Nature Conservancy, Chesapeake Bay Foundation Begin First Partnership Effort to Restore Native Oysters in Chesapeake Bay

Project aimed at increasing population of native oysters in Virginia’s Piankatank River; part of nationwide network of Conservancy-directed shellfish restoration projects

BETHESDA, Md. & RICHMOND, Va. – The Nature Conservancy’s Chesapeake Bay Initiative, a multi-state effort, announced the launch of its first native oyster restoration project in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. The Conservancy and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) are collaborating on the project, which received funding through a national partnership between the Conservancy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Community-based Restoration Program.

The Conservancy selected the Piankatank River because of its unusual gyre-like

Native oysters from the CBF farm
© Hal Brindley

Volunteers, partners and staff
spread oysters along the reef in
the Piankatank River.
© Hal Brindley

currents that form a “trap” estuary. Water at the mouth of the river circulates back upstream, keeping oyster larvae from being dispersed into the Chesapeake Bay.

“By concentrating larger, disease-tolerant oysters in a smaller area, we hope to encourage a denser population of healthy oysters in a river with relatively good water quality,” said Mark Bryer, who directs the Conservancy’s Chesapeake Bay Initiative. “We have also dropped a new layer of fresh shell on top of the existing reef to provide more nooks and crannies to protect these oysters from predators such as crabs and rays.”

“Restoring native oysters in rivers such as the Piankatank is critical to the larger effort of restoring the Chesapeake Bay,” said Tommy Leggett, CBF Oyster Restoration and Fisheries Scientist. “In the past five years, CBF’s oyster farm facility has grown more than 5 million oysters and transplanted them to reefs in nine different rivers and creeks. We are pleased to add the farm’s entire crop of oysters this year to this exciting partnership effort.”

Native oysters are a keystone species in the Chesapeake Bay. They play important roles in the Bay’s ecosystem, including filtering water and providing habitat for other Bay species such as rockfish. Oysters help improve the overall health of coastal waters that we depend on for recreation, food, jobs and cultural heritage. Virginia’s native oyster population has been depleted to 1 percent of its historic size by many factors, including disease, pollution and over-harvesting.

The Nature Conservancy is collaborating with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation to place roughly 750,000 native, disease-tolerant oysters on existing reefs in the Piankatank River. As part of the project, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) has expanded the existing reef habitat by adding more than 30,000 bushels of shell. VMRC and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science are providing additional technical assistance.

“The Conservancy has worked to protect more than 160,000 acres of land near key tributaries in the Chesapeake Bay watershed since 1951,” said Michael Lipford, Virginia executive director of The Nature Conservancy. “While most of our work in the Bay watershed has been traditionally on the ground, we have done so in many cases to help protect vital waterways. As the Conservancy has grown, we have expanded our efforts from working along aquatic systems to working in waterways.”

The Conservancy’s Chesapeake Rivers Program has worked to protect forestlands and important natural areas in the Piankatank watershed since 2001. Forests and wetlands cover more than 70 percent of the Chesapeake Rivers Program area, contributing to the health of the Piankatank River’s water quality.

This project joins a network of 47 Conservancy-led marine restoration projects throughout the United States, including 15 shellfish restoration projects. Rob Brumbaugh, a marine scientist formerly with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, oversees the Conservancy’s Shellfish Restoration Network and its Community-based Restoration Program. As part of this network of projects, the Conservancy’s Chesapeake Bay Initiative will draw on the experiences of other researchers at Conservancy shellfish restoration sites throughout the country.

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The Nature Conservancy is a leading international, nonprofit organization that preserves plants, animals and natural communities representing the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive. To date, the Conservancy and its more than one million members have been responsible for the protection of more than 15 million acres in the United States—including more than 64,000 acres in Maryland and Washington, DC and more than 220,000 acres in Virginia—and have helped preserve more than 102 million acres in Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific. Visit us on the Web at www.nature.org/maryland and www.nature.org/virginia.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is the largest conservation organization dedicated solely to saving the Chesapeake Bay. Our motto, Save the Bay, defines the organization's mission and commitment to reducing pollution, improving fisheries, and protecting and restoring natural resources such as wetlands, forests, and underwater grasses. Learn more at www.cbf.org.