Oyster reef construction has resumed in the Tred Avon River on Maryland’s Eastern Shore after watermen successfully lobbied for a delay last winter. But how much more restoration work occurs this winter in the contentious oyster sanctuary — and with what material — remains to be seen.
Crews have begun building 8 acres of reefs under a $1 million contract that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers awarded in September to a Florida-based construction firm.
The work, which is expected to take about two weeks, involves placing shell from clam processing plants in New Jersey on the river bottom, according to Angie Sowers, a water resources management specialist with the Corps’ Baltimore District.
The 8-acre job had been planned last winter, but state Natural Resources Secretary Mark Belton asked the Corps to hold off after watermen objected. They complained that a $27 million restoration project in nearby Harris Creek was ineffective, and contended that reefs built there using granite rocks had damaged boats and fishing gear.
Federal officials agreed to postpone work until the Department of Natural Resources completed a review of the state’s oyster reefs, both those open for wild harvest and those in sanctuaries that were placed off-limits in 2010 to watermen. That review, completed in late July, found oysters doing relatively well in most of the sanctuaries, while the overall volume of bivalves in areas regularly harvested has begun to decline.
Afterward, the DNR’s Oyster Advisory Commission recommended resuming the Tred Avon restoration effort, but insisted on reviewing any plans to use material other than oyster shells for reef construction.
As part of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, Maryland and Virginia pledged to conduct large-scale oyster restoration efforts in 10 Bay tributaries, five in each state. The Tred Avon is the third tributary that Maryland has targeted to date. In the first, Harris Creek, 2 billion hatchery-spawned oysters were “planted” atop 350 acres of new or expanded reefs. Work is only partially complete in the Little Choptank River and the Tred Avon.
Sixteen acres of reefs have been restored so far in the Tred Avon, and another 19 acres of existing reefs seeded with hatchery-spawned oysters. Under a plan developed by the Corps, the DNR and other participating entities, a total of 78 acres of reefs are to be built and seeded . Baby oysters also are to be planted on another 69 acres of existing reefs that have few shellfish on them now.
Sowers told the 23-member advisory commission during a meeting in mid-December that in addition to 8 acres now under construction, the Corps has the funds to build another 10 acres of reefs in the Tred Avon this winter. But, she said, some granite stone is needed to supplement a limited supply of shell available from New Jersey. Without the stone, Sowers said, only about 6 acres of additional reefs could be built using clam shell exclusively.
The Corps proposal divided the panel. Scientists said there’s ample evidence that newly spawned juvenile oysters will attach themselves to rocks and grow, and Sowers presented a photo of several oysters growing on a piece of granite that divers had retrieved from a stone-based reef in the Harris Creek sanctuary.
But watermen and their supporters on the panel refused to go along, insisting their own observations indicate stones aren’t as good as oyster shells for attracting young oysters. And they contend that the stone reefs interfere with crabbing.
Belton, observing the panel was deeply divided on the issue, said he would consult with the Corps about how to proceed. Sowers said the Corps can only proceed with the project if the state supports it.
The DNR secretary asked if more shell could be rounded up next year to build the 10 additional acres. Sowers said the Corps has agreed to limit reef work to a four-month window, from December until the end of March, to avoid stirring up sediment that might harm nearby Bay grass beds or other habitat for federally managed fish such as red drum and summer flounder.
The Corps has gotten permission in the past to do some reef building outside that window, Sowers said, and may be able to do so again. With more time to complete the project, there’s a better chance more shell could be obtained to build all 10 acres without stone, she said. But there’s still no guarantee, she cautioned, because the supply of shell from New Jersey depends on the success of the offshore clamming fleet. Distributed by Bay Journal News Service.
By Tim Wheeler
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