Bushel after bushel of oysters — nearly 25,500 in all — were planted in a reef in an oyster sanctuary in the St. Mary’s River on Monday.
Three oyster growers that are part of Maryland’s aquaculture industry provided the mollusks.
Amy Jacobs, Chesapeake Bay director with The Nature Conservancy, told WTOP that the story behind the return of oysters to the Bay goes back to the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when growers were unable to sell their oysters as restaurants were closed down.
Under the SOAR, or the Supporting Oyster Aquaculture Restoration program, producers can sell the oysters that otherwise would not be suited for market.
In the case of the mature oysters being planted in the St. Mary’s River on Monday, the oysters were large.
“So they’re not ideal for the restaurant market anymore,” Jacobs said.
But, she said, they’re perfect for the SOAR program. They’re large enough to be appealing as shelter to other forms of aquatic wildlife.
“The structure of the oyster shell itself attracts a lot of other species, such as crabs and small fish and shrimp” that congregate in the waters of the oyster reef.
The oysters, often cited for their ability to filter the waters of the Chesapeake Bay, also enrich the habitat that attracts striped bass.
Another advantage of planting the larger oysters is they’re at a stage of life when they can produce young. Categorized as “diploid” oysters, they could reproduce this summer, boosting the oyster population in the bay.
Jacobs said the SOAR program has been in place since 2021, and by the end of this year, “In Maryland alone, we’ll have about 1.5 million oysters that we’ve planted out onto reefs from local aquaculture growers.”
Jacobs said the restoration is a prime example of the cooperation of environmentalists, state agencies, such as the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and oyster growers, including the Johnny Oyster Seed Company, the Loose Stones Oyster Company and Joseph C. Gardener.
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