For the benefit of the reporter and the photographer, Oystermen Ben Parks and Ben Parks, II, dredge a collection of oysters from one of the managed oyster reserves. Dredging is not allowed in this area, but the elder Ben Parks has a scientific collection permit which allows him to use the somewhat controversial harvesting tool.

Nutrient pollution, which mostly comes from agricultural runoff, specifically animal waste, invigorates the algae population in the Chesapeake waterways. The life and death cycle of the overabundant slimy green organisms hordes the oxygen from the Bay's cash crops: crabs, fish, and oysters. In the summertime, the algae's population explodes causing water-choking blooms and subsequent dead zones, where little to no aquatic life lives. Waterman, like Ben Parks, and his son, also named Ben Parks, both oystermen, have been blamed for over-harvesting the Bay, but the loss of sea life in the Chesapeake seemingly has more to do with water pollution.