Maintenance 5-26-14 to 6-1-14
Oh what a difference a week makes!
When I did my cage maintenance on Sunday, I was amazed at how much fouling had occurred since last week. In just a week, the rate of fouling had nearly doubled!
Here’s what I did and recommend that you do this week:
- Actively dunk each cage up and down in the water to remove accumulated silt and sediment.
- FOR THE OUTSIDE OF THE CAGE ONLY this week I used a scrub brush – scrub away from your face /body – to remove the worst of the growth from the outside of the cage. Also, it is a good idea to scrub the part of the rope that has been immersed in the water to remove the accumulated growth.
- Leave the cages on the dock for about 90 minutes to let the Sun and wind dry and kill the fouling organisms.
- Set a timer so you don’t forget to put your cages back in the water – it’s easy to get busy and forget (like I almost did last week)!
- Give the cages a good shake to keep the oysters from growing together and make sure the oysters are evenly distributed on the bottom of the cages before you put them back in the water.
Reminders:
- Oyster Pick-Up: Thursday, June the 5th. Next Thursday!
- Oyster Social: Crystal Room, Tidewater Inn, Thursday, June the 12th at 5:30 p.m. Formal invitations with response cards will be mailed to you on Wednesday, May the 28th.
Until next week,
Sincerely,
The Oyster Reef Recovery Initiative