Oysters SOAR by A.M. Foley
termen and aquaculturists a large percentage of their customers. After decades of lying dormant, oyster culture had been expanding rapidly in recent years, a trend brought to a screeching halt when the pandemic suddenly struck the restaurant industry in March 2020. Normally, restaurants account for an estimated 70 percent of overall seafood consumption. In the particular case of oysters, as high as 95 percent are consumed away from home. Apparently, home cooks are leery of having to shuck oysters, perhaps unaware of the fact that one minute or less in a microwave oven will open an oys-
A new program called SOAR is offering relief from a COVID19-related problem menacing some Chesapeake Bay watermen. Noninfectious effects from COVID-19 are so widespread they threaten oyster beds under Chesapeake Bay, not with the virus but with fatal ripple effects. Oysters are immune to COVID-19, but the pandemic is impacting raw bars and seafood restaurants, along with their suppliers and staying-at-home patrons. The necessity of shelterin-place directives and limited restaurant service has resulted in business closures or drastically limited dining service, costing oys-
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