Oyster health looking up in Maryland following DNR’s survey

MARYLAND – Maryland’s waterways getting a recent check-up, evaluating oyster health.

“They came out with the best bay-wide spat set for oysters in Maryland in probably 40 years,” said Captain Robert Newberry with the Delmarva Fisheries Association.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources fall survey is now released, and provides updates on the status of local oyster health.

“We check the status of the oyster population, reproduction, mortality, et cetera,” said Chris Judy, Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) Shellfish Division Director. “The results of the survey showed an excellent set. It was outstanding and actually historic,”

By sampling the oysters from October to November, MDNR is able to evaluate the spat count. Judy told 47 ABC WMDT about numbers on the Eastern Shore.

“It had an average spat set of 214 spat for a bushel. The long-term average of over numerous decades is only 66 per bushel, so it performed very well. The Tred Avon River got an average of 135 spat per bushel and typically it’s in the neighborhood of 19,” said Judy.

Waterman Captain Robert Newberry says these numbers stand out because this wasn’t always the case. “They used to get counts of like 25, 30, 40, 50 out of a whole bushel of shells which is like, a bushel of shells. If it’s all pure shell, it’s probably over 400 to 500 shells in there, but now they’re getting counts of 600, 800, 1000, 1200, 1500 and that’s great,” said Captain Newberry.

Captain Newberry says if there was always this amount of shell available on the upper Chesapeake Bay that could be dredged, the spat count would be epic. Hoever, he also says the areas where watermen work seem to be doing better, but the sanctuaries not so much. And there’s still more work to be done to fulfill the health of the bay.

“We’d like to see rotational harvest in the sanctuaries so we can start cleaning those up because when the sanctuary sits there and it’s not worked, with the amount of sediment that’s coming in from the Conwingo Dam and places like that they get covered up they don’t spawn,” Captain Newberry said.

Judy says the main driver of these spat levels is last year’s drought, not enough rain increased the salinity levels, which helps oyster reproduction.

MDNR says the Wicomico River also received a once-in-a-generation spat fall. To view the full study you can visit the Department of Natural Resources website.