On Monday night, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released part of its first-ever state oyster stock assessment—a requirement of legislation we fought for roughly two years ago to better understand how many oysters were in Maryland waters and how to more sustainably manage the public oyster fishery.
Monday's presentation confirmed some of our greatest fears about the Bay's oyster population. The results found that Maryland's oyster population declined by more than half from around 600 million market size oysters in 1999 to less than 300 million in early 2018.
These figures represent just a fraction of the historic oyster population in the Bay. What's more, the assessment also indicated that harvesting is occurring beyond sustainable levels in more than 50 percent of Maryland waters.
While our scientists are still reading through the 359-page technical report that DNR just released to the public, one thing is clear: The state needs to develop a fishery management plan that protects existing and restored oyster reefs. Also, it needs to implement management actions not just to maximize harvest but to grow the Bay's oyster population. We look forward to working with DNR through an open and transparent process to do so. And we will keep you posted on ways you can help, too.
As you know, a healthy oyster population is critical to a healthy Bay.
What DNR's recent oyster stock assessment reveals about one of the Bay's most important animals
Recent Posts
- Save the Bay News: How You Can Save the Bay (And the Planet)
- In Hot Water
- The Environment and Public Health: Connecting the Dots
- Nature Journaling: Return of the Fish Hawks
- Save the Bay, Save the Planet
- Where Solar Arrays Shouldn't Go Is as Critical as Where They Do Go
- 7 Reasons Spring Is Awesome
- Save the Bay News: Saving Fish and Fisheries
- Teachers Know the Value of Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s Environmental Education
- Global Pandemic or Not, We Won’t Stop Putting Oysters in the Bay
Categories
- Anglers for Clean Water Stories
- Clean Water Stories
- Community
- Earth Day
- Events
- Farmer Success Stories
- Fishing
- Fox Island Farewell
- Fun
- Fundraising
- Learn Outside
- Locally Grown
- Nature Journaling
- Photo of the Week
- Politics
- Slowing the Flow
- State of the Bay
- Student Leadership
- This Month in the Watershed
- This Month on the Bay
- Voices for Clean Water
- Volunteers
- Water Quality
- Watershed Watchdogs
- What's Bill Seeing in the Field?
DISCLAIMER
PLEASE READ OUR TERMS OF USE
The views and opinions expressed in the media, articles or comments on this site are those of the speakers or authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions held by CBF and the inclusion of such information does not imply endorsement by CBF. CBF is not responsible for the contents of any linked Web, or any link contained in a linked Web site, or any changes or updates to such Web sites. The inclusion of any link or comment is provided only for information purposes. CBF reserves the right to edit or remove any comments and material posted to this website and to ban users from the site without notice. Partisan, pornographic or other inappropriate content, product or service promotion, foul language or bad behavior is expressly forbidden and will be removed.