While summer’s ocean-based tales of renegade sharks and breaching whales dazzle and fascinate, oyster restoration projects around the world should not be far behind. On those very same sunny days, champions of these humble but ecologically critical bivalves promote their goals of planting and propagating hundreds of thousands, millions or billions of oysters. One of the biggest stories is found in the largest estuary in the United States, where over ten years, environmentalists have worked to reverse a historic ecological decline and introduce ten billion new oysters by 2025.
Workboats form a procession as they depart from their berths on Deep Creek in Newport News, Virginia, for … [+]
Multiple coalitions of Chesapeake Bay champions set their sights on the number as early as 2014. And now, the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance, a coalition brought together by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) claims a grand total of at least six billion oysters sea have been produced more in the Gulf and its tributaries since 2017.
Pearls are important because they are a keystone species, critical for filtering and oxygenating the water in which they live. When found on reefs, they provide shelter for complex life chains and can create an environment for various aquatic life to grow and flourish.
Poor little pearl
As a food, not everyone likes them, but often those who do see them as part of the luxurious summer days under Cinzano beach umbrellas, lazy eating oysters, which like wine, are meant to be enjoyed and they run away very quickly. Fresh oysters, fresh wines and cocktails are considered iconic holiday fare, but those special oysters are almost always from specially created commercial aquaculture operations.
A glass of white wine and white plate with fresh oysters, slices of lemon by the sea. Luxury living and food … [+]
Many people don’t know that in reality, summer is the least desirable time to eat wild-raised oysters. In nature during these months, they are engaged in the hard work of reproduction and do not have the meat volume and flavors that oysters eventually acquire when autumn begins and these hardworking little creatures are set to rest and restore. It is an axiom of connoisseurs that, in cool climates, wild oysters should only be consumed in the “r” months, meaning September through April. In the warmer Mid-Atlantic region, April may already be a little late for wild oysters.
“Patricia Campbell”
Oyster Restoration Boat “Patricia Campbell”, owned and operated by Chesapeake Bay … [+]
However, summer is a favorable period to assess oyster populations and aquatic environments and to position oysters for growth and reef building. So I came up with the Patricia Campbell, a 60-foot by 19-foot boat commissioned by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation through the greatness of the Campbell Foundation and CBF administrator Keith Campbell. “Spiffy” isn’t an official boat term, but you’ll call it that yourself if you can see “Patricia Campbell,” named after Campbell’s wife. Completed in 2002 by Midship Marine in Harvey, Louisiana, the all-welded aluminum construction vessel is equipped with contemporary technology, while the rudimentary design is based on Virginia oyster farms. However, this boat’s cargo goes in the opposite direction of those farming boats, as the crew sends oyster shells and other materials back into the water to develop and add sea reefs.
Capt. Karl Willey, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Maryland oyster restoration program manager … [+]
Capt. Karl Willey, program manager for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s oyster restoration program in Maryland, has been committed to the cause of Bay restoration for more than two decades. Willey makes about a dozen trips a year on this vessel. “The Bay is getting better and better. Every year it gets much better. It’s like a scholarship,” he says. “It goes up and down due to environmental pressures, but everyone is doing the best they can to get the bay back in shape. We stock millions of oysters every year to help save the Gulf.”
Rock balls
About 25% of the standing reefs in the Chesapeake Bay are sanctuaries where harvesting is prohibited. During the summer and late fall, at strategic locations on the tributaries, he and his crew erect on the tributaries giant balls of rock that are placed in a tank of “baby” or “spit” oysters. In late July, Willey’s team set out on the St. Mary’s in southern Maryland 150 rockballs set with juvenile oysters. It is part of a plan to add a total of 600 reef balls to the river. St Mary’s is one of eleven bays targeted for full oyster habitat restoration by 2025. You could mistake one of these concrete balls for a meteorite. Designed and created by CBF and the Coastal Conservation Society, they are perforated with holes that allow small juvenile oysters to climb, access food from the water and grow, while staying well above the muddy bottom of the water. to avoid drowning in mud.
Kellie Fiala, oyster restoration coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Maryland, prepares a riser for her … [+]
CBF Maryland Coastal Resources Scientist Julie Luecke says the hard-clad design is also meant to fortify shorelines against erosion in a period of climate change and the intense weather that accompanies it. “The reef balls we are putting in place allow reefs to weather some of the challenges of climate change, ensuring that reefs are sustainable. We often put them on the coast to mitigate sea level rise and prevent erosion,” Luecke explains. “Sea reefs grow over time. Those oysters that exist on these reef balls will eventually be home to new oysters, either spawning right there or coming down the river from other reefs, and this allows the reef to grow over time. We’re hoping that this will be consistent with sea level rise, so that we have this physical structure that will grow as sea levels rise.”
Restoration goals
Map section of Natural Oyster Lands in Maryland (Photo by: Universal History Archive/Universal … [+]
The Chesapeake Bay is a 64,000-square-mile watershed that spans parts of Delaware, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. In 2014, these states and the federal government became partners in a multi-pronged ten-year plan in which oysters play an important role. Stephanie Westby of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says the goals of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Ten-Year Restoration Program are already within reach by 2025. “We are on track to build more than 1,800 acres of reef sea. This is considered the largest oyster restoration project globally,” says Westby. “I am incredibly excited about the amount of high-quality oyster habitat that we have been able to bring to life collectively through the agreement. of 2014.”
The effort to restore the once bountiful oyster bay is massive and involves players from every sector. “No one can do this alone, it absolutely has to be everyone working together – states, federal agencies, local communities, academics, nonprofits. We’ve also hired watermen – who are rich in local knowledge – and their own boats for reef planting and monitoring,” says Westby.
Ultimately, the big players agree that the results of improved water quality and stronger fish habitat are worth the year-round human planning and lifetime investment of the eternal oyster.