State plans more oyster sanctuaries

Aquaculture also being encouraged

Friday, Dec. 4, 2009

The state government announced Thursday new initiatives to help restore the Chesapeake Bay's decimated native oyster population by creating more sanctuaries off limits to watermen and leasing new areas for aquaculture.

Three new sanctuary reefs are proposed in Southern Maryland, as are new public fishery areas.

Proposed sanctuary areas include the upper St. Mary's River roughly from St. Mary's College of Maryland northward, an area off Point Lookout and the upper Patuxent River roughly from Blake Creek and Queen Tree Landing northward.

Much of the lower Patuxent as well as the lower St. Mary's River, St. George's Creek and much of the Wicomico River are proposed public shellfish fishery areas, meaning they would be open to wild oyster harvests.

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) made the announcement Thursday morning at the Annapolis Maritime Museum, the former site of Annapolis' last shellfish packing business, McNasby's Oyster Company, which closed in 1987.

Calling the native oyster "part of the public trust," he said it is urgent that efforts be made to restore the species for both its ecological and economic benefits.

"By some projections, today's actions could contribute as much as $25 million to Maryland's economy and create over 200 jobs," O'Malley said in a prepared statement. Around 500 watermen in the state still harvest oysters.

O'Malley also stressed the importance of oysters' filtering abilities to help clean up the bay.

Mike Naylor, DNR assistant director of fishery services, said Thursday afternoon that the state is moving in the direction of more sanctuaries and aquaculture.

"That line may move, depending on public feedback," Naylor said of the various demarcations of sanctuaries, public reefs and leasable waters. "This is the beginning of the public process."

Sanctuaries are completely off limits to harvesting, which gives planted oysters a longer time to grow, spawn and ideally develop a natural resistance to disease.

The new sanctuaries are concentrated most highly in the regions of Choptank River tributaries, the Little Choptank River and a large area between the bay's main channel and Eastern Shore from Hooper Strait to Smith Island, based on the most productive oyster bars identified by fall surveys from 1996 to 2007.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has estimated about 36,000 acres of productive bottom exists in the Maryland portion of the bay.

The amount devoted to sanctuaries will increase significantly from 9 percent to 24 percent of the remaining quality habitat, or 8,640 acres.

The other 76 percent will remain as a public fishery for wild oyster harvests.

At the same time less productive areas will be open to leasing for oyster aquaculture and the permitting process will be streamlined.

The proposal includes opening more than 95,500 acres of natural oyster bars to lease for watermen to plant their own oysters.

Oysters harvested from the Chesapeake Bay decreased from more than 2 million bushels per year in the 1980s to just more than 100,000 bushels in 2008-2009.

Maryland's new plan aims to help watermen transition to farming oysters rather than harvesting wild oysters.

Aquaculture, which includes leasing bottom to plant oysters by individual watermen, associations or businesses, as well as using oyster floats, is the predominant means of shellfish harvesting in most of the world.

Maryland watermen have been slow to move toward aquaculture, instead preferring to scavenge the Chesapeake and its tributaries for oysters growing on public bars.

"If you look across the river at Virginia, where aquaculture's already producing over tens of millions of dollars of dockside value, that potential exists in Maryland as well. We just have to harness it," O'Malley said.

The state estimated there could be up to 150 oyster aquaculture operations in Maryland in the next five years.

The state also officially identified the first two aquaculture enterprise zones, which are in the Patuxent River near Broomes Island, and where permits will be easier to obtain. Those areas should be available for leasing in 2010.

"This is really a monumental day," said Kim Coble, state director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who thanked O'Malley for his leadership in the effort.

"It's been a long time coming," she said. "And for us to be able to look and see a responsible, science-based management system for a fishery is something that a lot of us have worked for years and have only dreamed of."

The plan recognizes both the ecological value of oysters as well as the importance of the oyster industry, she said.

"[The state is] saying oyster aquaculture is good for the bay and it's good for watermen's community," Coble said. "And so we have a plan here in front of us that not only protects the oysters, but protects our watermen economy. It is going to require change, but that change is productive."

Some of the younger watermen are interested in investing in aquaculture, said Ben Parks, president of the Dorchester Seafood Harvesters' Association and the chairman of the Aquaculture Coordinating Council.

"It's going to be a different lifestyle," he said. "I think there will always be watermen. But they will have to look at a new way of doing business."

The plan is built on the findings of a six-year environmental impact study of oyster restoration options, and the work of the Oyster Advisory Commission and the Aquaculture Coordinating Council.

According to O'Malley's announcement, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources will start new enforcement techniques, including a collaborative effort with federal partners to install a network of radars and cameras that will help Maryland Natural Resources Police monitor oyster sanctuaries and prevent poaching.

Sanctuaries as well as public areas and leased areas have been the targets of illegal poaching by watermen.

jyeatman@somdnews.com

Staff writer Sean Sedam contributed to this report.