Ecosystem Effects of Oyster Restoration in Virginia Habitat and Lease Areas (1.23 MB)

Publication date: 6/1/2006 | Type of document: Report

This report is the third in a series in which the Chesapeake Bay Environment Model Package was used to assess the environmental benefits of oyster restoration in the Chesapeake Bay. Here, the effects of oyster restoration to all potential Virginia oyster habitat were investigated.

Non-native Oysters and the Chesapeake Bay (205 KB)

Publication date: 8/14/2003 | Type of document: Fact Sheet

While Chesapeake Bay Program partners continue their work to restore native oysters, efforts are also underway to better understand the risks and benefits surrounding the possible introduction of non-native oysters into the Bay. This backgrounder provides a brief history of the study of non-native oysters in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the debate surrounding the issue

Apoption Statement - 2004 Oyster Management Plan (73 KB)

Publication date: 1/10/2005 | Type of document: Adoption Statement

An adoption statement signed by the Executive Council to continue the 2004 Oyster Management Plan.  The 2004 Oyster Management Plan provides both a general framework and specific guidance for rebuilding and managing the native oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in the Chesapeake Bay.

Oyster Fishery Management Plan (1989)

Publication date: 7/1/1989 | Type of document: Management Plan

The purpose of the Plan is to manage the oyster resource by restoring oyster habitat, controlling fishing mortality, promoting aquaculture and continuing the repletion programs.

Oyster Fishery Management Plan (1994)

Publication date: 1/1/1994 | Type of document: Management Plan

The goal of the 1994 Oyster Fishery Management Plan is to enhance the production of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem by restoring habitat, controlling fishing mortality, promoting aquaculture and continuing the repletion programs.

2004 Chesapeake Bay Oyster Management Plan (354 KB) (Order hard-copy)

Publication date: 12/5/2005 | Type of document: Report

The Oyster Management Plan includes both a general framework and specific guidance for managing and rebuilding the native oyster stock in Chesapeake Bay. The development of the plan was a multi-partner endeavor by representatives from state and federal agencies, academia, environmental organizations, and the oyster industry. The strategies include evaluating the use of sanctuaries and harvest reserves to obtain optimum ecological and economic benefits; rebounding habitat; increasing hatchery production; breeding disease-resistant oysters; evaluating impediments to aquaculture; managing harvest; improving coordination among the oyster partners; and developing a database to track oyster ...

Chesapeake Bay Program Oyster Restoration: Workshop Proceedings and Agreement Statements (660 KB)

Publication date: 3/1/2000 | Type of document: Report

Report curtailing proceedings and agreement statements on oyster restoration derived from 2 day workshop held in Waldorf, MD on January 13 & 14, 2000. Contains important consensus statements derived from meeting, on oyster sanctuaries and restoration, as well as abstracts and editors' notes from each presentation

Evaluating Ecosystem Effects of Oyster Restoration in Chesapeake Bay-A report to the MD DNR (841 KB)

Publication date: 9/1/2005 | Type of document: Report

The Chesapeake Bay Environmental Model Package (CBEMP) was used to assess the environmental benefits of oyster restoration in Chesapeake Bay. The CBEMP consists of a coupled system of models including a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, a three-dimensional eutrophication model and a sediment diagenesis model

Assessing a Ten-Fold Increase in the Chesapeake Bay Native Oyster Population (2.19 MB)

Publication date: 4/1/2005 | Type of document: Report

The Chesapeake Bay Environmental Model Package (CBEMP) was used to assess the environmental benefits of a ten-fold increase in native oysters in Chesapeake Bay. The CBEMP consists of a coupled system of models including a three-dimensional hydrodynamic model, a three-dimensional eutrophication model, and a sediment diagenesis model. The existing CBEMP benthos submodel was modified to specifically represent the Virginia oyster, Crassostrea virginica. The ten-fold oyster restoration is computed to increase summer-average, bottom, dissolved oxygen in the deep waters of the bay (depth > 12.9 m) by 0.25 g m-3. Summer-average system-wide surface chlorophyll declines by 1 mg m-3. Filtration of ...

Adoption Statement - Aquatic Reef Habitat Plan (13 KB)

Publication date: 12/1/1994 | Type of document: Adoption Statement

The purpose of this Plan is to guide the development and implementation of a regional program to rebuild and restore reefs as habitat for oysters and other ecologically valuable aquatic species.

