[Sca-cooks] Ersterz...

Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius adamantius1 at verizon.net
Mon Feb 11 03:32:39 PST 2008


On Feb 10, 2008, at 4:51 PM, Elaine Koogler wrote:

> Yeah, I know what you mean.  We're still fighting the battle here  
> around the
> wonderful Chesapeake Bay (we live on what's referred to as the  
> "Western
> Shore.")

My brother lives on an inlet that leads to the Chesapeake, in Arnold,  
and I know there'd been talk some years ago of various attempts to set  
up oyster beds, not so much as a commercial venture, but as a way to  
clean up the water. I'm not sure whatever happened with that; I must  
ask him.

>  We also have a source of fabulous Blue Point oysters...Broome's
> Island and all throughout the Bay.

Hmmmm. Interesting! I STR Kurlansky's "The Big Oyster" refers to  
transplanting [there's a term for baby oysters which escapes me at the  
moment] baby Chesapeake Bay Oysters, which he claims are of a  
different variety or sub-species from the critters indigenous to New  
York Harbor and environs -- basically they grow faster, coming from  
slightly warmer waters, don't taste quite the same, _but_ do take on  
some of the character of the local oysters by local-water "fattening",  
for lack of a better term -- as an early, say 19th-century, means of  
aquaculture in response to dwindling local supplies. And all this  
after New York oysters had become a major export sent all over North  
America and Europe, largely in response to near-extinction of the  
oyster off the coasts of England and France.

I thought Blue Point is, or was, a geographical location in Long  
Island Sound, so I'm wondering if this is a misnomer, or if somebody's  
been returning the favor and little baby oysters have been  
transplanted. Maybe not an optimal situation but vastly preferable to  
some of the alternatives.

> Another wonderful treat are the blue
> crabs (remember the ones from your wedding reception, Huette?).   
> There has
> been a little recovery, but unfortunately, many of the industries on  
> the
> rivers that feed into the northern part of the Bay refuse to  
> cooperate, and
> many of the farmers persist in using fertilizers, etc., that leech  
> off into
> the Bay.  But we have hope that the crabs and oysters will, at some  
> point,
> be as plentiful as they once were!

Oh, gosh! I remember riding my bicycle to go fishing and crabbing as a  
kid on Broad Channel, within the limits of  New York City (yes, we had  
actual wildlife once, in addition to cool stuff like albino alligators  
in the sewers and giant winged rats).

It would be heavenly to undo some of the harm that's been done to the  
local ecosystem...

Adamantius



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