I couldn’t believe my ears. Washington, D.C., radio station WTOP reports that CSX Transportation has shot from 0 to 100 percent market share in a product vital to the enjoyments of foodies like me: oyster shells. It seems that nearby Chesapeake Bay’s oyster population has gone into sharp decline because of overfishing and disease. Meanwhile, the beds of shells that oyster larva attach to in the early weeks of life have been covered over by silt.
To the rescue, CSX. In a partnership with the National Fish & Wildlife Foundation, the railroad giant hauled 112,500 tons of oyster shells from a quarry in Florida to Maryland, where they will be distributed in a 377-acre sanctuary in the bay in what is being called the region’s biggest oyster restoration project ever. CSX, the radio station reports, provided the transportation at cost.
The idea is that the shells will spawn a greater oyster population that will expand into a full-bore oyster bed. Ultimately, we lovers of oysters will be the beneficiaries.
Okay, shoot me, but I tend to think of CSX as a somewhat soulless company that has become increasingly successful financially and operationally but also a company that looks out only for itself.
Well, I recant. Hats off to CSX for this humanitarian project. By that, I mean that oysters on the half shell are the perfect accompaniment to a Ketal One martini. What could be more humanitarian than to help continue this ageless tradition? — Fred W. Frailey
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