The bay’s delicious bounty
Chesapeake cleanup means more tasty oysters plucked from local waters
Reports are that last year’s Chesapeake Bay oyster harvest was the largest in 30 years. That’s evidence that the intensive efforts to clean up the bay in recent years are making a difference.
That’s fantastic news, but it doesn’t mean that the job of saving the bay is over or that, here in Hampton Roads, we can simply relax and enjoy the delicious results of what we’ve accomplished.
No, as scientists and environmental groups remind us, although the improved state of the bay is encouraging, the Chesapeake and its ecosystems are still fragile. And, for us, that means further commitment is needed to assist in its recovery.
It’s unlikely that the bay will ever be the seafood heaven it was when colonists from western Europe began settling on its shores. Back then, oysters were so abundant that ships had a tough time navigating around the huge reefs.
But if we continue to invest effort, thought and money into the cleanup efforts, we might avoid a return to the more recent past, when the polluted bay was clogged with dead zones and oysters, other shellfish and fish were dying out.
Even as progress is made, new threats
arise. Global warming leads to sea-level rise and more storms that can cause flooding. New development can mean more foul runoff, increased erosion and more pollutants from waste-treatment plants and factories.
Unless Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland and the other states in the Chesapeake Bay Agreement step up efforts to meet cleanup goals by 2025 as laid out in the Clean Water Blueprint, it will be tough even to maintain the status quo, much less make more progress.
And what are the benefits of progress? Begin with the bay’s oyster population.
Oysters are a gastronomic delight. Virginia — with eight regions of oysters, each with its distinct taste — is the oyster capital of the East Coast. As Gov. Glenn Youngkin noted when dubbing last November Oyster Month in the commonwealth, oysters are a vital part of Virginia’s billion-dollar seafood industry, bringing in about $40 million each year.
Oysters, of course, aren’t only a tasty reward for cleaning up the bay and the rivers that feed it. They are a key part of that clean-up. Oysters are filter feeders: They get their food by straining tiny particles from the water. One adult oyster can clean 50 gallons of water a day, removing pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as the algae that block light and make it tough for sea grasses to grow. Together, oyster reefs and seagrass beds provide critical habitat for crabs and other shellfish and fish.
Efforts to increase and protect the oyster population include limiting harvests in some areas on a rotating basis. Oysters must grow on hard, submerged surfaces, so restoring reefs and building new ones in strategic areas also help. Individuals and restaurants can help by recycling oyster shells, working with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Oyster farming also helps clean the waters and encourage more oysters to grow.
Now is a crucial time in efforts to position the bay for a healthy future.
Virginia and the other states in the watershed that are not on track to meet their 2025 goals should intensify their efforts rather than dismissing the targets as unrealistic. That’s what Youngkin has done, even as he vows his support for the cleanup.
This is crunchtime — time to tackle the tough parts of bay cleanup, especially requiring small farmers and corporate agriculture to make major changes in the way they operate, even if those changes are expensive.
It’s time to work harder, get tough on enforcement and put more resources into this vital effort.
When we invest in the bay cleanup, we are investing in the state and regional economy. We are investing in the future of our way of life. We are making sure those tasty oysters will grace plates in Hampton Roads dining rooms for many years to come.