Aquatic Reef Habitat Management Plan

Publication date: 12/1/1994 | Type of document: Fact Sheet

Designed to improve the ecology of Chesapeake Bay; the ecological value of the oyster resource; to restore, augment, and set aside hard substrate on the Bay bottom to enhance reef community development and improve aquatic habitat; and to increase the stock of oysters in Chesapeake Bay

Identification and Prioritizing Research Required to Evaluate Ecological Risks and Benefits of Introducing Diploid Crassostrea ariakensis to Restore Oysters to Chesapeake Bay (363 KB)

Publication date: 12/1/2003 | Type of document: Report

Heavy fishing pressure, habitat degradation and high disease mortality have driven native oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations to historic low levels in Chesapeake Bay. In response, the states of Maryland and Virginia are considering introducing the Asian Suminoe oyster (C. ariakensis) with the goal of establishing a naturalized, self-sustaining population.

Neither the potential risks nor the potential benefits of such an introduction are adequately known at this time. The scientific community agrees that an introduction of ...

Recommendations on Suminoe Oyster (Crassostrea Ariakensis) Aquaculture in Chesapeake Bay (196 KB)

Publication date: 4/23/2002 | Type of document: Fact Sheet

The purpose of this document is to communicate the findings and recommendations of the Federal Agencies Committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program with respect to an anticipated proposal to introduce the Suminoe oyster into the waters of the Chesapeake Bay for aquaculture production. The Federal agencies of the Chesapeake Bay Program (acting through the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency) are signatories to the Chesapeake 2000 agreement and expect that the other Chesapeake Bay Program partners will consider these recommendations in their review of any such proposal

Chesapeake Bay Living Resources 1997, Living Resources Subcommittee Annual Report

Publication date: 8/1/1998 | Type of document: Report

This report details the Chesapeake Bay Program's Living Resources Subcommittee accomplishments for 1997.  Accomplishments in wetlands, bay grasses, oyster reef restoration, fisheries management, fish passage, habitat restoration, exotic species, waterfowl and other water birds, biological monitoring, and ecosystem modeling are presented.

Ambient Toxicity and Chemical Characterization of Four Bayside Creeks of the Eastern Shore

Publication date: 1/1/2001 | Type of document: Report

An assessment of ambient toxicity of Delaware public peninsula creeks where agriculture is the dominant land use. The assessment evaluates potential persistent impacts and potential intermittent or pulsed impacts. Three watershed assessments have plastic culture practices.

Sediment in Chesapeake Bay and Management Issues: Tidal Erosion Processes (232 KB) (Order hard-copy)

Publication date: 5/1/2005 | Type of document: Report

Sediment is the third biggest pollutant to the Bay and its tributaries. Tidal sediment comprises approximately 57% of the sediment load to the Bay. Excess sediment is a key contributor to degraded water clarity and damages critical habitats (e.g. SAV beds and oyster bars) and living resources (shellfish, finfish and waterfowl). This report provides information on important tidal sediment processes and factors to consider before undertaking shoreline management actions to reduce tidal sediment loads. It provides maps and other general data to help target problem areas and identify valuable living resources where sediment reduction activities could help improve water clarity.

Suspension Feeders: A Workshop to Assess What We Know, Don't Know and Need to Know to Determine their Effects on Water Quality (161 KB)

Publication date: 12/1/2002 | Type of document: Report

Available in digital format and hardcopy. Phytoplankton standing stocks, production, and species composition are potentially influenced by both the supply of nutrients to the bottom of the food web and removal by suspension feeders higher in the food web. Similarly, suspended sediment concentrations are determined by both their loading rates and their removal or settlement from the water column. Most management activities to date in the Chesapeake Bay watershed have addressed the supply end of these relationships by attempting to reduce nutrient and sediment loading to waters within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. However, to predict the relationship between nutrient or sediment loading and ...

Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program: 2001 Recipients (107 KB)

Publication date: 8/1/2001 | Type of document: Fact Sheet

This fact sheet lists the year 2000 recipients of the Chesapeake Bay Small Watershed Grants Program

2002 Chesapeake Bay SAV Abundance and New Baywide Restoration Goal (226 KB)

Publication date: 9/22/2003 | Type of document: Fact Sheet

In 2002, Chesapeake Bay submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), or bay grasses, coverage reached a record 89,658 acres - more than twice the level first recorded in 1978. While this increase is impressive, a great deal more needs to be done to reach the Bay Programs new 185,000-acre baywide restoration goal. This backgrounder helps to put SAV restoration efforts into perspective through a table that highlights SAV acreage in 1984 (the sparsest year on record), 2002 (the most abundant year on record) and new segment specific restoration goals adopted by the Bay Program in April 2003.

Technical Tools Used in the Development of Virginia's Tributary Strategies (3.24 MB)

Publication date: 9/1/2000 | Type of document: Report

Virginia regional and local stakeholders and partners involved in the nutrient reduction goal setting and tributary strategy development process were provided with in-depth information of direct relevance from the best data available to the Bay's scientific and technical community. This document is a synthesis of the overall findings and modeling results conducted during the assessment phase of Virginia's Tributary Strategy process.