In 2011, the Phillips Wharf Environmental Center joined the larger, state run Marylanders Grow Oysters program in their efforts to help restore wild oyster populations. Thus began the Tilghman Islanders Grow Oysters program. 

With the support of the Marylanders Grow Oysters program and the Oyster Recovery Partnership, juvenile oysters, known as spat on shell, are provided to Phillips Wharf to distribute to volunteer growers. Volunteers sign up to host these juvenile oysters by hanging them from their docks in cages for approximately 9 months. During this time, the volunteer growers are expected to occasionally shake the cages to help keep the oysters clean of any dirt and other debris.

At the end of the program, the cages are collected and the juvenile oysters are planted on wild oyster reefs. Specifically, the TIGO program has planted oysters in the Harris Creek Sanctuary since its inception as 2011 was also the beginning of the oyster restoration project in Harris Creek called for in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.

Since we began the Tilghman Islanders Grow Oysters program, we have planted over 780,000 juvenile oysters, supplementing the 2.9 billion spat on shell planted by the state at a total cost of $29 million since 2011. Since 2002, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources has observed a general trend of increasing oyster populations in Harris Creek and the Choptank River, suggesting that restoration efforts are working.