In December, during its annual meeting at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Executive Council approved the revised Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The agreement includes goals that will improve the health of the Chesapeake Bay, increase access … Continued
The 2025 Maryland benchmark assessment indicates that oyster populations have grown significantly in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay waters over the past 20 years. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science released the summary … Continued
Preliminary results of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ annual Fall Oyster Survey indicate that Chesapeake Bay oyster populations are healthy. After a remarkable year for oyster reproduction in 2023, the survey’s 2024 spatfall intensity index, a measure of reproductive … Continued
Baltimore Port Alliance members have joined a multi-organizational effort to support oyster restoration in Baltimore harbor and the Patapsco River. In October 2024, with support from the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF), members of Vane Brothers’ Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) … Continued
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has selected the next three sites for large-scale oyster restoration in Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay, marking the beginning of the state’s next phase of major oyster restoration. DNR will conduct oyster … Continued
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) estimates that over 430,000 bushels of oysters were harvested commercially in Maryland from October 1, 2023, through March 31, 2024. This was the fifth season in the past 30 years when the harvest … Continued
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has announced that it has recommended awarding $10 million to fund new reef construction for a Maryland Department of Natural Resources oyster sanctuary in the Chesapeake Bay. The four-year grant will provide infrastructure funding … Continued
In June, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reported that the state’s shellfish aquaculture operations harvested a record 94,286 bushels of oysters in 2023. “Though the shellfish aquaculture harvest is small in comparison to the public fishery, it is growing … Continued
Aquaculture researchers with the NOAA National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS) Cooperative Oxford Laboratory in Oxford, Maryland, are helping the Severn River Association test cost-saving oyster restoration techniques in the Severn River. The Severn River Association was awarded funds … Continued
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will plant about 147 million oyster spat, or juvenile oysters, on 41 acres in Anne Arundel County waters with mitigation funds from the 2022 grounding of M/V Ever Forward on an upper Chesapeake … Continued