Since 2011, $2.7 million in loans have been approved for 49 shellfish aquaculture projects in 10 counties 85 new shellfish aquaculture leases have been issued on 1,567 acres ─ 41 to watermen and another 66 lease applications are being processed. To expand Maryland’s aquaculture industry – and the jobs that these new businesses create ─ DNR worked with the Army Corps of Engineers to streamline the permitting process and partnered with the Maryland Agricultural and Resource-Based Industry Development Corporation to offer affordable loan financing to shellfish growers. In addition, to ensure that all investments are protected, the State of Maryland has increased penalties for poachers, has enhanced monitoring capabilities, and now has monthly dedicated court dates for natural resource cases in more than a dozen counties. To help develop a sustainable wild oyster fishery, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has implemented commercial self-reporting of oyster harvests and individual bushel tagging, and is developing area-based harvest targets for the oyster fishery. HarrisCreek was chosen for the initial large-scale restoration project because its water quality, salinity levels, shape and location all point to a high likelihood of success. To target restoration efforts, State and federal agencies worked together to prioritize and establish sanctuaries in the most promising areas of the Bay, expanding protected waters from 9 to 24 percent in 2010. That’s why what we have accomplished in HarrisCreek can be an important contributor to achieving our restoration goals for the Bay as a whole.” “Research has demonstrated that restored oyster reefs do a tremendous job in removing polluting nutrients from the Bay. “We are learning that oysters do more than provide us food, create habitat for fish and crabs, and filter the water,” said Donald Boesch, President of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. This year the General Assembly passed the No Shell Left Behind tax credit – which provides a $1.00 per bushel tax credit for recycled oyster shells. “We have seen the level of commitment grow far beyond State and Federal and private partners: 280 restaurants, caterers and seafood dealers and other businesses are now supporting or recycling oyster shell for this work and local governments have opened 26 facilities to make it easier for the public to recycle shell.” “It is significant that watermen are involved in the overall oyster recovery and aquaculture effort, because oysters are more than environmentally significant ─ they are part of the economic, cultural and historic fabric of the Chesapeake Bay,” said Stephan Abel, executive director of the Oyster Recovery Partnership. With shell processing and deployment conducted by the Oyster Recovery Partnership, spat were also used to supply aquaculture businesses, the State’s citizen oyster growing program, localized conservation group efforts, as well as a program that trains watermen to produce oyster seed for their own leases. This increase in hatchery production is a critical component of the plan. The Governor credited an unprecedented number of State, federal and private partners with the resulting 750 million baby oysters planted at the Harris Creek Sanctuary, which, at 377 acres, is the largest, most comprehensive restoration effort of its kind on the East Coast.Īdopted in 2010, Governor O’Malley’s Oyster Restoration and Aquaculture Development Plan was designed to help restore the Chesapeake Bay’s native oyster population, create new jobs and encourage economic activity in Maryland. Governor O’Malley congratulated the University of Maryland Horn Point Lab Oyster Hatchery team in Cambridge, who set a new national record with the production of 1.25 billion Eastern oyster spat this year. “Today we celebrate significant progress under every step of our 10-point plan and the many partners responsible for it.”Ĭlick here to learn more about the Harris Creek Sanctuary. “Four years ago, we proposed a bold plan with better choices to rebuild our oyster population, its vital ecological functions and the thriving industry it once supported,” said Governor O’Malley. Joined by scientists, partners, stakeholders and citizen stewards at the AnnapolisMaritimeMuseum, Governor O’Malley also updated stakeholders on the status of the Harris Creek Oyster Sanctuary and progress under all 10 points of Maryland’s Oyster Restoration and Aquaculture Development Plan. Annapolis, October 11 _ Governor Martin O’Malley today announced that the State and its partners produced and planted a record 1.25 billion native baby oysters (spat) in Maryland this year ─ the first time any hatchery in the nation has produced more than one billion Eastern oyster spat in a single season.
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