Oysters have an inexplicable place in my heart — and for that matter in the hearts of many Marylanders. A crusty oyster is not warm and cuddly, yet it is beloved, perhaps for the service it provides: cleaning the water we have fouled, offering habitat on its craggy shell for fish and other aquatic creatures, and last, but not least, for its delectability.
I was relieved to hear a special commission appointed by Gov. Larry Hogan recommended that an oyster reef restoration project near my home on the Tred Avon River go forward. This past December, local watermen successfully blocked the project in progress. In short, the watermen doubted the science, data and benefits behind the oyster restoration project; they were adamant that projected benefits were unfounded.
Thankfully, a study just released by the state Department of Natural Resources found ample evidence that Maryland's large oyster restoration projects are working. Following that study, the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission met on Monday and recommended that the Tred Avon project go forward. Whew! I hope Governor Hogan accepts the recommendation of his commission and allows the oyster project in its totality to proceed.
But I worry. Oysters are still under threat. Bigger than the controversial 8-acre project in the Tred Avon are several other looming issues. First, will the governor's commission give the green light to the next 128-acre phase of the Tred Avon restoration project, or will that phase also be delayed or blocked?
And even more significantly, will the Oyster Advisory Commission ultimately recommend a fundamental weakening of Maryland's innovative approach to bringing oysters back from the brink of extinction? Several commission members, for instance, have publicly wished that harvesting could be allowed on "sanctuary" reefs currently protected by the state from harvest.
I can see a possible unwise compromise in the offing, each side getting something it wants. Unfortunately, in this type of decision making, when the tyranny of the urgent is allowed to rule out investing in the long term, neither the treasured oyster nor the watermen will be winners.
My firm conviction is the state's oyster policies must consider the views of watermen and must chart a course to ensure they survive. But to guarantee the prosperity of both the Chesapeake Bay and the waterman, we must maintain sanctuary areas where oysters aren't harvested, where they can grow and reproduce. To do otherwise would be to return to the way oysters were harvested in the past — to near extinction. The sanctuary strategy ensures the oyster population will continue to grow and that some oyster bars will thrive as magnets for fish, engines for reproduction and natural filters for cleaner water.
Six years ago, Maryland developed this strategy in response to the darkening picture of oysters in the Chesapeake — whose population is now estimated at about 1 percent of its historic levels. The state decided about a quarter of the productive oyster bottoms in the bay must be protected from harvest as sanctuaries. It later also decided to assist a few of the sanctuaries with large-scale restoration — as in Tred Avon. Maryland also reduced red tape to allow watermen to increase their incomes through oyster farming.
This new approach is working. We must keep the long view, not succumb to the urge to reap all of nature's still fragile bounty of an increasing oyster population. We must let the population continue to grow, for the ultimate benefit not only of watermen and their families, but for the ecology of our beloved estuary — and our appetite for the most delicious bivalve.
Jenny Stanley is one of the founders of the Town Creek Foundation, a lifelong advocate for environmental issues, and a resident of Oxford, Md. Her email is jennstanley@verizon.net.