Yesterday I went to a TOGA party at Hampton Bay Days here in Virginia and helped educate the public, young and old, on how to raise oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. Manning our booth was Steve, Julian and myself. I am a member of TOGA Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association http://www.oystergardener.org/ , a non- profit group that assist others in learning and getting started with oyster aquaculture. We talked about shoreline reefs, floats, cages and various other ways to help restore the oyster population. We set up a couple of saltwater tanks with oysters, crabs, minnows a lone eel that I will take on a cobia trip soon and other bay critters to demonstrate the filter/ cleaning power of oysters. The weather was perfect and the turnout for Bay Days was high. I met a lot of enthusiastic kids and interested adults. There are several other education booths and of course many fun things for kids and adults We will be out there again today in the educational section from 12-6 if anybody is interested in raising oysters.
