Andrew Murdza thinks he has key to cleaning up Chesapeake Bay

By ALLISON BOURG Staff Writer

Capital Gazette Communications

Published 12/27/07

Standing on the shore of Parish Creek in the West River, Andrew Murdza ran his hands through a bin containing hundreds of 7-month-old oysters.

By Paul W. Gillespie -- The Capital Andrew Murdza of Pasadena shows off 7-month-old oysters at his oyster-growing operation in Shady Side. Mr. Murdza is the inventor of the Oyster Hotel, which grows oysters near the top of the water column. He said growing oysters near the surface increases their survival rate and will go a long way toward cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and Magothy River.

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These oysters are the key to cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay, he said. But first, they have to be able to thrive underwater.

The Pasadena man said his Oyster Hotel - a floating cage of barley grass and mesh bags he cooked up about three years ago when he founded Oyster King 1 Inc. - is the answer.

Mr. Murdza has set up shop at Discovery Village in Shady Side, the former Johns Hopkins Biotech Lab and Sonar Buoy Test Center.

He plans to open an oyster birthing lab there by...

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Oyster Hotel - 2008-01-05 16:47:27

Why not tell me why the oyster hotel is used internationally throughout the world but nobody thought an improved design good enough for raising baby-bay oyster near the top of the water rather than the bottom? If the hungry bi-valves crave the nitrogen now overabundant in the waters for the increasing fore-seeable future why not increase their survival onto the one hundred percent range? Maybe allowing the critters to sequester carbon-dioxide (CO2) and phosphorus in their hard shell at the same time saving us all additional worries?

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charles eads - glenelg, MD - Karma: Neutral

survival rate - 2008-01-03 17:03:09

100% of Murzda's oysters planted in the Bay survived? Wow! As Mr. Spadaro points out, the science points to an average 50% survival rate, so I dug a little further to see what this miracle was all about.

Actually, I believe Mr. Murzda was referring to the survival rate of oysters "growing" in his oyster hotels--not oysters actually "planted" on reefs in the Bay. I don't believe any of his oysters have been planted on reefs yet. Not only do half of planted oysters survive, but the success rate for what the industry calls "cultchless" oysters is even lower.

Cultchless oysters are oyster spat grown individually and not attached to a substrate of any kind. It's the way oysters have traditionally been grown. However, a relatively new restoration technique being used by CBF and by the Magothy River Association, "spat-on-shell", is being found to have a higher survival rate after planting. In this technique spat are placed on old oyster shells, where they attach themselves. These "spat on shell" are then grown in cages.

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Kim E. - Arnold, MD - Karma: Neutral

Re: price - 2008-01-03 16:30:08

Actually, folks who buy from Murzda get a tax-break for their oyster gardening efforts, resulting in a check for $500. It's essentially a "free" program for them, though we all pay for it out of our taxes. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, just clarifying it. CBF oyster gardeners, however, do not qualify for the tax break.

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Kim E. - Arnold, MD - Karma: Neutral

Price - 2007-12-27 19:24:02

500 dollars?

--Seems a bit steep for the average environmental activist. I think that community organizations, probably the more likely groups to purchase the hotels, would want the oysters planted in their local area after they reach maturity. For this to really work or catch on among Marylanders, it has to become a free program.

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Jeffrey Haines - Arnold, MD - Karma: Excellent