July 7, 2010

Chesapeake Bay a growing site for oyster farming

Oyster farming in Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the US, is becoming increasingly popular that the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is urging Virginia and Maryland to encourage the aquaculture through training programmes, fee waivers, and other incentives.

A surging aquaculture industry could produce millions in new revenue and provide many new jobs in the region.

Scientific research is suggesting that natural selection is driving increased resistance to diseases and producing hardier oysters, especially in the southern Bay. The natural disease resistance will accelerate if oysters are allowed to repopulate on protected sanctuary reefs.

Reefs can be protected Baywide over time by preventing oyster poaching and rebuilding and maintaining oyster reefs that once existed decades ago but were destroyed by overharvesting or smothered by siltation.

CBF Virginia Oyster Restoration and Fisheries Scientist Tommy Leggett says, "With the right help and incentives, oyster farming could really take off. That would be a win for the seafood industry, the Bay, and the Bay's wild oysters."

Virginia has already established retraining programmes for watermen and the number of farmed oysters in the Commonwealth has jumped to nearly 10 million, with a market value of US$2.8 million and total economic impact estimated at about US$7 million in 2008. Experts predict that income could increase tenfold in the coming years.