Fishermen, aquaculturists and water quality activists will gather for a night at the movies – and some oysters on the half shell – at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center on Sunday, March 3 for a screening of the new documentary A Passion for Oysters.

The film, produced by Vineyard Haven resident Sandy Cannon-Brown, will be screened ahead of a panel discussion including Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group executive director Emma Green-Beach, former director Rick Karney, retired Edgartown shellfish constable Paul Bagnall and The Nature Conservancy’s Massachusetts coastal program director Steve Kirk.

A local oyster raw bar, included in the ticket price, will follow the discussion.

The event, sponsored by Tisbury Waterways, Inc., starts at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 3. Tickets go for $20 and are available at mvfilmsociety.com.

“The oyster is just an amazing little creature,” said Ms. Cannon-Brown, who has been visiting the Vineyard since 1985 and moved here full time in 2020.

“It’s ugly, it looks like a rock, it’s totally stationary, it doesn’t move around, it doesn’t do anything. But yet, it’s been a subject of actual big wars since the 1800s,” she said.

Ms. Cannon-Brown, who lived near the Chesapeake Bay before making the move to the Vineyard, said the oyster fishery is an economic engine for many Maryland fishermen, even as fishery stocks have declined.

“In Maryland, particularly, it’s a main source of income for a lot of people. So, people love to eat it, but also it provides great economic and environmental value,” she said.

Writer Tom Horton and photographer Dave Harp collaborated with Ms. Cannon-Brown on the film.

In comparison to the Vineyard fishery, she said, Chesapeake Bay has a much-larger wild commercial fishery, whereas aquaculture has only recently taken a foothold down south. Maryland is also ahead of the northeast on restoration efforts, she said.

“Millions, if not billions, of dollars are being spent on restoring the oyster reefs down there,” she said.

The documentary and discussion, she said, will be an opportunity for Islanders to learn and compare another prominent maritime community.

“I think it will be a fun event: you get to eat oysters, see a film and hear from some of the experts on the Island,” she said.