The Severn River Commission is asking the state to spend at least $2 million to rebuild the river's dead oyster beds.
But the Department of Natural Resources, which this fiscal year has less than $2 million to rebuild and seed reefs, is waiting to see how earlier projects pan out.
The commission, a watchdog group appointed by the Anne Arundel County executive and the Annapolis mayor, would like the state to rebuild about 100 acres of oyster bottom -- most of HTC which is silted over -- and seed the new reefs. The goal is to improve water quality in a river closed to oystering because of pollution.
"It's one of the things we think ought to be done to improve the bay," A. L. "Red" Waldron, commission chairman, said.
A single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons a day of water, dining on the algae and pollutants that kill off other stream life. Researchers have said the oysters were a major factor in the health of the Chesapeake Bay.
"Our hope is that the oysters will filter enough algae and sediment to cause a decrease in the river's turbidity, a corresponding increase in [seaweed], and an increase in the river's dissolved oxygen, all serious problems in the Severn," Mr. Waldron wrote.
The letter gives four reasons for the project:
Because the Severn River is closed, commercial fisherman and leaseholders probably won't object; the Severn "desperately needs help"; the waterway's low salinity has kept MSX and Dermo, diseases that badly damaged the Chesapeake Bay's oyster population, to a minimum; and the Severn is a state-designated scenic river that runs by the state capital.
Pete Jensen, director of fisheries at DNR, said the agency will not consider spending at least $20,000 an acre to rebuild the historic oyster beds unless it sees the reef projects begun this year show signs of success, which would take a few years. Only a few oyster bottom areas at or below the U.S. 50 bridge show any promise now.
"We want to know that if something needs to be done, that we are doing the right thing," Mr. Jensen said.
The decking of the old Severn River Bridge is being placed in the river for use as a reef, and two other projects that also began this fall used shell to start creating reefs. Tiny oysters will be placed there in the spring.
Heavily silted
The river, although one of six state-designated oyster recovery rivers, is not a perfect habitat for oysters anymore, Mr. Jensen said. It is heavily silted, with water and dirt pushing nutrients into it after storms. The resulting salinity is barely at the levels needed for growing oysters and is below the level for oysters to spawn.
And $2 million is too high a price, Mr. Jensen said. "That's a lot for a river that doesn't have a recent history of growing oysters in it," he said.