John Consoli stands on the edge of his pier, which juts out from the southern tip of Maryland’s Kent Island and into the Chesapeake Bay. He leans over and hoists a mesh the size and shape of a pillowcase out of the water.
It’s packed with oysters. He manages to get it onto the pier. “These are brand new oysters from this year,” he says. “When I got them, they weighed nothing. And this is just three months of growth. The net is chock full, I can hardly pull it up.”
Once he gets his breath back, Consoli marvels at these molluscs. “I think I’m more enthusiastic about something that’s like a rock than anybody else could possibly be,” he says with a big grin. “I really can’t think of many more creatures that do the good that oysters do.”…