KENT NARROWS — On the morning of Aug. 6, the Maryland Department of Agriculture hosted a tour to educate chefs and local organizations on the story and ecology of the region’s seafood.
The hope for the chef tours was to educate chefs from the region on seafood from the Bay, including wild-caught blue catfish, striped bass, crabs, oysters and other processed seafood.
Representatives from several organizations were in attendance, including the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Oyster Recovery Partnership and Maryland Food Bank.
The tour began with pastries and coffee before loading all attendees onto a boat chartered by Off Da’ Hook, a local fishing charter providing tours across the Chesapeake Bay. Touring through the waters of Kent Narrows, countless boats and watermen were harvesting crabs and oysters in the vicinity.
Kristin Hanna, director of special projects for the Maryland Department of Agriculture, said educational tours such as the chef tour are important in supporting watermen and the local economy.
“It helps people tell a story,” Hanna said. “So when you’re a restaurant, you are competing with so many other restaurants, and everyone really cares about the food they’re serving, and this (tour) gives them another story to share about how they’re helping the Chesapeake Bay, whether they’re serving the blue catfish or crab or oysters. We’re supporting a legacy of watermen, which is historical to our state, and that matters.”
Afterwards, the group was taken on a tour of the historic Harris Seafood, one of the last remaining packing houses on Kent Narrows and the last full-time shucking house in the state.
During the tour, attendees were shown the quick-paced crab packing process, the oyster preservation process and the various differences between female and male blue crabs.
Zach Jeffries, a sourcing manager for Maryland Food Bank, said the Maryland Food Bank started ordering blue catfish a few years ago through the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, a program that provides funds to purchase food to support local, regional and underserved producers.
“It was very educational,” Jeffries said. “I’ve worked … with the state of Maryland to fight invasive species, but oysters, crab harvesting, it was all very educational … and extremely fascinating. You learn things you never learned before about the lifespan of oysters and crabs that blows your mind.”
Toward the end of the event, attendees were treated to a seafood lunch at Harris Crab House, where they feasted on to crab dip, oysters and a variety of different entrees including a crab cake sandwich and a fried oyster sandwich.
Chris Jones, an invasive fish biologist for the Maryland Department of National Resources, said it’s important to educate the public about the wildlife in the Chesapeake Bay for the protection of native species.
“The Chesapeake is a very unique ecosystem, and these invasive species pose a threat to a lot of our native species,” Jones said. “They are out-competing some of our native species … Invasive fishes in general are posing a threat because they are competing with other species, and they’re taking away from species that are important to the bay.”
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