BALTIMORE (WJZ) — The oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay is in sharp decline, prompting state leaders to try multiple tactics to improve the species’ numbers.
A state assessment shows the number of oysters in the bay is down significantly — cut in half over the past two decades.
“Between 1999 and 2017, oyster populations declined from 600 million to 300 million adult oysters,” said Allison Colden with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
The morning brings hope for Robert Brown with the Maryland Watermen’s Association. As he pulls a fresh pile of oysters from the bay’s floor, he keeps some while others are tossed back into the water.
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38 comments:
as long as Penn and baltimore along with DC area continue to dump their shit into the rivers the bay will continue to decline. shame what they've done to our bay! human garbage literally!
We can dump more money into a failed system of saving the Bay or we can do the obvious and stop the harvesting for 10 years . Simple but the best fix. Yes I know people will be out of work , the stores who sell oysters will suffer a a little , but it will work . Of course the politicians will get involved and screw it up again , people who know nothing about the oyster industry will make some more stupid decisions . We did it for the stripped bass and it worked well , do it or suffer some more.
Dear 7:13 ,
We have laws that should prevent this , but you and I know that we don't enforce laws anymore , obama made sure of that.
Oysters are natural filters for the water they live in , the decline is more than likely too much harvesting.
The answer is simple, like in others areas that are over harvested and over fished have a moratorium for at least ten years. It's harsh, they have had to do this in other areas. Even in Canada the Cod fishery has never come back.
If you truly want to help clean up the bay, we need the filter feeders that are oysters to return in abundance.
I remember in my youth back in the mid sixties swimming in the bay and Choptank river and the water used to be crystal clear. You could easily see the bottom of the river. It's not like this today.
7:27. Are you serious?? Obama? The Trump administration has rolled back decades worth of Environmental Protections.
Correct answer...
The government spends a lot of money building oyster reefs and then they let the watermen go in there and catch them all up. Build up large oyster beds and close them up PERMANENTLY. But I guess that will never happen it makes too much sense.
Instead of just throwing watermen out on their ear, can't there be a less painful transition to commercial oyster farming such as what's utilized by Hooper's Island Oyster Company?
9:23 , Dream on , someone will have to suffer , better a few than the entire shore.
I worked the water for years , 50% crooks , 50% legal , they need to stop harvesting , period.
Do away with public beds, if you don't own and maintain them you don't harvest them.
tons of silt come daily out of the dam at the head waters of the bay
seem the release in 2018 nothing can live with the silt that is being dumped into the bay
it must be cleaned out from behind the dam
take a boat ride around the upper bay starting from the Bay Bridge and go north. You'll see all the drainage pipes coming from businesses that discharge waste into the bay. It's cheaper to pay the fine. But will it ever be fixed? No. Just like all the crap coming across that dam,they just talk, talk, talk.
At 8:50 a.m., and because of what Trump did carbon dioxide output is down 20% in the United States. But not in other countries.
Dear 8:50
I said we don't enforce the laws because obama wouldn't let it happen , ENFORCE is the word , you get it now ? obama hates cops and the military , get it now? obama is a terrorist , get now ? This not a muslim country and will never be , Get it now? DAH
I see that most of these people who have commented are ignorant and know nothing about the current state of the oyster population. there are literally so many oysters this year that waterman cant sell them
Mandatory 5 year ban on all Oyster trapping would help. We need to allow them to repopulate and grow. Look how good conservation efforts saved the Buffalo, this could save the bay Oysters.
Advertise it with Oysters on Billboards saying, "Eat more Chicken".
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Oysters are natural filters for the water they live in , the decline is more than likely too much harvesting.
December 26, 2019 at 7:39 AM
Shh, you can't talk sense on here. It will go right over most people's head.
Anonymous Anonymous said...
7:27. Are you serious?? Obama? The Trump administration has rolled back decades worth of Environmental Protections.
December 26, 2019 at 8:50 AM
I won't even mention the crazy, worthless and ineffective EPA 'protections' we are saddled with. Instead, I will ask you which 'protections' the Trump Admin rolled back. I'll even admit you will probably find one or two, or three, but I want to know the 'decades worth'. You game?
9:23 , Dream on , someone will have to suffer , better a few than the entire shore.
I worked the water for years , 50% crooks , 50% legal , they need to stop harvesting , period.
December 26, 2019 at 9:38 AM
That percentage could apply in ANY occupation.
Couldn't one way to help would be to reduce harvesting to just enough to supply local areas? Might be a hit on the economy of oysters and workers but better than total loss of employment and supply wouldn't it?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
I see that most of these people who have commented are ignorant and know nothing about the current state of the oyster population. there are literally so many oysters this year that waterman cant sell them
December 26, 2019 at 2:32 PM
They read the article, which states oysters are in a sharp decline, and now are discussing it. If what they are saying is ignorant, then the information they get from the article must be ignorant don't ya think?
“Between 1999 and 2017, oyster populations declined from 600 million to 300 million adult oysters,” said Allison Colden with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Or maybe YOU didn't read the article.
