House Committee Passes Disastrous Bill for Oyster Reefs and Chesapeake Bay Restoration

Provisions in the Bill Would Strip Funding and Allow Harvest on Restored Oyster Reefs

In a potentially devastating blow for protected Chesapeake Bay oyster reefs, the House Appropriations Committee today passed a funding bill for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that excludes protections and funds for oyster restoration in the Bay. The bill passed Committee 32-28 and will head to the House floor in the coming weeks.

Two harmful provisions in this bill (Sec. 586 and 587) would allow commercial fishing on protected oyster reefs and cut off restoration funds for oyster sanctuaries most in need of investment. Oyster sanctuaries in the Chesapeake Bay provide immense ecologic and economic benefits, and have received strong private, state, and federal investments under the promise that they will remain protected from harvest. These bill provisions completely undermine that promise and would be a huge setback in the region’s nonpartisan efforts to clean the Chesapeake Bay.

Oyster restoration has been one of the Bay’s greatest success stories. In fact, Maryland recently celebrated its highest year of oyster reproduction in decades. Since oyster sanctuaries were put in place, Maryland oyster harvests have rebounded to levels not seen since the 1980s.

Protected oyster reefs filter the water and create habitat for crabs and fish. They also support oyster harvest areas by producing baby oysters that spread and populate other reefs. But any harvest activity on protected reefs would severely damage those benefits. A recent study by Wade et al determined that harvesting oysters via dredging damages oyster habitat and fails to help oysters naturally reproduce in the Bay. Harvest prevents oysters from creating complex reef habitat, developing disease resistance to oyster pathogens, and limits oyster productivity by removing the largest oysters from the reef.

Despite proven success of oyster restoration, the first bill provision would restrict oyster restoration funds to only be used “if oysters planted using such funds are made eligible for managed commercial harvest by licensed watermen after a period of three years from the date of planting.”

The second would prevent funds to be spent “at any site that has been designated as underperforming for five or more years following initial federal investment.” While there is no clear definition of “underperforming,” this provision would block additional restoration funds for oyster reefs that may be struggling or that received less initial investment. These federal proposals mirror troublesome efforts at the state-level in Maryland to allow commercial harvest on protected sanctuary reefs.

Oysters are not the only resource taking a hit in this bill. NOAA’s Bay Watershed Education and Training (B-WET) environmental education grant program is funded at $7.7 million — down $1 million from last year. NOAA Fisheries’ habitat conservation and restoration work (nationwide) is funded at $35 million — down from $57 million from last year.

These proposed cuts would be detrimental to conservation and restoration work and research that helps protect native species like oysters, blue crabs, and striped bass; improves climate resilience in the region; and funds hands-on environmental education of the next generation of Bay stewards.

Chesapeake Bay Foundation Senior Policy Director Keisha Sedlacek issued the following statement: 

“This bill is a fast track to wrecking protected oyster reefs in the Bay. These provisions would derail decades of investment in the Chesapeake Bay’s thriving oyster sanctuaries, ignoring the promise that these reefs would be kept off-limits to harvest.

“It’s no coincidence that Maryland’s oyster population has tripled in the past few decades. Oyster restoration is working, and NOAA’s leadership in that effort is instrumental.

“We urge the House to reject these devasting provisions for oyster restoration. And we urge the Senate to stand firm for oysters in the Chesapeake Bay. This would be a horrific blow to decades of successful restoration and bi-partisan partnership.”