But Maryland can lay claim to the world’s largest man-made oyster reef. It was finished just days ago, and rests at the watery bottom of Harris Creek on the Eastern Shore, spread across more acres than the national Mall.
Why is this a big deal? The reef in the creek is the foundation of Maryland’s bid to resuscitate its troubled oyster population, overfished to near oblivion for decades and attacked by a couple of killer diseases as vicious as the bubonic plague. Oysters are more than a food that pair well with a dash of lemon and sauce; they are cleaning machines that filter dirty water in the polluted Chesapeake Bay.
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2 comments:
they finally wised up after years and years of spreading the shells across the
bottom of the bay. during colonial times the oyster reefs were all over the bay but they were all destroyed by the oystermen. thanks sjd
There are more than one problem with oysters. The oyster "Sanctuaries" are full of way too old unharvested oysters who eventually get diseased and die, spreading the disease. Proper farming of these places would be better management.
And, there's no point of putting an oyster bed north of the Bay Bridge, as they will just get buried with silt from the Conowingo dam.
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