"Reef Balls Make Maiden Deployment For Oyster Habitat"

"Teamwork from Maryland environmentalists — from elementary schoolers to nonprofit workers — could result in new oyster habitat, and consequently cleaner water, for the Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland Coastal Conservation Association members and partners dumped 70 concrete reef balls into the bay on Thursday, the first deployment for the organization's Living Reef Action Campaign.

Reef balls, gumdrop-shaped concrete structures with holes in their walls, are designed to be a foundation for oysters, which filter pollution from water. Each ball was covered with about 1,700 spat, or baby oysters. Oysters often grow on the shells of other oysters, but when populations and reefs decrease, it's harder for the next generation."

Christina Jedra reports for the Baltimore Sun July 29, 2016.