A new stock assessment by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science at Cambridge shows the state’s oyster population has more than tripled since 2005.
Oysters are officially back in the Chesapeake, according to the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science at Cambridge and the state Department of Natural Resources.
A new stock assessment shows Maryland’s oyster population has more than tripled since 2005, rising from 2.4 billion to 7.6 billion, a 217 percent increase.
In what’s becoming one of the Bay’s greatest restoration success stories, the revival stems from a mix of targeted restoration projects, favorable environmental conditions, and improved fisheries management.
Long considered a keystone species, oysters play an essential, multifaceted role in the Bay’s ecosystem, filtering water, providing habitat for other marine life, and sustaining the seafood industry.
“This is a reason to celebrate,” Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz said in a September 4 message. “It shows us that restoration works, and that oysters can thrive again in the Chesapeake Bay.”
The comeback can be seen most clearly in the Bay’s five large oyster sanctuaries. The population in Harris Creek has grown fivefold since 2010, from 40 million adults to more than 200 million.
In the Little Choptank, numbers climbed from about 100 million adults to an estimated 500 million. Similar gains are reported in the Tred Avon, Manokin, and other sanctuaries.
These sanctuaries are permanently closed to commercial harvest except for aquaculture leases and are designed to boost spawning stocks and foster natural disease resistance, ensuring long-term ecological benefits. Efforts like planting of hatchery-raised spat and the creation of new reefs have also rebuilt critical habitat.
The gains are economic as well as ecological. The dockside value of all Maryland harvests averaged $3.5 million a year before restoration began. In the past five years, that figure has jumped to an average of $18 million annually.
“A few short years ago many people thought the cultural staple of Maryland oysters might not see another generation,” Kurtz added. “We’re not quite back to that mythical time when oysters were piled so high that boats ran aground on their reefs. [But] we are in a far better place than 2005.”
When the oyster season opens in October, scientists will launch the annual fall survey to measure the health and reproduction levels of the population. The past five years have all seen above-average reproduction, and researchers are confident that the recovery has momentum.
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