Named in honor of Broddus and Margaret Ann Jones by a generous donation from David “Skip” Jones and Cynthia Jones and sons and Virginia and Karl Chen and sons in November 2003. As one of the largest oyster hatcheries on the East Coast, the Horn Point Oyster Hatchery produces a variety of oyster larvae for use in oyster research, oyster restoration, and educational projects. Over the past decade, spawning oysters at the Horn Point Lab Oyster Hatchery have resulted in the deployment of over one billion oyster spat to the waters of the Chesapeake Bay in the hopes of slowing the Chesapeake Bay oyster decline and restoring the health of the Bay.
The importance of oyster hatcheries is, of course, due to the importance of oysters and the many benefits of oysters enjoyed by not just watermen and the local economy, but also the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem and it’s tributaries. Oysters are filter feeders and as the “vacuum cleaners” of the Chesapeake Bay a single healthy oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day. Imagine the cleaning power of an entire oyster reef! Not only that, the oyster reefs themselves make a tremendous habitat for other Bay residents. For more compelling oyster facts, see more on the importance of oysters.
