THANK YOU!! Your efforts put the Save Our Bay Scallops campaign over goal. Stay tuned for future updates on the project as VIMS puts these funds to work!
The Save Our Bay Scallops campaign is raising money in order to purchase and then seed thousands of juvenile bay scallops into the seaside bays of Virginia’s Eastern Shore with the goal of giving this species, locally extinct since the ‘30s, its best chance for revival. The recent wildly successful project to restore seagrasses in those bays, and thereby revive the bay scallops’ natural habitat, has made this project truly viable.
Bay scallops were once incredibly abundant in Virginia until eelgrass, the habitat it needed to survive, disappeared completely by 1933. With the disappearance of eelgrass, the bay scallops vanished shortly thereafter, and have not been seen here since.
Through Tribefunding, everyone has an opportunity to be a part of the bay scallop’s success. Professor of Marine Science at VIMS, Dr. Robert Orth, and his group of students and scientists have successfully restored seagrass in the waters of Virginia’s Eastern Shore seaside bays, which has resulted in one of the world’s largest, and most successful seagrass restoration programs, with almost 6,200 acres of seagrass present today. This restored seagrass habitat is absolutely essential for bay scallops to survive, since young scallops live on the grass blades and adults hide under the canopy.
Here’s where you come in!
One hundred percent of the money raised from this effort will be used to buy the bay scallop juveniles that will be introduced into the eelgrass. So the more money we raise, the more scallops we can buy and the better our chances for success.
Please share information about our effort with your friends, neighbors, and colleagues. All donations will be critical to building success for this campaign to re-vitalize our local Bay scallop population. And who wouldn’t like to be part of that?
Goal Not Met: Fewer juvenile scallops will be purchased.
Goal Exceeded: More juvenile scallops will be purchased.
Department: Biological Sciences
Advisor: Dr. Robert J. Orth
Fund held by the VIMS Foundation
Thanks to you, the VIMS Save Our Bay Scallops campaign met its goal last night just before the midnight deadline. You and 144 other generous donors gave a total of $20,115 to push us over the $20,000 goal. On behalf of Dr. Orth and the entire VIMS team, thank you for believing in the value of this project, making donations, sharing our story with friends and family, following our progress, liking us on Facebook, and cheering us on. We will keep you in the loop as the effort to seed the baby bay scallops into the seagrasses moves forward. You are all part of the VIMS bay scallop family now!
The Save Our Bay Scallops campaign ends tomorrow, and the scallops are advocating on their own behalf!
Good morning, bay scallop supporters!
With only five days and about $2,000 to go in our funding campaign, Dr. Orth offers some thoughts on the bay scallop effort.
We are close to our goal in the Save Our Bay Scallops campaign and dreaming of baby bay scallops! As of today, 84% of the goal has been met. Will you help move Save Our Bay Scallops to 100% by sharing this video with a friend? Listen to research technician Corey Holbert talk about his interest in the project. We hope his enthusiasm is contagious!
2847 days ago by Lorie GomezCasey MacLean, an undergraduate student at W&M, joined Dr. Orth in the field last summer helping to restore seagrass - the bay scallop's natural habitat. She shares what the experience meant to her in this recent video for VIMS.
Thanks to you, the Save Our Bay Scallops campaign reached the half-way mark over the weekend. There is still a ways to go, so please consider using the advocate tab to generate a personal link to send to your friends, then track how many clicks and dollars you generate!
There was an interesting article in the local Daily Press newspaper on Sunday about VIMS' efforts to bring back bay scallops. Here's a link if you want to give it a read.
Have you seen the new incentive for the Save Our Bay Scallops campaign? Anyone who donates $100 or more before May 10 will receive an invitation to a private tour of VIMS and a discussion with bay scallops project lead Dr. Robert Orth. You will have the opportunity to see bay scallops firsthand and learn more about the habitat restoration that has made this bay scallop revival possible.
2859 days ago by Lorie GomezWe are excited to let you know that all of Cliff Cutchins’ challenge money was matched over the weekend, and the campaign total hit the one-quarter mark on the way to our $20,000 goal. But there is more good news! There is a brand-new challenge, and this one is from our Foundation Board president, Steve Johnsen, from Virginia's Eastern Shore. Now we are working hard to bring in money to meet his dollar-for-dollar match up to $5,000. Please revisit the website to keep up with how the effort is going and share the information with anyone you think would be excited about restoring bay scallops in Virginia.
Did you see the great video from VIMS grad student AJ Johnson?
Dear Friend of Bay Scallops,
Thank you for your support of the Save Our Bay Scallops campaign at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science! We still have $495 in matching money from one of our generous supporters, and we hope you will help us get the word out. Please share information about the campaign with your friends and colleagues and help us reach these matching dollars.
Thanks again for getting us off to a great start!
JJ Orth
VIMS
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