CRISFIELD, MD — Maryland officials, scientists and conservation groups gathered Tuesday to witness one of the final oyster plantings at the Manokin River sanctuary, marking the culmination of more than a decade of oyster population restoration work under the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.
The event departed from the Crisfield Terminal aboard the M/V Eddie Somers and featured Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz, Oyster Recovery Partnership Director Ward Slacum, Horn Point Laboratory Director Mike Sieracki, and officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources says about 7 billion oysters have been planted across five tributaries, including Harris Creek, the Little Choptank River, the Tred Avon River, the St. Mary’s River, and now the Manokin. The plantings have created more than 1,300 acres of reef in the Chesapeake Bay.
“This is one of the largest oyster restorations on the planet. You look at Harris Creek alone, it’s basically the size of the U.S. Federal Mall,” Secretary Kurtz said. “So a big part of this is just how many oysters that have been put into the water was going to take some time. The sheer scope of that.”
Dr. Allison Colden, Maryland director for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, stressed the ecological importance.
“Oysters are an incredibly important species in the Chesapeake Bay. They’re what we know as a keystone species, meaning they’re the basis of the Chesapeake Bay food web, an ecosystem. They create their own habitat called oyster reefs, which are not only habitat for the oysters themselves, but more than 300 different species that live on and around those reefs.”
The Manokin River sanctuary is the fifth and final tributary to be restored under Maryland’s commitment to the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement, signed in 2014. At 455 acres restored, it is also the largest oyster sanctuary in Maryland and Virginia.