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Hobson’s Mary Hill is teaching Suffolk youth the importance of oyster restoration and farming.

Partnering with the Nansemond Indian Nation and Chesapeake Bay Foundation, The CEO of Barrett’s Neck Seafood and activist representing seven generations of black watermen held an indoor/outdoor class on aquaculture oyster farming as part of her project, the Lion’s Paw Oyster Restoration and Education Sanctuary, on July 14 at Mattanock Town. The class saw Nansemond Indian Nation and Chesapeake Bay Foundation members join Hill in giving eager participants a hands-on experience with working with oyster cages while teaching the methods of oyster farming and harvesting. 

Ahead of the activity that day, Hill had a chance to discuss the program, noting that a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust helped fund the project.

“In my grant that I wrote, the participants are the bees, which are the students. And I am one of the big bees. We got some little bumblebees, but we got some big bumblebees, and I am one of the big bumblebees,” she said humorously. “What we are doing is we are putting the oyster cages together and each of the cages has four slots and what we’ll be doing is putting the oyster bags, which we have six-millimeter bags here, when get the seeds next week, we’re going to put 1,000 seeds in one of those bags.”

Hill says that 1,000 oysters will go into each bag.

“We’ll take them out onto the Nansemond River to a hard bottom, and we’ll put them at the bottom of the river with 12 inches above the bottom,” Hill said. “With the six-millimeter bags, we’ll check every other week on them to see how they’re growing and sorting them, and knocking off any barnacles that may get attached to keep the water flowing through the bag. Once they reach an inch and 32 millimeters, we’re going to switch them out and put them in these nine-millimeter bags.”

Hill says they will continue to check on them every two to three weeks and sort them in the process, letting those that haven’t fully matured stay in the nine-millimeter bag.

“Then, as we continue to sift them out, when they reach three inches, they’re ready for distribution to our wholesalers and retailers for consumption,” Hill said.

Hill says they aim to reach 100,000 oysters to support the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s billion oyster mark. Nansemond Indian Nation Tribal Council Vice Chair Nikki Bass and Chesapeake Bay Foundation Oyster Restoration Manager Jackie Shannon discussed partnering with Hill for the project. 

“Because we have a shared love of the river, a shared love of life on the water, and seeing that love extend across generations is just really exciting to me,” Bass said.

Shannon says it’s exciting being a partner in the collaborative project while discussing Hill’s innovative approach to growing oysters.

“…she is using a more innovative approach to growing oysters on her lease that really puts her destiny in her control – when she can harvest the oysters, how often she’s out there taking care of them,” Shannon said. “So we helped to build cages that will be underwater, growing oysters for her commercial purposes, but they’ll also be filtering the water and providing ecological benefits as they grow out to market size.”

Hill says the program will continue as an ongoing collaboration. She hopes it is a means of showing what over 400 years of culture and heritage have offered to the ecosystem and overall livelihoods.

“I am a seventh generation of watermens and as an oyster harvester, it has been a tremendous way of sustainability for our environment and for our livelihood,” Hill said. “So, this is what I am hoping will come out of this, is one: sustainability and foremost, education. And especially to our youth, and to us all, right?”