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When it comes to restoring oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, size matters. State and federal agencies are jointly investing tens of millions of dollars to rebuild and plant approximately 2,000 acres of once prosperous oyster reefs in 10 Gulf tributaries, five of which are in Maryland and five in Virginia. This is the capitalization of ecosystem restoration.

But small can also be beautiful. Just ask the leaders of the Severn River Association.

The Severn River is one of four Maryland rivers selected by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources for "small-scale" oyster restoration, with the goal of replanting one coral reef at a time. The state did not promise to spend millions of dollars on wholesale replenishment of each river, but only pledged to invest US$250,000 per year for this work, including the Severn, Magoshi and South rivers on the west bank and the east bank. South Tycok River.

Severn was the first of the four to repair it. Since 2018, through active fundraising through partnerships and tens of thousands of dollars in private donations, Severn Group has used limited national funds to plant more than 80 million hatchery-raised juvenile oysters on a few coral reefs downstream. Hear them, they are not done yet; their goal is to get more than 1 billion oysters to help clean up the river.

All parties concerned see Operation Build-A-Reef (as the name suggests) as a model for expanding oyster restoration to other gulf tributaries without substantial government funding.

"Severn is a template," said Chris Judy, DNR's shellfish project manager, "about how to work together to make people energized and get the job done."

Severn used to have many oysters. Investigations in the early 1900s identified 27 productive coral reefs in the river. McNasby Oyster Co., founded in Annapolis in 1886, shelled locally harvested oysters and shipped its "Pearl" brand of canned oysters to customers throughout the United States for most of the 20th century.

However, due to sewage problems, the state began to close some oyster reefs in the river in 1912. As the development spread throughout the basin and the water quality further declined, the harvest decreased. In 1998, the state Department of Environment extended the closure to most of the river, citing the threat of bacterial contamination. Finally, in 2010, the state declared the entire river a protected area, banning picking. Today, McNathby’s oysters are history and are only displayed in an exhibition at the Annapolis Maritime Museum, which is located in the McNathby Building at the mouth of the Houxi River.

By 2010, more and more Severn waterfront homeowners joined the DNR's Maryland Oyster Farming Program, a voluntary effort to raise oysters from dock cages for cultivation in protected areas around the bay. Under the helm of Bob Whitcomb and Ted Delaplaine, staunch supporters of the Severn River Association, the organization recruited an army of oyster gardeners, more than any other tributary in the state.

"We have 400 people who care about the quality of their water," Whitcomb said. He believes that the Chesapeake Bay Foundation allowed him and many others to start oyster gardening.

But Severn’s advocates want to go a step further and fill their rivers with bivalves again, because filter-feeding shellfish can help improve water quality and provide coral reef habitat for fish and crabs.

So when Maryland joined Virginia in 2014 to commit to large-scale oyster restoration in each of the five bay tributaries of each state, Severn’s supporters lobbied to include their rivers. At a meeting of the DNR Oyster Advisory Committee in 2017, Whitcomb cited the success of the oyster gardening team and suggested that the water quality of oysters for growing and, if not eaten, is improving. In addition, he pointed out that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers built about 13 acres of artificial reefs near Annapolis in 2009, using concrete, steel slag, and stones. The Gulf Foundation also carried out some small-scale coral reef enhancements in the river. He believes that it will not take much time to fully recover Severn's oysters.

But DNR ignored it. In addition to the Harris River, the Little Joop Tank River and the Tread Avon River, it also chose the St. Mary River and the Manokin River.

DNR shellfish manager Judy said that Severn's salinity is sufficient for oysters to survive, but it is usually too low for successful reproduction.

"Of course, you can put oysters on Severn, they will grow well, but in the long run, can they feed themselves?" Judy said.

He said another concern is that reseeding in the river may attract poachers, who will then sell potentially contaminated shellfish, putting unsuspecting consumers at risk of illness or even death.

However, at the time DNR announced that it intends to develop restoration plans for other protected areas (including Severn), which have not yet been selected as large-scale projects.

However, with most of the state and federal oyster restoration funds being invested in large-scale projects, it is not clear how much or how quickly the work will proceed.

The leaders of the Severn River Association refused to be intimidated. They have a legacy to live up to. The association was established in 1911 and was the first association established in the country specifically to protect rivers. It has developed into one of the largest civic groups in most suburban counties.

"I started thinking,'If the government doesn't do this, why can't the private sector do it?'" Whitcomb recalled.

The association is convinced that its members will come forward and cooperate with non-profit oyster restoration partners to launch the "Building a Reef" to raise private funds for this work.

DNR invested a little money to help pay for the first planting costs in 2018. But these groups themselves raised about $20,000 to increase this amount and planted 45 million eggs on the bridge between U.S. Route 50 and Route 450. Delaplaine and Whitcomb helped collect donations from wealthy seaside residents, who themselves are also major donors to the sport.