Everything was created for a purpose. Bivalves and shellfish keep our waterways clean. Vultures, wild boars, etc, do the same on land. When you remove them from their environment you end up with filth and bacteria that can cause illness and disease. And when you eat them, you are ingesting all the impurities from the water. Maybe that is why God said not to eat them.
listen carefully
THERE IS NO SHORTAGE OF OYSTERS
waterman literally cant sell them because the markets are flooded with fat healthy oysters
the real problem here is that the bay foundation and other groups have spent 100's of millions of tax payer money to "save" the oysters and they have failed miserably. it turns out that what the waterman have been telling tell the dnr and conservation groups is fact and now they have to admit it
we all know that's not gonna happen. so now we get fear mongering new legislation will be passed to justify the wasted millions, waterman will be public enemy again
same old song and dance
9:23
Couldn't one way to help would be to reduce harvesting to just enough to supply local areas? Might be a hit on the economy of oysters and workers but better than total loss of employment and supply wouldn't it
that makes no sense try telling farmers that;
try telling store owners that they can only sell to locals
Northwest Woodsman: Could it be that oysters are smarter than most Maryland citizens and they have engaged in “Oyster Flight” similar to “White Flight” to escape the corruption and turmoil that seems to be rampant in the state?
Anonymous Anonymous said...
9:23
Couldn't one way to help would be to reduce harvesting to just enough to supply local areas? Might be a hit on the economy of oysters and workers but better than total loss of employment and supply wouldn't it
that makes no sense try telling farmers that;
try telling store owners that they can only sell to locals
December 27, 2019 at 9:16 AM
Why does it make no sense to tell farmers that? Explain, please.
It appears you did not comprehend what I was saying about only selling in local AREAS, not 'locals' as in people.
How did some of you graduate HS? Or did you?
3:38 "It appears you did not comprehend what I was saying about only selling in local AREAS, not 'locals' as in people."
well I guess im a little challenged, I thought local people lived in local areas.
I guess it makes no sense to ship seafood or produce to areas and cities that have higher populations away from the eatern shore
So genius, how does shutting down harvest for 10 years stop disease, keep sediments from flowing into the bay, or even allow oyster reefs that took 100 years to build to recover?
Bwahahah yeah Obama did it. Too funny
Even though Omalley cut off 70% of the best oyster ground and declared them sanctuaries ( which are now silted over and mostly dead) the Md oyster industry remained viable until last year . The last year was a grind and it looked bad for the waterman. So bad that the unelected Md dnr imposed new regulations this season with watermen only able to catch 10 bu per day and prohibited from working Wednesday (of course dnr or none of the regulators lose a day of pay). Something unexplainable by the so called dnr experts and even the watermen who are the real experts occurred. The oysters came back so thick that the watermen are catching their limit in only a few hours. There are so many oysters the dealers have had to lay the boats off for several days already before the holidays and the boat price has dropped. Of course the dnr and the state will try and take credit due to the new regulations but they had nothing to do with this !
I refuse to elieve you are this dumb or uninformed.
Banning oyster trapping as i read above is not the answer although having to set traps for them could help.The industry is in trouble in many ways .Water quality ,salinity etc are key factors in reproduction .Mant DNR sanctuaries have a higher mortality rattan public bottom another failed experiment by the DNR .One fact is an oyster spat need a clean surface to attach itself to therefore a oyster bar needs to be cultivated like a healthy garden.Oyster Trapping ?Peta probably wold go nuts over that,arc.
Consider the source. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is basically a money grabbing do nothing organization. They exist to collect donations and government grants. They spend more than 60% of their funds on salaries, travel and entertainment. I have several friends that are watermen and they are having a banner year oystering this year. If the foundation reports that the bay is getting cleaner every year (which it is) they produce less donations. Consider the source.
Humans helping oysters do they can eat them.
Irony
Lets do a buyout like we did with the tobacco farmers. Take some of the Bay Restoration money pay and the waterman an average of what the caught the last 3 years and have them reinvest it in oyster raising. No one plants my fields so I can harvest my crops. The waterman have nothing invested in oyster production. Let them lease a part of the river and grow the oysters.
3:29 "Lets do a buyout like we did with the tobacco farmers. Take some of the Bay Restoration money pay and the waterman an average of what the caught the last 3 years and have them reinvest it in oyster raising. No one plants my fields so I can harvest my crops. The waterman have nothing invested in oyster production. Let them lease a part of the river and grow the oysters. "
and once again more uninformed sheep telling the herders how to do their job..many years ago the dnr decided to charge every oysterman an extra 300 to go oystering this 300 was supposed to pay for shells to be planted on the oysterbars so yeah the waterman do have money invested
329 "Lets do a buyout like we did with the tobacco farmers. Take some of the Bay Restoration money pay and the waterman an average of what the caught the last 3 years and have them reinvest it in oyster raising. No one plants my fields so I can harvest my crops. The waterman have nothing invested in oyster production. Let them lease a part of the river and grow the oysters. "
socialism at its finest
I didn't know AOC read Sby news
The problem is you morons who don't listen to the laws as fishermen and the cops who refuse to enforce those laws... They have been trying to save this crap for the last 10+ years and they even enact no fishing zones but you fishermen don't care and still go there to oyster anyway, taking what little bit of oysters are there or surviving... You clowns are over fishing the area and nothing in this world can fix that but you morons who continue to over fish... If you have to over fish to survive maybe get a new career!!!!
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