The main issue underlying the state of the oyster in Maryland is and will be the availability of oyster shell for hatcheries, a nascent aquaculture industry, restoration (sanctuaries) and replenishment (public oyster fishery). Oyster larvae prefer clean oyster shell for landing on in order to grow into spat. CCA and MSSA claimed that the sediment plume from the shell dredge operation in the upper Bay inhibited the spawning rockfish in the Susquehanna Flats. The sport and recreation fishing lobby is well funded and can raise quite a ruckus, using over the top half-truths to trumpet their cause. The outcry got so loud that the DNR conducted its own investigation and discovered no real evidence either way to refute or reinforce the hysterical claims of the sports fishermen. The young of the year indexes for rock fish during the years of the dredge operation indicate no serious lowering of rock fish numbers.Gov. Ehrlich told the department that he did not want to hear one more word about it and walked away. Oddly enough the very same people that complained about the dredge operation benefited from the rockfish they were able to catch near its operation. With no shell available for the seed and shell programs the upper bay oyster industry eventually ground to a halt. Oyster bars then suffered from a variety of other events. The tropical storms of Irene and Lee, hurricanes Isabel, and Sandy were the most destructive. These events alone accounted for oyster bar mortalities of 90% in the upper bay. Not only are natural recruitment and disease events lower in fresher waters, but too much fresh water can weaken and eventually kill oysters. The opening of Conowingo flood gates to discharge the rising flood waters and turned the Bay into a coffee colored morass of sediment, debris, and toxic filth. Satellite imagery provided by both NASA and NOAA showed the extant of the plume. When the DNR was asked by Delegate Jay Jacobs if it would allow the watermen to dredge up the oysters from the bay bars and deposit them in less polluted waters the state replied it would think about it. It is a good thing that such events are not all that common. Otherwise upper Bay oysters would never stand a chance for any type of restoration or replenishment.
Experimental mega sanctuaries saw harvest reserves confiscated by the state until county oyster committees reminded Sec. Griffin that the oysters on those bars were paid for in part through their surcharges, bushel taxes and were there in part because of their labors. A short harvest session was implemented in order for the men to gather the fruits of their labor, and then the bars were taken again. No longer were the waters of the Chester River plied by hand-tongers. Hand tonging is the least damaging and least efficient form of oystering. Hand tongs are known as “stupid sticks or widow makers”. Nor were watermen from Rock Hall able to go out in front and make a living in nearby waters.
In 2006 all state sanctioned “status quo” public oyster fishery programs were drastically reduced or stopped. There was no shell dredging and no plantings of hatchery seed on public bars. In 2006 the state of Maryland abandoned its successful programs of harvest reserves, gear type restrictions, rotational openings and closings of industry bars in favor of the experimental mega sanctuaries. (Virginia using those very same protocols has a good solid public fishery that supports a stable oyster industry.) Watermen now have to Eastern Bay, and all the way down to Tangier Sound, staying in Crisfield or Hooper’s Island, or driving their catch home every day to sell to buyers in their home towns. Maryland oystermen needed something closer to home. Around 2007 the unrestricted expansion of power dredging became one of the major legislative issues for watermen and the state. It was and in some parts of the bay is still seen as the cure-all for their woes. Unfortunately, nothing is so simple. Conditions in the Bay are not universally the same making it important that there be case by case reviews. The power dredge discussion needed a common sense dialogue between watermen, who needed to reimagine the oyster conversation, and the O’Malley/Griffin DNR, who more often than not, walked away from the table In 2010 Mother Nature (not the state programs) gave the Bay a wonderful mixture of rain, temperatures, wind, tides to create a perfect storm of natural recruitment of oysters in Eastern Bay and the lower bay. Such opportunities are a double edged sword. Harvest reports for the years since then are good but the increased harvest pressure on the oysters is showing a gradual decline. There is good proof that bars harvested using power dredges have consistently cleaner shell that enhances the effects of natural recruitment. Not all oyster bars should be power dredged. Some areas would not survive such an efficient protocol. Many areas would benefit from such a cleansing. Some would benefit from the use of the dredges as a cultivator and then be planted with seed on shell. Despite the efficiency of power dredges, not all oysters are allowed to be harvested. The 3” law prevents the total harvesting of everything. That is not to say that all oystermen are law abiding angels. Poaching is not rampant as some reporters and opinion editorial writers would have you believe. Apparently it is this overemphasis about a very small percentage of watermen that apparently sells papers. Today’s shell, rocks, “boxes”, which are dead oysters, brought up by any gear type must go over back on to the bar from which it came. Shell from picking houses becomes the property of the highest bidder to the shucking houses and restaurants. It mainly goes to the state and the hatcheries where a majority of it is relegated to sanctuaries, never to be reused again or cultivated for better spat enhancement. Maryland seems to have lost control of its shell that went out of state. Many assume it was because the state did not want to offend out of state buyers by placing a tax on it that would have the shell returned. Virginia’s successful aquaculture industry is based mainly on Maryland shell.
