DEVELOPING OYSTER FARMING IN CHESAPEAKE BAY

Student’s Name

Course

Date

Oyster Farming

Introduction

The proposal will look at the introduction of the paper, background, literature review and the research methodology. It aims at examining how to develop Oyster farming in Chesapeake Bay. In addition, it will try to establish the process and how viable is the proposal.

Background

Oyster farming is an aquaculture form of farming whereby oysters are looked after and raised by people for human consumption. Oyster farming is said to have started immediately after the beginning of pearl farming; a comparable practice that oysters are cultivated so as to harvest pearls. The practice started in ancient Rome in the 1st Century BC on the Italian peninsula, and the British adopted it for export to Rome.

Oysters as expected grow in estuarine areas of salty water. When farmed, the salinity and temperature of the water are skillfully monitored and controlled, to encourage laying and reproduction, as well as to increase the rate of maturing, which can sometimes take a number of years.

There are different cultivation methods that are used in the farming of Oysters. In each method oysters are cultivated to a point in which they are considered mature, which they attach themselves to a substrate. This substrate is called the “cultch,” which is an empty oyster shell and other different substances got on the oyster grounds. The wobbly spat might be permitted to develop further to form an oyster seed with a small shell. In both cases, the seed stage or spat are allowed to mature. The maturing method is the time where the cultivation technique choice is made.

Literature Review

Despite the vivid development of oyster farming throughout the US, in the Chesapeake Bay region, oysters are cultivated extensively, on bottommost leases that have a vast production concentration. The viability of a new practice varies greatly across Chesapeake Bay by the supply and quality. Oyster farmers who use thorough, off-bottom techniques centre for producing a stable supply of premium oysters for the profitable half shell market price.

There are however many concerns on Oyster farming as different challenges emerge during the process. These farming challenges include diseases such as Dermo and MSX, which kill the oyster just after they mature, and they are ready to mate, therefore, depleting their numbers on the farm. In order to overcome these difficulties for grown oysters in Chesapeake Bay and other region, different initiatives have been put in place in order to address the identification of likely niche markets, the possible for regional designations.

Methodology

The proposal will use both quantitative and qualitative research designs. The quantitative design will be used to get data from the field that are from individual farmers while the qualitative design will be employed to get information from already written material on the same topic. Qualitative data will be obtained from books, journals, magazines, newspapers and online database.

The research instruments or tools that will be utilized in this study include a questionnaire that will be used to obtain information from the chosen respondents who are farmers. Observation will also be employed in order to get a clear picture of the viability of the project in Chesapeake Bay.

Finally, after the data is collected, the data analysis will involve editing, coding, organization, and tabulation. That will ensure that errors are eliminated, and only reliable data is analyzed and the results published.

Bibliography

Agamben, Giorgio. 2011. The Oyster Industry: The Case for Fish and Oyster Farming. Stanford: Stanford University Press

Colbert, Judy. 2012. It Happened in Maryland: Remarkable Events that Shaped History. Guilford, Connecticut: Globe Pequot Press.

Kellogg, Johnson. 2010. Research Methodology: Selecting the right Research Design. New York. McGraw Hill Publishers

Kurlansky, Mark. 2009. The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell. New York: Ballantine Books

Marcus, Alan. 2009. “(Re) creating Places and Spaces in Two Countries: Brazilian Transnational Migration Processes.” Journal of Cultural Geography 26(2): 173-198.

Meyer, Eugene. 2009. “A Welcoming Enclave with Roots in a Snub.” The Washington Post, September 4. Accessed June 12, 2014 HYPERLINK “http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/greathomesanddestinations/04Highland.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0” t “_blank”http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/04/greathomesanddestinations/04Highland.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0