Coastal Services Center

In the early 1900s, oyster catches in Virginia exceeded 9 million bushels annually. Today, the total catch of the state's keystone species equals less than 1 percent of that number, and the habitat, water quality, and economic benefits of once-thriving oyster populations have been nearly lost. A collaborative effort spearheaded by the state's coastal resource managers has resulted in a large-scale oyster restoration program that early monitoring indicates may be starting the slow process of recovery.

"It took more than 100 years for the oyster to get into such a desperate situation," says Laura McKay, manager of Virginia's Coastal Resources Management Program at the Department of Environmental Quality. "It will take time to restore them."

But optimism is high that the Virginia Oyster Heritage Program is helping to create an educated consumer and a sustainable fishery that will benefit both the state's economy and coastal ecosystems. The program has become a model for other restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay.

Dredging Up Resources

Since the early 90s, McKay notes, a number of scientific and environmental agencies have undertaken small-scale oyster restoration projects in the state's waters. Beginning in 1993, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission began building three-dimensional reefs stocked with disease-tolerant oysters.

"When that appeared to be working well," says Dennis Treacy, director of the Department of Environmental Quality, "we realized it would be worthwhile to enlarge the scale. We decided to try to pull everyone together to have one large coordinated, concerted effort. We had to be very careful to respect what the other groups were already doing, and to build on that rather than trying to re-create it."

In March 1999, the coastal program established a partnership among state and federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, private companies, and local watermen who make their living fishing in coastal waters.

The Virginia Oyster Heritage Program was created "to better focus our resources," explains McKay. "By pulling everybody together, we've raised people's awareness and gotten larger pots of money. Instead of getting a few tens of thousands of dollars here and there, we're now getting millions."

To help raise money from nongovernment sources, the Virginia Oyster Reef Heritage Foundation was established. The coastal program set up the private nonprofit foundation in order to receive private funds and challenge grants on behalf of the Oyster Heritage Program. McKay notes that the foundation, which is run by private citizens, has raised over $200,000 and gives businesses and individuals a way to "get involved in this initiative."

Building the Program

To create the partnership, the coastal program held a series of meetings, the first of which was comprised of "a small group of people who we knew would be key players. We tested the whole concept on them," McKay explains. The group was enthusiastic and quickly suggested others who should be included in the meetings.

"As we pulled in additional partners, we were keeping track of how much money everybody could put toward the overall effort. We set up the foundation early on as well," she says. In addition to the restoration activities, educating the public about the role oysters play in water quality, biodiversity, and the coastal economy was tagged as a priority.

"From the start, we knew that to raise the money we needed for restoration, we were going to have to do a lot of public education," McKay notes.

The coastal program created an exhibit to take to events around the state that includes a 35-gallon aquarium featuring a miniature oyster reef, and two smaller tanks that are used to demonstrate the ability of oysters to filter algae out of the water. A video, bumper sticker, and a costumed mascot called "Omar-of-the Reef" also were created.

McKay estimates that thousands of Virginians have been educated about the critical role oysters play in keeping the coastal waters clean and providing habitat for other marine life. "Now we get calls from schools and people running festivals to come with Omar and our tanks. It's gotten pretty big." So big that they have had to turn down some requests.

Creating the Reefs

In the spring of 2000, after the program shepherded over $3 million in funds from federal, state, and private sources, including $500,000 from the coastal program and a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, construction began on six reefs. Three more reefs were constructed in 2001.

With assistance from watermen, the Marine Resources Commission builds the 1-acre reefs, which are basically a series of mounds of shell 8- to 10-feet high. When complete, McKay describes them as looking like "upside-down egg cartons."

The reefs themselves are designated as sanctuaries, but planted near them are 25-acre beds of flat shells where harvest will be allowed. Seed oysters are being grown and planted on the reefs by volunteers of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who call themselves "oyster gardeners."

"What we've done is try to mimic nature," McKay explains. Data from the Virginia Institute of Marine Science showing the location and depth of reefs as far back as the 1800s have been their guide. "We figured if nature put them there once, and they were there for a long time, then that's where we should rebuild."

Examining the Catch

While money was expected to be the program's biggest challenge, McKay notes the highest hurdle has been getting enough shells. The 100,000 bushels of shell needed for each reef was initially purchased from Maryland, but following Virginia's lead that state has begun its own oyster restoration efforts. Virginia has resorted to dredging shell from its rivers and is experimenting with other substances, such as broken concrete, porcelain from bathroom fixtures, and other types of shells.

McKay says that monitoring last year showed that seaside reefs "had a fantastic spat fall," or colonization of young oysters, but that reefs in the mouth of the Rappahannock River were less successful. "There was a really bad spat set throughout the Chesapeake Bay," she notes. "We're hoping that this year's spat set will be better." Scientists also are monitoring the use of the reefs as habitat by other species.

"The big question," she says, "is how much will it improve water quality? That's going to be an extremely tough question to answer with hard data. A 1-acre reef provides only a tiny amount of filtering capacity when you consider the vastness of the river."

While scientists are still trying to quantify the reefs' achievements, McKay is confident. "I think it's been a success so far. We still have a long, long way to go. I don't know if we will ever restore them to what they were in the 1800s. We have a goal in the Chesapeake Bay to increase the oyster biomass tenfold by 2010, and I think that through the efforts of this program and programs like this that we have a good chance of meeting that goal."

For more information about the Virginia Oyster Heritage Program, contact Laura McKay at (804) 698-4323 or lbmckay@deq.state.va.us. You can also point your browser to www.deq.state.va.us/oysters/.