The struggle to allow the widespread use of power dredges became one fought with misinformation, on both sides. Watermen in Eastern Bay and the upper bay in the last three years have learned to better present their cause. They incorporated the fact that it is necessary to plant on bars that have been harvested by dredging. They argued that being allowed to cultivate the bars using power dredges would enhance natural recruitment and make for a better surface on which to plant spat on shell. They argued that in light of the recent natural events, the upper bay bars were in need of cultivating and planting. The state countered that the watermen were still mindlessly chanting the mantra that power dredging alone would bring back the oysters. For unknown reasons, many opposition associations, foundations and departments refused and still refuse to face the reality that watermen are actually learning how to speak better to the issues. In the early fight to get approval for the Swan Point project, the state kept arguing that any harvesting with power dredging would take the very small number of large oysters that were providing for the very same spat set it was claiming did not exist in the upper bay. The state kept reducing the size of the project for which the watermen were asking. It then stipulated that the area power dredged would not be allowed to be planted on. Then it required that any areas cleansed by power dredging would be left alone for further studies on natural recruitment (already known to be low). These stipulations built in a guaranteed failure factor. It became obvious that the O’Malley/Griffin DNR did not want to see the politically charged expansion of power dredging. The Swan point project became a smoke screen for the state to distract from such an expansion. The only solution was to go back to the legislature, hire a lobbyist, and fight for a reworked bill that would emphasize the dire need for the oyster industry in the upper Bay to be given a chance for revival. In 2014 Delegate Jay Jacobs, and a handful of other delegates, led the fight in the House. Senator Dyson sponsored the bill in the senate. Senator Joan Carter Conway enabled a fair and balanced conversation in the senate. For the industry there was the Maryland Oystermen Association, Maryland Watermen Association, various county oyster committees, a few county commissioners and a handful of private citizens. Arrayed against the bill were the usual suspects, the CBF, the DNR, CCA, MSSA, the hatchery at Horn Point and some River Keepers. The hearings were contentious at times with various CCA and DNR personalities caught in disingenuous moments. The chance of success in the bleak conditions for oysters in the upper Bay made the project a win-win for everyone. The legislature realized that there would be no foul- no harm, especially so when it became apparent the watermen were going to cultivate the bars, do the planting, with seed on shell, at their own expense. Some in the DNR still believe that the watermen were not asking for the chance to plant but were still demanding the expansion of power dredging for its own sake. After the Battle of Little Big Horn women from the various nations involved roamed the battlefield. When they discovered Gen. Custer’s body they used their bone needles to pierce his ear drums so that he could hear and listen better in the afterworld. Such deafness became apparent to the legislature when the then fishery director was caught in an outright misrepresentation of the scientific facts. He had stated to the legislators at the hearing that power dredging in the upper bay was not necessary because oyster larvae will successfully attach onto oyster shell covered in a minimum of ¼ inch of sediment. When asked if that was true the DNR fishery director smugly passed the question on to “his” scientist. The representative from Horn Point refused to follow the lead and stated unequivocally that oyster larvae cannot successfully attach themselves to shell covered in a minimum of ¼ inch of sediment. Ultimately the legislature voted in favor of the Swan Project with amendments such as proof of a continuing co-operative dialogue between the MWA, MOA and the DNR. Such conversations eventually produced a workable project that is now in its second of a 3 year plan.
Because the Horn Point hatchery had problems with their larvae production oysters were planted late last summer (2014).Rather than spend time, wear and tear on gear by power dredging in April for the natural recruitment and cultivation in advance of the planting that was not going to occur on schedule, the state and the oyster committees agreed to plant when the seed became available. Kent County Oyster Committee bought their seed from Shop Cove Aquaculture after taking bids from other hatcheries. Baltimore County Oyster Committee has also purchased seed from another hatchery for their part of the project. Several million oyster spat on shell were planted last year and the planting continues this year. This despite yet another shorter termed larvae production set back at the Horn Point hatchery from which Shop Cove purchases the larvae they put on shell. These larvae setbacks seem to be experienced by hatcheries all up and down the Atlantic coast. No real common cause has been found yet.
The oysters will be planted in areas adjacent to the previous year’s plantings for at least three years. They then will be mixed together by power dredging in order to hopefully create a multi-generation oyster bar. Further plantings will have to continue on a yet to be determined schedule. The harvesting will be based on a series of protocols involving bushel limits, short term season and rotation of areas. Watermen now realize that it is important to look further down the road than to just what they can get the next day. It is their future for which they are now working. Now that there is a new governor who has moved around some of the O’Malley/Griffin Legacy standard bearers, watermen are better able to work with the state. The state now acknowledges some of its unrealistic stipulations for the Swan point project are obstacles to co-operation. The process can move along in a logical manner that has room for productive compromise. A meeting has been planned for mid- August to further develop the project into something other than a smoke screen used to deflate the expansion of power dredging. If you have been given lemons, learn how to make lemonade from them. It should become the model for the rejuvenation of the upper Bay oyster industry, and for replenishment projects Bay wide, that will ripple through the value chain of Maryland’s economy.
Marc Castelli is a world acclaimed artist and active waterman
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