Oyster restoration in Harris Creek (Credit: SERC Fisheries Conservation Lab)
In Maryland, two things mark the return of spring more than any other: boating and blue crab season. Oyster season—a cold-weather enterprise—closes March 31. But this year, like last year, dozens of volunteers are taking their boats to local oyster reefs—not to harvest them, but to check the health of Maryland’s oyster restorations.
It’s part of a new participatory science project at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center called “Oyster Cam.” The project trains watershed organizations and their volunteers to deploy underwater cameras, collecting videos of oyster reefs across the state.