Piney Point Aquaculture Center
Bay Grass Activities
Located in St. Mary’s County, the Piney Point Aquaculture Center is
home to
two major MD-DNR large-scale bay grass restoration efforts:
Eelgrass seed processing center In
the Spring of 2003 we hand collected seed-bearing shoots for processing at Piney Point.
These
seed-bearing shoots were held in flow through tanks until the mature
seeds settled to the bottom of the tanks. The
seeds were then stored for Fall seed dispersal experiments in the lower
Patuxent and Potomac Rivers. In 2004, to improve efficiency and increase the
number of seeds collected, we will be testing mechanical methods for
collecting eelgrass seed-bearing shoots and expand the size of eelgrass
processing tanks. This facility will be used to process eelgrass for both
Maryland and Virginia restoration activities.
Eelgrass nursery In order to annually provide 30,000 eelgrass plants for bay grass
mitigation resulting from the Woodrow Wilson Bridge construction, MD-DNR and
St. Mary’s College have designed and constructed a 4000 gallon grow-out
system. This semi-closed, temperature controlled eelgrass grow-out system is
capable of producing adult plants in less than five months from seed.
Piney Point Aquaculture Center
In
the Spring of 2003 we hand collected seed-bearing shoots for processing at Piney Point.
These
seed-bearing shoots were held in flow through tanks until the mature
seeds settled to the bottom of the tanks. The
seeds were then stored for Fall seed dispersal experiments in the lower
Patuxent and Potomac Rivers. In 2004, to improve efficiency and increase the
number of seeds collected, we will be testing mechanical methods for
collecting eelgrass seed-bearing shoots and expand the size of eelgrass
processing tanks. This facility will be used to process eelgrass for both
Maryland and Virginia restoration activities.
Eelgrass nursery