maryland, but today, there are only a handful, and only one year round operation, harris seafood on kenla. >> up until the last 3 years, wesold all our shell to hor point, they used it for their restoration efforts down there. now, in the last 3 years we have ved all our product to private aquaculture farms. they're buying that shell to premium. >> 4 years ago, we wereble to buy all the oyster shell we wanted for the state of maryland for 25 cents a bushel. our costs in that time period have gone from 25 cents a bushel to $2 a bushel. we are in such short supply for oyster shells that as projected now, we will run out of oyster shells in this state in about 3 years, and we'll be forced to shut down the state's oyster hatcheries. >> one of the most valuable commodities that we have right now in the oyster industry is the shell. >> in its natural life cycle, the oyster spends around 3 weeks swimming around and at the very end of that process, actually, develops a little foot, and it at that point in its life stage, will start to drop to the bottom of the bay and look for areas to attach, ty