--- title: The Modern Battle for Maryland’s Oysters date: 2022-10-19T05:30:00-04:00 author: University of Maryland canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/the-modern-battle-for-marylands-oysters" section: Articles --- # The Modern Battle for Maryland’s Oysters *October 19, 2022* — by [Chris Carroll](/author/chris-carroll) > UMD Researchers Use AI and Robotics to Save Struggling Industry After Diseases (and Pirates) Plunder Cheasapeake’s Bounty *MT 1920x1080 5 — Seafood company owner Casey Todd (steering boat) prepares to dump tens of thousands of oyster shells near Crisfield, Md., to help young oysters thrive on the Chesapeake Bay bottom.* **IT’S A ROUGH DAY FOR ROBOTS.** The glare on the surface of the Choptank River, the green murk below and strong gusts stirring up the mile-and-a-half-wide channel all leave Keshav Rajasekaran Ph.D. ’22 struggling in an open boat to control a pair of underwater drones as they skitter along the bottom, or noisily emerge with propellers spraying saltwater. The mechanical engineering student peels off his T-shirt. Not to tan or take a dip—he just needs to be able to see. He secures one end around his head with a ball cap and drapes the other over a laptop he’s using to monitor the microwave oven-size aquatic drones fitted with optical and acoustic sensors. In the makeshift shade, Rajasekaran spots an empty riverbed. *Man with robot on boat — Keshav Rajasekaran Ph.D. ’22 prepares to launch an underwater robot to seek oysters. (Photo by Stephanie S. Cordle)* *Miao Yu — Miao Yu oversees the project to modernize shellfish aquaculture. (Photo by John T. Consoli)* --- **VIEWED SOLELY THROUGH** the lens of the present, oysters are an odd proposition: slick, silvery flesh in a shell with a taste that causes many people to reach for the Tabasco (while others extol their subtle flavor differences). On the half shell, they can command ludicrous prices, given that a raw bar chef simply pops them open and makes one quick cut before serving them as it’s been done on riverbanks and around campfires for thousands of years—still alive and slurped from the shell. Most oysters, however, are more modest fare—sold with meat removed and packed for use in various dishes. A revival could make them economically akin to poultry, which was once too pricey to serve on every table, says Don Webster, a University of Maryland Extension principal agent focused on aquaculture, and one of the co-leaders of the project. “As I tell my growers, ‘I want to see Wendy’s, Popeye’s and Burger King arguing over who’s got the best oyster sandwich,’” he says. *Oyster “pirates” illustration — Oyster “pirates” fought pitched battles on the bay with Maryland’s “Oyster Navy” in the 19th century. (Illustration by Schell and Hogan/Harper’s Weekly, 1884)* --- *Three people on boat — Tongs are a traditional method of Maryland’s oystermen for plying their trade. (Photo by John T. Consoli)* *Two men with towed dredge on boat — The towed dredge, demonstrated by seafood company owners Nick Hargrove (at left) and Benny Horseman, is a faster way to harvest, but is more destructive. (Photo by John T. Consoli)* *underwater view from a robot — An underwater view from a robot could help map out exactly where to pull a dredge to minimize damage to young oysters and the bay bottom. (Underwater camera view courtesy of Keshav Rajasekaran)* --- **BENNIE HORSEMAN**, 33-year-old co-owner of Madison Bay Seafood, points to the hallway outside the business office of the facility he and his brother renovated and operate next to the Little Choptank River. “There was a tree growing right there when we took over the building,” he says. The historic oyster shucking house had been abandoned and overrun by foliage since the ’80s, when dermo and MSX began their rampage in Maryland. Until recently, Horseman was focused on a family business restoring fishing boats—fixing engines, sheathing old wooden hulls with fiberglass. But his grandfather and generations before were watermen, making the business move feel natural. In April 2021, in an act of supreme faith in the future of the industry, his new seafood company incorporated, and today it ships truckloads of oysters, crabs, fish and other catches daily to restaurants and markets in the Baltimore-D.C. region and along the East Coast. “I think I might be the youngest lunatic in this business,” he chuckles. In addition to buying from watermen, the company operates a small fleet of boats and participates in a state-sponsored program to seed oyster spat in public oyster beds, as well as provide the service to those who lease oystering grounds. *chart showing decline in bushels of oysters harvested — From a 19th century high of about 15 million bushels, Maryland’s oyster harvest crashed to near zero in the early 2000s, cracking 500,000 this year for the first time since the 1980s. (Source: Maryland Department of Natural Resources)* **Sidebar note:** This story is featured in the Fall 2022 issue of *Terp* magazine. Find all the stories online at [terp.umd.edu](https://terp.umd.edu/). **Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research) **Tags:** [Artificial Intelligence](https://today.umd.edu/topic/artificial-intelligence), [Bioengineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/bioengineering), [Computer Science](https://today.umd.edu/topic/computer-science), [Mechanical Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/mechanical-engineering), [Robotics](https://today.umd.edu/topic/robotics), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research) **Units:** [A. James Clark School of Engineering](https://today.umd.edu/topic/james-clark-school-engineering), [College of Computer, Mathematical, and Natural Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-computer-mathematical-and-natural-sciences)