The Annapolis Seafood Market has teamed up with the Oyster Recovery Partnership to collect used oyster shells from its customers in an effort to help revitalize the Chesapeake Bay.

According to a story on TheBayNet.com, the local restaurant will be collecting the shells and delivering them to the Horn Point Oyster Hatchery near Cambridge, MD.

It's easy to participate in the Annapolis Seafood Market effort—just return your shells to the market with locations in Annapolis, Edgewater and Severna Park.

The seafood market joins nearly 100 restaurants and catering companies currently participating in the program, according to the story.

The shells are used to grow new oysters, similar to a program run through the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The spat is grown in a controlled environment on the recycled oysters and once they mature enough, the shells with the baby oysters are then placed on reefs in the bay.

The idea is for the oysters to continue to grow and help filter and clean the water as they naturally do along the way. One problem is that the plan requires a large number of oysters.

The foundation's Oyster Gardener Program works with volunteers around the area to grow spat—baby oysters—wherever they have access to water, then add them to a growing reef in the bay.