Bill Goldsborough/John Page WilliamsCCA/MD Anglers’ Night Out

March 31, 2015

Restoring the “Coral Reefs” of the Chesapeake

“The abundance of oysters is incredible. There are whole banks of them so that the ships must avoid them…” - Francis Louis Michel, 1701

“Chesapiooc”Great Shellfish Bay

Oysters are communal animals

Reef section showing vertical growth(Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 1964)

3-D reefs, “an organizing force for the estuarine system” - Dr. Jerry McCormick-Ray, UVA, 2005

The introduction of the oyster dredge in 1810

Laws prohibiting dredging: VA – 1811MD - 1820

“…well-grounded apprehensions are entertained

of the utter extinction of oysters

in the state.”

Darling Oyster CompanyHampton, Virginia, circa 1900Harper’s Weekly

March 1, 1884

Post-Civil WarLegalization of dredging led to an Oyster Boom and the “Oyster Wars”

“We have wasted our inheritance by improvidence and mismanagement and blind confidence.”- Dr. William Brooks, JHU, 1891

“Today destruction of the oyster’s prime habitat in the Chesapeake, the natural, self-renewing upthrusting oyster reefs, is nearing completion. When they are gone it will have taken somewhat less than two centuries to destroy some 6,000 to 7,000 years of nature’s works.”- Dr. William J. Hargis, VIMS, 1999

Oyster harvest peaked in 1884 and has declined since

2 hrs.

In the 1980s scientists determined: •only 1% of oysters were left in the Bay•oysters are critical to the ecosystem

One oyster can filter 50 gallons per day

Sheepshead:a fish that has been“…extinct in the Chesapeake since about 1900.”

BBA

Typical MD oysterbar with 1 or 2oysters per squaremeter and heavysiltation

Restored bar with >50oysters per sq. meterand oysters outgrowingsiltation:•more than ten times

the # of organisms•more than twenty

times the N-removal

Increasing oyster density from 2/m² (typical density on harvest bars) to 50/m² (target restoration density) increases the fertilization rate tenfold

Restored tributary reef networks designed to maximize spawning and export larvae to other bars

UMD larval transport model simulation

Day 1: restored reefs in Harris Creek spawn

Day 15: larvae have spread miles with the tide

Day 27: bars where spat have attached

“Three-dimensional reefs, standing substantially above the bottom, are essential for oyster reproductive success, for predator protection and to create habitat for other organisms.”- Chesapeake Research Consortium report, 1999

Virginia Marine Resources

Commissionshellpile reefs to restore vertical relief

MD Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI)

HealthySystem

EutrophicSystem

Minimal Nutrient Inputs

Excessive Nutrient Inputs

Water Quality Limitation

Low oxygen in deep water and vertical clearance rules mean only a narrow band of vertical reefs can support oysters

Reef Substrate

“The lack of suitable oyster habitat is the principal impediment to… recovery. As it takes decades to create an oyster bar naturally, engineering replacement habitat with artificial structures… seems to represent a viable alternative.”- Dr. Brian Rothschild, UMD, 1994

Concrete “Reef Balls” for re-creating vertical relief

Cost per reef ball = $182.288 vol. hrs @ $22.55= 180.40

Total = $362.68

over 5 years, 1213 reef balls with 6.8 million spat and 21.9 million spat-on-shell were planted on 8 acres

Cook’s Point Sanctuary,Choptank River, MD

Cook’s Point reef:“…the best fishing hole in the river.”

May 6, 2014Tangier Sound reef ball retrieved and examined after 11 years in the water

www.cbf.org/reefballvideo

3-D reefs as coastal resilience

Final ProgrammaticEnvironmental Impact Statement

for Oyster Restoration in Chesapeake BayIncluding the Use of a Native and/or

Nonnative Oyster

Six-year EIS rejects the Asian oyster & endorses native oyster restoration

President’s Executive Order calls for focused effort to restore self-sustaining networks of reefs.

2009 – a turning point year

Lafayette

Piankatank

Harris Creek

Lynnhaven

Tred Avon

Little Choptank

MD adopts a targeted plan

Harris Creek targeted tributary oyster restoration:user conflicts with alternative material for reefs

“UPDATE: Watermen Protest Md. Oyster Project in Dorchester County”WBOC-TV 16, Delmarva's News Leader – May 01, 2014

Little Choptank River targeted tributary oyster restoration:Dispute over fossil shell

What can you do?

1. Spread the word about oysters to friends and neighbors

2. Share your support for oyster restoration by writing letters to local papers or state officials

3. Volunteer for oyster programs at CBF oyster center in Shady Side

4. Become an oyster gardener5. Help recycle oyster shells

Conclusions3-D oyster reefs, once common in Chesapeake Bay, were a key part of the estuarine system, very much like the coral reefs of the tropicsThe Bay’s 3-D reefs were destroyed historicallyBay users have grown accustomed to a flat Bay, but vertical relief should be part of oyster restorationReef balls are a viable option for 3-D reefs:

Oysters appear to grow better than on the surrounding bottom

Spat-set reef balls provide suitable reef habitat for fish

Questions?For more information, visit

CBF’s Anglers for Clean Water, www.cbf.org/anglers