47 ABC quotes Johnny urging oyster purchases to back Bay watermen
Original headline: "Maryland Senator Urges Oyster Purchases"
What you need to know
When oyster sales drop off after the holidays, Eastern Shore watermen are the ones who feel it first. The boats stay tied up. The picking houses slow down. The paycheck thins out right when the heating bill is hitting hardest.
Johnny used his platform to do something concrete about it — he called on Marylanders, and especially Western Shore shoppers, to buy Chesapeake Bay wild-caught oysters. Not Gulf oysters. Not imports. Maryland oysters, pulled by Maryland watermen, out of the Bay these families have worked for generations.
There’s a virtuous loop on the Shore that Annapolis still doesn’t fully understand: when you buy local oysters, watermen stay on the water. When watermen stay on the water, the oyster beds keep getting worked, and the Bay stays healthier. Johnny is right — it’s the greatest thing we’ve got going. And it depends on actual purchases at actual dinner tables.
Verbatim excerpt
Right now, people aren't buying oysters. People should go out and buy oysters for Christmas, not only because they taste good and are good for you, but because it keeps watermen out there working these oyster beds and protecting the bay. It's the greatest thing that we got going.
Read the original
This is a summary published with attribution. Read the full article at 47 ABC (WMDT) (Brian Roche), originally published December 4, 2025.
Read at 47 ABC (WMDT)Share with a neighbor