New oyster restoration center to open in Anne Arundel County

A new oyster restoration center is coming to Anne Arundel County.

A 2.09-acre waterfront site, which was previously Woodfield's Ice House Fish & Co., will be transformed into the Truman Oyster Center.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) said it aims to grow up to 50 million oysters per year at the location.

The Truman Oyster Center will serve as a Chesapeake Bay–wide hub for oyster restoration, offering an open and collaborative space where volunteers, partners, and local residents can coordinate cleanup initiatives. From this facility, CBF will manage programs such as oyster shell recycling, reef ball construction, and oyster gardening.

The center will feature up to eight large tanks for growing spat-on-shell—juvenile oysters that are set on recycled shells to form the building blocks of new reefs. It will also serve as the home port for CBF's 60-foot oyster restoration vessel, the R/V Patricia Campbell.

The announcement comes after the Baltimore Oyster Partnership announced in August plans to expand oyster restoration efforts in Baltimore Harbor and the Patapsco River.

Benefits of oyster restoration

Over the past two decades, Maryland's oyster population has more than tripled, reaching over 12 billion oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

In the Chesapeake Bay, shellfish filter up to 50 gallons of water per day by removing algae, sediment, and pollutants, according to CBF. Hundreds of animals rely on them for shelter and food, including striped bass, weakfish, and blue crabs.