"Part of the reason you do this is that you are motivated by your leadership," Whitcomb said. "In the field of fundraising, this is called writing a large check."

Oyster restoration work was interrupted in 2019 because the previous year's heavy rain reduced salinity and caused production problems at the Horn Point Hatchery at the University of Maryland Environmental Science Center. Last year, there was another problem: the coronavirus pandemic delayed the operation of the hatchery, which hindered this work. But they still managed to plant 16.9 million eggs on the coral reef between the bridges.

The fundraising event went smoothly and raised $38,000, which far exceeded their goal of the year. Some come from individuals, but other large checks come from companies. The Oyster Recovery Partnership also raised approximately US$10,000, which was raised through the Bay Paddle fundraising event.

Therefore, on a rainy day in mid-August, it was clear that Robert Lee, the ship of the Oyster Recovery Partnership, transported 24 million eggs from the Cape Horn Hatchery to the Severn River on the opposite side of the bay. The leaders of the association on the yacht celebrated with a champagne toast as the high-pressure hose rushed a pile of shells out of the boat.

Although 24 million saliva looks like a lot, the number of large-scale projects is increasing. For example, Harris Creek on the east coast of Maryland was spit out by more than 2 billion shells. But supporters say that Severn's efforts are equally compelling because of its achievements so far.

"What the Oyster Recovery Partnership and the Severn River Association have done to Severn River, they show that there is a way to do this in a considerable way," said Alison Colden, a Maryland fisheries scientist at the Gulf Foundation. .

"This is a successful project that has introduced additional private benefits and funds to support oyster restoration," said Wode Slacombe, executive director of the Oyster Recovery Partnership. "I think this is a model that we can use to try and expand our restoration work in other tributaries that are not the focus of federal and state funding."

Judy said that DNR originally planned to plant eggs in South Tycok this year, but had to postpone the work. Plans for the Magotti and Procyon have also been made.

So far, the oysters grown in Severn are still alive and growing despite the harsh conditions at times. In warm months, oxygen levels in parts of the river will drop enough to stress the oysters, and record rainfall from 2018 to 2019 pushed salinity to dangerously low levels. Slacum said a survey found that between 5% and 20% of the youngest oysters have died, which is about the same as the mortality rate at large-scale restoration sites.

The bigger question is, will these hatchery oysters continue to produce their own offspring? This year, according to Tom Gay, executive director of the Severn River Association, the organization’s field investigators conducted some dives to check the planting in the river opposite the Wilms Creek estuary, and found one attached to himself Oysters. A piece of granite placed there more than ten years ago by the army. Gay said that this is evidence of natural reproduction.

"If we can find enough oysters in this river, one day, when the moon is right and the candlelight is right, the oysters will become lively, and we will have breeding events," he said. "Our number of oysters will naturally double."

This dream also aroused the interest of Judy of DNR. The Severn River is one of the several tributaries of the bay-Chester River is another tributary-once harvested a large number of oysters, but now conditions are marginal at best. The salinity of the water is usually below the ideal level for oyster reproduction, and many coral reefs that were once filled with oysters are buried under a thick layer of silt.

"Imagine if the Severn broodstock has been strengthened enough over the years," Judy said, "...if the egg population increases naturally...that will show that you can choose a fringe river and change its course." Consider how the river follows. Changes are taking place along with the development of the entire basin, and it is not yet clear whether this is feasible.

But to do more on the Severn River, more coral reefs must be rebuilt. DNR stated that the bottom survey showed that out of the 1,000-plus acres of historic oyster habitat in the river, only 6 coral reefs remain, and about 40 acres are suitable for young oysters to settle and grow, and are not affected by the silt covering the rest of the bottom. .

Judy said that in a large-scale project, whether it is to build a new coral reef with rocks or some kind of shells, the cost per acre is about $110,000. Considering the funds that have been raised so far in Operation Reef Construction, this is a heavy price.

Ted Delaplaine, the co-chair of the association's oyster gardening work, is not afraid. He gushed out the names of some wealthy celebrities who owned seaside mansions there.

"There are some wealthy places on the Severn River," he said. "We just haven't seen them yet."

At the same time, for Gay and other Severn supporters, although the efforts so far have been small, they have been successful.

"As long as [oysters] are alive, they will clean up the river," Guy said. "Our primary goal is to clean up the rivers and hope that they can reproduce offspring."

This article was originally published on BayJournal.com on Monday, November 15, 2021.

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Tim Wheeler is the associate editor and senior writer of Bay Journal, based in Maryland. You can contact him at 410-409-3469 or twheeler@bayjournal.com. More from Timothy Wheeler from Bay Journal Media

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