Chesapeake Bay Foundation Return Email

Meghan Hoffman (mhoffman@cbf.org) from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation returned my email.  She is very excited about my project and would like to help out anyway they can.  They are having a meeting next week and will let me know when we can visit the Oyster Restoration Center.  She have a few suggestions on how I could conduct my experiment.  It turns out the algae that I bought at the pet store might not be the best.  I might have to contact the University of Maryland's Horn Point Oyster Hatchery.  They might be able to give me a small amount of the right kind of algae that oysters like to eat.   I just looked at the website and they have a lot of great information about oysters.  This is a link to there website http://www.hpl.umces.edu/hatchery/.

Planning the Experiment

I am going to use several cameras in order to track the experiment.  For Christmas I received a Go Pro action camera (which can be used underwater) which I will be using in time lapse mode.  It is taking sometime to get all the settings right.  My dad is also letting me use his professional video camera and tripod to help record the process and his DSLR camera which will take a time lapse of a 24 hour period.  My dad who is a photographer is going to teach me how to do time lapse photography.

Reviewing Video Notes From CBMM

Today I am reviewing the video notes from the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum that I took with my new iPad.  There was a lot of useful information that I can use for my science fair project.  understanding every aspect about the oyster and the Chesapeake Bay will help me with my experiment.

Petsmart Supplies

We went to Petsmart today in order to get more supplies for feeding the oysters.  Since oysters are algae eaters I am going to see if this type of algae feeder wafers will work.  I am hoping to replicate what oysters eat in the wild.  I also bought some aquarium chemical test strips.  I plan on using these to see if there are any chemical changes during the experiment.  I will test the water before adding oysters to the water....then once a day.  The test strips have a scale that is used for either freshwater or saltwater.  One problem I foresee is the Chesapeake Bay is neither fresh nor salt...it is called brackish water.  Which means its part fresh water and salt water to live.  The farther north you go up the bay the less salt in the water.  The closer to the mouth of the bay the saltier.  My theory is as long as I am consistent with using the scales it should indicate if there are any changes.  However I do not expect the reading to be accurate....however it should give me data on if there is change.

Chesapeake Bay Trip II

I went to Gibson Island to get more Chesapeake Bay Water for the experiment.  I brought a 10 gallon container that my family sometimes uses for camping. I ended up bringing back over 10 gallons of water.  The weather was very cold, the wind was blowing on us on both sides of the point and the water was freezing.  I tried to use the siphon but it was not working fast enough so we dunked the containers under water and let them fill up. It was much faster but my hands were freezing afterward.

Contacted the Chesapeake Bay Foundation

I contacted Meghan Hoffman (mhoffman@cbf.org) who works for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.  I asked if I could tour their Oyster Restoration Project facility.   We need to set up the appointment in advance.

Oyster Tonging Video

My Dad helped me create a cool video of my brother and me tonging for oysters.  We used a program called iMovie.