About The Oyster Institute 501c3
Founded in 2013 by Chesapeake Bay Oyster Farmers
From our foundation in St Jerome Creek, MD. the institute has grown over the last decade to build on its original goals of restoring and protecting the Chesapeake Bay; to embrace taking the hard lessons learned to the wider global community as a structured and
teachable multi-disciplinary process that can achieve the scale and urgency needed if oysters are to be able to become and effective nature based solution to the global challenges.
Our Mission
Empower coastal communities to build, seed, and deploy living oyster reefs as nature-based solutions to clean waters, regenerate habitat, protect from coastal erosion, restore resilience, remediate environmental damage and revitalize economies around a simple program that targets putting ‘One Million Oysters’ into the canals and waterways
How and Why we are Different
Each Million Oyster Program is based around building and deploying specially design and manufactured pre-seeded living oyster reefs.
This takes a team - so each participant can understand their role and the incredible potential environmental, social, and economic impact of every additional 'Million Oysters" on their community the Oyster Institute has developed a 40+ point 'Opportunity Assessment' employing both qualitative and quantitative metrics.
The design of the Million Oyster program brings together 40+ topics is previously siloed knowledge from key disciplines that establishes benchmarks, promotes best practices, codifies knowledge, and provides clear steps for workforce development, training and skills transfer.
Nutrient & Biodiversity Credits
The institute, boasts over a decade of expertise working in the heart of the Chesapeake directly with the expert groups spearheading the cutting edge efforts of Academia, Federal and State authorities to quantify the oysters prowess to naturally absorb phosphate and nitrate runoffs and calculate a tangible value for nutrient credits.
These funds together with the emerging potential of Biodiversity Credits and Mitigation Banks offer a funding path for oysters as a sustainable nature-based solution.
BLUETRILLION - CARBON CREDITS
For millions of years Oysters have been one of Nature's most powerful tools, acting as a nature based negative emission technology able to efficiently Capture. Use. and Store Carbon.
The Institute is working with international experts to establish a proven methodology that can meet the highest levels of scrutiny needed to establish oysters as highly valuable Blue Carbon Credits.
plan for scale - act with urgency
Climate change and pollution are escalating, demanding urgent action on an unprecedented scale. Current plans fall short of addressing the magnitude of these challenges. It's imperative to act swiftly and decisively to safeguard our planet for future generations.
At our institute, we're gearing up to meet these challenges head-on. With a forward-thinking approach, we're developing comprehensive strategies to address the urgent need for action. From innovative research to collaborative initiatives, we're committed to leading the charge - we your supporter as volunteers, funders and sponsors.
Protecting against Blue catfish
The Oyster Institute* has partnered with Nick Hargrove, owner/operator of Tilghman Island Seafood in Talbot County, the only USDA-approved blue catfish processing center in the Chesapeake Bay region. This partnership aims to protect the Bay by efficiently harvesting the invasive blue catfish, which threatens the ecosystem. It creates local jobs, supports the economy, and provides an affordable, nutritious protein source, promoting sustainability and community well-being
* Formerly True Oyster Restoration Initiative [TORI])
Our Board
EXPERIENCED BOARD WITH A STRONG ADVISORY NETWORK
The Institute has a highly experienced board with over 200 years of combined experiences, managing organizations in the USA, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. The board and its advisors include world-class specialists, scientists, teachers, designers making it to leader in global research and strategic thinking.
Enhancing Local Oyster Restoration with Global Insights
The Center aims to enhance local projects by integrating global best practices, leveraging a wealth of knowledge from diverse industries and communities.
The Institute's goal is to provide the tools and resources such as videos, blogs, and white papers needed to support communities in advocating for oyster restoration, and lowering barriers to implementation.
Standards, Training, Certification & Verification
The identification of global best practices drives the coordinated training programs which are planned to cover 46 key topics, designed to interlock and clarify each team member’s role within their project. Communities can access and exchange data through the Oyster Network, utilizing common metrics for benchmarking progress against top-performing initiatives.their full potential.