Maryland Watermen to Get Put and Take Oysters

 Bay Journal, Maryland strives for conflict-free oyster restoration in Eastern Bay

After years of acrimony between watermen and environmentalists in Maryland over restoring oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, the state is trying a new tack in Eastern Bay. Whether it works remains to be seen.

The broad embayment on Maryland’s Eastern Shore is targeted by a 2022 law to receive $2 million a year over the next 25 years to revive its once-thriving oyster population. The effort is getting under way as the state nears the finish line on a massive push to build and stock oyster reefs in five other of its Bay tributaries.

Those projects, begun a decade ago, have poured nearly $90 million into putting 6.9 billion hatchery-reared bivalves on reconstructed reefs, all in sanctuaries off-limits to public harvest. Though hailed by environmentalists and scientists for restoring long-lost underwater habitat, the projects have drawn repeated complaints from watermen — and even litigation.

 

This time, instead of focusing solely on rebuilding reefs in sanctuaries, the Department of Natural Resources aims to replenish reefs for the public fishery as well and even give a boost to aquaculture.

“Sometimes the really successful things we do are highly controversial,” said Lynn Fegley, DNR’s fishing and boating services director. “This is more of a kumbaya approach.”

Controversy and delays dogged those earlier projects, which were called for as part of a 2014 strategy to bring back the Bay’s water quality, habitat and fish populations. Maryland and Virginia each pledged to restore large oyster reefs in five Bay tributaries by 2025.

The fifth and largest restoration project, in the Manokin River on the lower Eastern Shore, was stalled for more than a year by a lawsuit filed at the behest of watermen, who were upset about once-productive reefs being placed in sanctuaries.

In Eastern Bay, at the direction of state lawmakers, DNR officials are trying to avoid conflicts by offering everyone a piece of the action. The plan is to rebuild the bivalve population in a way that improves water quality and fish habitat but also provides economic benefits for watermen and oyster farmers.

Let the watermen pay for the planting that takes place on the areas they get to fish. 

The Wombat makes up time with Rule 5 Sunday: Hangar Queen Double-Scoop Sunday!