Chesapeake Beach Oyster Cultivation Society (CBOCS)
Founded in 2011 by John Bacon and the Town of Chesapeake Beach, CBOCS partnered with the Maryland DNR Maryland Grows Oysters (MGO) program to provide a collaborative opportunity for the citizens of Chesapeake Beach to improve local water quality and their knowledge of the Bay ecosystem. CBOCS revived the Old Rock Reef in the Chesapeake Bay by annually depositing oyster yearlings known as Spat on the sanctuary to grow, reproduce and sustain wild oyster populations, provide a habitat for crabs, mussels, fish, eels and other bay animals.
CBOCS volunteers also support educational opportunities to the students of Calvert County Public Schools. Each year all Calvert County Public School 5th grade classes come to Fishing Creek to study oyster habitats and life cycle through the Chespax program. Naturalists from the Calvert County Dept. of Parks and Recreation along with CBOCS volunteers provide an educational program counting baby spat, testing water quality data and getting hands-on experience with other bay animals that live on an oyster reef.
In the spring CBOCS volunteers go to the schools and support the Coastal Conservation Association as the 5th grade classes build oyster reef balls. The students build the molds from fiberglass frames and other hardware, mix concrete to be poured into the molds and then “hatch” the molds once the concrete sets. These 250-lb reef balls are then placed in the bay and other tributaries to improve the Chesapeake Bay habitat.
Treasures of a Tidal Creek:
To access our Treasures of a Tidal Creek booklet, please click on the link here.