The Chesapeake Bay's triple threat is rock fish, crabs and oysters and man do we love all three.
The reality is, if oysters don't survive, then just about everything else in the bay goes away.
On Thursday, the Oyster Recovery Project gave that depleted oyster population a little boost.
The partnership planted 12 million oysters in the Severn River and this was an unprecedented event.
"This was the first large scale planting that we've done that is entirely funded by the community. We raised $35,000."
Usually they plant the oysters far from shore, but today the public had a chance to see up close the operation. They have been planting oysters for many years in the bay and its tributaries.
They finished planting oysters in Harris Creek, at 350 acres of restored oyster bed, it's the 2nd largest man-made oyster bed in the world.
"Earlier this year we completed work in the little Choptank River in Dorchester county which is the largest man made oyster reef in the world, right here in Maryland."
The Oyster Recovery Partnership has planted 175 million oysters so far this year on public reefs. They will be planting through September.
