
Speaker 2:We are extremely active on social media channels. I would encourage everyone to visit the oysterrecoveryorg website to sort of see those oyster facts that you just mentioned, because there are some fascinating aspects of this work. Subscribe to our social channels. We've seen some in the last few years. We've seen an explosion of interest among the public on our social channels. We have some staff members here who are extremely active on social media. I learned last night in the middle of the reception. You know they were updating our Facebook and Instagram pages almost in real time as we were shucking and talking at this event. So I would encourage people to please follow us on the social channels and also on our website.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because even when you're talking, and you're talking about some of the oyster facts, when I was researching you guys, I like texted my husband. I was like did you know that a female oyster produces 100 million eggs in a single season? You have so much fun facts so I know so much about oysters now. So, Paul, before I let you go, is there anything that we haven't covered that you think someone should know?
Speaker 2:I think we've done a good job touching on the highlights. As you know, jamie, you've been on our website. You can easily go down some rabbit holes, yes, and kind of lead to rabbit holes, lead to more rabbit holes. But you know, I think we've done a good job. Thank you very much. You've sort of tried to structuring this conversation to talk about. You know what our work is. You know the partnerships that we have with other organizations and government and other NGOs and corporations and foundations.
Speaker 2:I think the most important thing that you and I could hope for out of this podcast is to spur some additional interest of people. People will go learn more that. They will support what we do. They'll talk to their neighbors, they'll talk to their elected officials about the importance of this work. You know, I believe you have done a great job of kind of giving this overview. I would look forward to a conversation. We love what we do. We're very proud of our work. We know it works. We love talking publicly about it because we see the level of enthusiasm when people start learning more about this. We see this really genuine enthusiasm among people. So I would hope that we can continue to do that.
Speaker 1:You know what, paul, I didn't even ask you this, but I have to know. Why are you so enthusiastic about the Oyster Company partnership? How did it come about for you?
Speaker 2:I am a devotee of the Chesapeake Bay. I spent a career in kind of government service, public service, here in Maryland. That educated me on. You know, the importance of the Chesapeake Bay to everyone that lives in this watershed and this watershed runs from upstate New York to West Virginia. I think there are seven states in it and you know, collectively those states are trying to restore the health of the Bay. You know the states that are probably closer or more proximate to the Bay seem to be more active in Bay restoration. But you know the states that are probably closer or more proximate to the bay seem to be more active in bay restoration. But you know, after years and years of being exposed to the importance of the bay, it sort of kind of inoculated me, if you will. And then I've been here at Oyster Recovery Partnership for about 10 years and talk about rabbit holes. I've gone down these rabbit holes and come back even more enthusiastic than ever before about why oysters are important to the Bay and the citizens of Maryland.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, if anybody wants to help Russell meet his goal of one million oysters, make sure to reach out to me. You can email me at info at TrumanCharitiescom, or you can reach out to Russell yourself. So thank you again, paul, and I want to thank everybody for tuning in to another episode of the Truman Charities podcast. Wasn't that such a fascinating conversation about oysters. Who knew that they were so important? I mean, I should have known this growing up in Annapolis, but somehow I never learned this. I still can't get over that a female oyster is known to produce an upward of 100 million eggs in a single season. Oh Lord, that is too much.
Speaker 1:But if you liked this episode, please make sure to rate and review this podcast. As I had mentioned before, you know, the reviews really do count and I read each and every one of them. And while you're at it, please go to the right top right hand corner and hit the subscribe button so you don't miss any future episodes. If you'd like to follow us, you can follow us on Instagram at Jamie, underscore, truman Charities. Facebook at Truman Charities. You can follow me on LinkedIn, jamie Truman, and so you don't miss any of our upcoming Truman Charities events, such as our derby party coming up May 3rd and we'll be benefiting Interfaith Works. Go on to TrumanCharitiescom and sign up for our newsletter. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of the Truman Charities Podcast. Until next time.
