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The Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) is the nonprofit expert in Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration. We’re restoring the Bay’s native oyster population by building sanctuary reefs, rebuilding public fishery reefs, supporting the aquaculture (oyster farming) industry, recycling oyster shell, and getting the public involved through hands-on volunteering and events. Since our founding in 1994, and with the support of major partners like the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Horn Point Lab, ORP has planted more than 10 billion oysters on 3,000 acres of reef and recycled more than 260,000 bushels of shell!
ORP is also home to the Shell Recycling Alliance, the nation’s largest shell recycling network, annually recycling 36,000 bushels of oyster shell from a network of 200+ restaurants and 70 public drop sites in the mid-Atlantic region.