Where Have All The Oysters Gone?

Summit Says Money, Enforcement Needed

Restoring the oyster habitat in the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay will require increased enforcement by the state and an infusion of public and private funds, all of which could be difficult, given Maryland's financial crunch, watermen, scientists and political leaders agreed at a summit Friday.

The 2008 State of the River Summit at the Calvert Marine Museum in Solomons opened the weekend's Patuxent River Appreciation Days and was an introduction to this week's release of a multi-agency environmental impact statement regarding the use of native and nonnative oysters to replenish the Chesapeake Bay.

"We all know the oyster is in pretty deep trouble," said the event's moderator, Jack Greer of the Maryland Sea Grant College.

In the mid-1800s, an average of 15 million bushels of oysters were caught annually in Maryland waters, said George R. Abbe, who has been studying oysters and crabs in the Patuxent River for 40 years. The yearly harvest declined to 2.5 million bushels between 1935 and 1985, he said. It dropped to below 1 million bushels in the late 1980s, when oysters began being wiped out by disease. "We never recovered from that," said Abbe, a biologist with Morgan State University's Estuarine Research Center in St. Leonard.

Since 2001, about 108 million oyster larvae, or spat, have been planted in sanctuaries, reserves and harvest bars in the bay area, Abbe said. Some of them disappear, leaving Abbe to assume they are being illegally harvested.

"We have this problem of need for enforcement, but at the same time there are cuts in state staff," Greer said.

Eric Schwaab, deputy secretary of Maryland's Department of Natural Resources, agreed.

"For one thing, there is less money all around," Schwaab said. "I think you are going to see, over time, a focus of public dollars more on the restoration side of the equation. And then you are going to see a greater dependence on private investment to support the business side of the oyster world."

Schwaab said a state commission is looking into loosening laws related to aquaculture, making the growing "oyster ranching" business easier, among other things.

The Oyster Advisory Commission is reviewing economic and ecological solutions to help the oyster that it will present to the governor and next year's General Assembly. The commission will incorporate the broader environmental effects presented by the Army Corps of Engineers, Virginia and Maryland agencies, and fisheries commissions for a final report to be completed by December.

The debate to introduce Asian oysters, which are resistant to the diseases in the river and bay, led to the upcoming draft environmental study from federal, state and industry officials. The study, which will be available for public comment at the end of the week, explores eight scenarios to resolve some of the oyster habitat's problems.

The panel of experts agreed that improving water quality in the Patuxent River and the Chesapeake Bay is vital to bringing back the oyster.

"I think, through our efforts and perseverance, we'll be able to convince people that cleaning up the bay is a top priority," said Bernie Fowler, a former state senator and an advocate for the Patuxent.