Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration

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Oyster tanks

Disease, habitat loss, overharvesting, and poor water quality have left the Chesapeake Bay’s iconic wild oysters in a dismal state, at just 0.3 percent of their teeming population in the early 1800s, according to a 2011 research study by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Maryland Sea Grant Extension works with partners to bring oysters back to the Bay by using aquaculture to grow oysters for food and restoration. Our programs:

  • Provide seed for oyster aquaculture and restoration of wild oysters
  • Offer technical advice about aquaculture methods, business financing, and public policy
  • Support public education

We offer assistance and information to prospective oyster producers, business owners, commercial harvesters, resource managers, students, and educators.

Increasing the Chesapeake’s oyster populations is a high priority in Maryland. Oysters' ability to filter vast amounts of water improves water quality. Oyster reefs also provide habitat for a variety of fish, benefitting the entire ecosystem.

However, restoring self-sustaining populations of wild oysters to a significant level may prove difficult because of ecological, economic, and cultural hurdles. For example, generations of Chesapeake watermen have harvested wild oysters from grounds scattered around the Bay. Encouraging the remaining watermen to embrace aquaculture—oyster farming at fixed locations—is a challenging proposition because this business requires a different set of skills and substantial start-up costs.

There are no easy fixes to these challenges. Maryland Sea Grant Extension plays an important role in promoting progress in collaboration with federal and state agencies, other university programs, and nongovernmental organizations. Our key efforts are listed below.

Oyster Hatchery

Our Maryland Sea Grant Extension aquaculture specialist, works in cooperation with many partners to operate the Horn Point Oyster Hatchery, which cultivates young oysters for aquaculture and restoration projects. In 2017, the hatchery produced more than 1.7 billion oyster spat (young oysters that are attached to a larger oyster shell), a record. The hatchery works with its partners to distribute oysters for commercial aquaculture and to build up oyster reefs in the Bay.

Learn more about these projects on the hatchery's website.

Assistance for Aquaculture Businesses

Maryland Sea Grant Extension helps individuals and companies obtain financing and technical know-how to start aquaculture businesses in the Bay. An Extension specialist helps entrepreneurs to apply for low-interest loans from the state of Maryland. This program is targeted for watermen who want to transition from harvesting wild oysters to growing them through aquaculture; the money helps them to buy equipment.

Our resources include a spreadsheet and instruction booklet about remote setting, a technique for producing oyster seed from larvae. These materials help operators to evaluate costs and feasibility.

Learn more about resources from Extension personnel, including Aquaculture Business Specialist Matt Parker.

Maryland Sea Grant Extension also offers oyster hatchery short courses for those interested in working in a hatchery or in starting their own hatchery. In addition, Extension sponsors day-long shellfish conferences with other partners to provide detailed up-to-date information about starting and running an aquaculture business. Brochures and highlights from past conferences are included below. To find out about future courses and conferences, contact Eastern Shore Agent Don Webster.

Advising Policy Makers about Aquaculture

Maryland Sea Grant Extension Eastern Shore Agent Don Webster has played a vital role in working to promote major changes in state policies that allowed significant expansion of shellfish aquaculture throughout the Chesapeake Bay. The legislation expanded the area of the Chesapeake Bay that can be leased for oyster harvesting and the categories of eligible lease holders. Learn more.

Oyster Gardening

Read about local programs in oyster gardening. That’s where volunteers grow young oysters in cages suspended off docks and later donate them for use in oyster-reef restoration. Jackie Takacs, an Extension watershed specialist, assists with oyster gardening projects in Southern Maryland.

Events

Maryland Sea Grant has held several workshops to engage with and support the aquaculture industry:

For More Information

Featured Videos About Oysters

Original productions by Maryland Sea Grant:

  • Who Killed Crassostrea virginica—The Fall & Rise of Chesapeake Bay Oysters. (One-hour documentary.) The Chesapeake was once home to the richest oyster grounds in the world. Who killed the Bay's native oysters? This award-winning, hour-long documentary sets out to answer that question. The film details both the poignant destruction of a fabled fishery and the prolonged scientific inquiry into the origins of a killer parasite. Purchase the DVD from our Bookstore. Watch the trailer for the film here:

 

  • Rebuilding the Bay’s Reefs. (Video short.) At the University of Maryland's Horn Point Hatchery, Don Meritt turns out seed oysters full of oyster spat (baby oysters), and Charlie Frentz of the Oyster Recovery Partnership plants them in the Chesapeake Bay.  Watch the video here:
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