Celebrating Steps to Rebuild Chesapeake Bay Oyster Populations during Earth Day
Mark Bryer, Chesapeake Bay Program Director, The Nature Conservancy
This Earth Day, The Nature Conservancy is celebrating steps made to rebuild Chesapeake Bay oyster populations and urges both states to continue their commitments to the economic, environmental and cultural driver of our region. Maryland and Virginia may be charting different courses to a healthier Chesapeake Bay oyster population. While both state’s plans show promise, environmental groups urge continued investments for the watermen, the economy and the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
Maryland is balancing oyster sanctuaries, which provide habitat for crabs and rockfish, with areas for aquaculture and wild harvest. Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D) noted that the state’s recent oyster survey showed the highest survival rate since 1985 at 92 percent, a sign that “our continued commitment to renewing this iconic species has begun to pay off.”
Virginia has also invested in sanctuaries, but has made additional investments in aquaculture, allowing some harvest in their sanctuaries on a multi-year rolling process. Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) in a statement last month said that Virginia’s oysters are “delicious,” “profitable,” and “hitting tables across the nation and the world on the half-shell, fried, steamed, roasted in a stew.”
More than 16 million people now live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, with numbers expected to reach near 20 million by 2030. The investments we make today in protecting the healthy areas and restoring the degraded ones will ensure that the Chesapeake Bay and its watershed produce clean water and abundant fisheries to meet the needs of people and nature.
The Nature Conservancy wants to remind listeners this Earth Day that protecting the waters that run into the Chesapeake are vital. The organization advocates traditional land conservation but over the past 10 years, it has also been working to protect the habitat under the water by planting tens of millions of oysters creating homes for crabs and rockfish and other life in the Chesapeake.
As the weather gets warmer and people plan their sailing trips around the bay, kayaking it’s tributaries, fishing for rockfish or enjoying local crabs and oysters, remember to give thanks for the investments Maryland and Virginia have made and support efforts to protect and restore the bay. Another way to help is by supporting the Nature Conservancy and Team Nature in the GW Parkway Classic 10 miler on Earth Day, raising money for the bay and natural treasures around the world.