Throughout my first week and a half, we focused on clearing the section of the grant where the seed had been dumped about 2 years ago. Additionally, we spent hours power washing the seaweed off the seed bags that would need to be used when the new seed was delivered during early June. Again, I learned the lesson of speed over perfection. It was more important to maintain a steady clip washing the bags rather than focus on getting every last speck of dirt off, as there were thousands of bags and they were just going to be thrown right back into the ocean.
During the week of May 10th, we brought out the cages that will hold the seed bags and piled them high up onto the front of the boat. I blindly drove them out to the grant, peering over the boat's edge to avoid moorings and other boats, and toppled the huge cages into the water along the designated area. Somehow I made it through the mooring field without any accidents!
During the next low tide, we rearranged the cages into rows alongside the already lined up cages from last year. Brian, a new member of our team taking a year off from grad school to work, helped Kelsey, Kevin, and I pull the seed bags out of the old cages. Loading them onto the boat, we brought them back to the float where we cut open the bags, shook them for 30 seconds each, and dumped the seed into large black plastic containers. Shaking the bags chips the oysters, signaling for them to continue growing. Of course the one time I decided to take off my gloves, I ran my hand along the top of the bag I had just emptied, trying to loosen the few remaining oysters only to learn just how sharp a baby oyster is. I ended up with three deep cuts across my right fingers and searched for the first aid kit looking like I had murdered someone.
Bandaged up, I helped load up the large black containers full of seed onto the boat. Laying a folding table across the side of the boat, we poured the seed out and swept it into the water as Kevin slowly moved the boat across the grant. These oysters will now continue to grow on the bottom of the ocean, making room for the new incoming seed in the cages.
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