Next time you see watermen planting oysters in our rivers, recognize that they are helping to clean our water and that we all have a stake in their success.
While most farmers and many homeowners are now taking important steps to prevent topsoil and excess fertilizer from being washed into our waterways, this is often a case of too little too late. Despite efforts to plant cover crops and riparian buffers and to limit the location and quantity of fertilizer, in many areas we have a legacy of too much fertilizer and sediment that has already seeped into our groundwater and washed into our rivers. Once in our waterways, the excess fertilizer causes the microscopic algae to grow so fast that when the algae dies and decays it sucks up the oxygen critical to the life of aquatic animals. Furthermore, that decaying algae, combined with the excess sediment, then clouds the water making it impossible for subaquatic vegetation to receive the sunlight required to create protective habitat for young fish and crabs.
Historically, Mother Nature, in the form of trillions of wild oysters (Crassostrea Virginica), filtered that water (as much as 50 gallons per day per oyster) and helped remove the excess nitrogen, phosphorous and sediment that depleted the oxygen and dirtied the water. For thousands of years the oysters not only provided a bountiful food supply themselves but also cleaned the water and enhanced the habitat for other flora and fauna.
Unfortunately, through a combination of pollution, disease, over harvesting, and mud that swept through the Conowingo Dam and buried the oysters, we have now lost over 95% of the oysters that used to be our partners in protecting one of the world’s great fishing and recreational areas. The challenge before us, if we are serious about protecting and enhancing our waterways, is to find ways to restore that vital partnership between mankind and the oyster in the Chesapeake Bay.
Although the research scientists at Maryland’s Horn Point Laboratories have already embarked on an ambitious program and have had success in propagating and planting oysters, the job is much too big and too important to be undertaken by government alone. Government has a vital role in studying disease and other threats to the native oyster and in propagating oyster spat for planting. But some of the greatest successes have come not through creating government controlled sanctuaries but through public/private partnerships. In these partnerships, private entrepreneurs, with valuable technical assistance from government scientists and extension agents, invest their own resources in planting, managing and harvesting oysters.
Anyone skeptical about the water quality benefits of modern aquaculture should pay a quick visit to areas of the Choptank River on the Eastern Shore or the St. Mary’s River in Southern Maryland and see how oyster planting has helped clean the water. While it is possible to simply deposit oysters on the river bottom in the right location in hopes that many will survive, the technique recommended to small businessmen by shellfish aquaculture specialist, Dr. Donald Meritt, is to protect their investment by placing the oysters in cages such as shown in the picture above.
These cages, where authorized by the Department of Natural Resources and limited to approved leases of the river bottom, can either be attached to floats on the surface or rest a few inches above the river bottom. In either case they must be clearly marked and must be placed in areas where they will not interfere with navigation or the rights of adjacent homeowners on the shore.
As Chuckie White, President of the Kent County Waterman’s Association, points out, managing oysters in these cages requires a lot more work than simply depositing young oysters on the river bottom and letting Mother Nature take care of them until they are ready for harvest. However, as Dr. Meritt has learned through his work at Horn Point, that extra work and extra investment in equipment allows the waterman to get a much higher survival rate for the oysters and a better price in the oyster half shell market. Some of the advantages of these wire containers called “cages” include:
- protecting the oysters from poaching and predators such as the cownose rays;
- keeping the oysters up out of the mud, and
- enabling the waterman to readily monitor growth, clean and grade the oysters and harvest a product that will command good prices in the market place.
In addition to those advantages to the individual waterman, the opportunity to achieve higher survival rate also means more oysters and more jobs, thus providing all of us with a cleaner and healthier Chesapeake Bay and all the waterways that surround it. This is a public/private partnership that makes sense for watermen, the waterways and all of us who want to continue enjoying this land of pleasant living.
Scott Budden says
Great article David! You are exactly correct in that cages yield a very different product and resulting market, than loose bottom culture. This has been proven on farms statewide and throughout the Chesapeake region. Think this industry represents a great opportunity for the next generation of waterman, as there is a larger degree of control over the product and yield, compared to more traditional harvesting methods.
David Foster says
I am very pleased to note that last evening (November 18th) all three of the Kent County Commissioners signed a letter of support for the first Aquaculture project involving oyster “cages” in the Chester River. Although much more labor intensive than the practice of simply dropping oysters on the river bottom and hoping for the best, extensive research at Maryland’s Horn Point laboratories demonstrates that the approach using cages consistently achieves a much higher survival rate and is thus more sustainable. It is also worth noting that while our commissioners routinely receive requests asking for money, last evening they were asked for support by a young waterman who wants to invest his own money in a venture that will help clean up our river.
Savor the Oyster but kiss the waterman.