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| Oyster shells on “picking belt’ from Delaware Bay. Photo:Cody Glenn |
A shift in ocean conditions is creating warmer temperatures and higher salinity in Delaware Bay, making oyster beds off Salem County, NJ the beds of the future, according to the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.
To take advantage of those conditions and to help restore flood damaged beds, several organizations yesterday launched an experimental restoration project. It involves moving “seed oysters,” or shells with baby oysters attached,
from the Cape May County area of Delaware Bay to storm-damaged oyster beds off
Salem County.
Floods resulting from several consecutive storms, including
Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee, devastated oysters on the northernmost
beds of Delaware Bay last year.
The impact was worse than any other storm in
almost 60 years, killing about half of the oysters in the beds that comprise some 35 percent of the oysters supporting the fishery.
“This project is a partnership between the New Jersey Chapter
of The Nature Conservancy and several members of the Delaware Bay Oyster
Restoration Task Force,” said Jennifer Adkins, executive director of the
Partnership for the Delaware Estuary.
Cape Shore region, where lots of baby oysters “recruit,” or attach to shells,
but few survive unless protected from predators. These shells are then picked
up and moved to the northern beds, where the attached oysters can grow over
time.
Oysters on these northern beds are protected from predators and disease,
but they grow slower and produce fewer babies than beds to the south. That is
why, in some years in the past, oysters from these beds were moved south to
quickly grow bigger and be harvested as part of the quota set each
year.
Estuary, holds a planted clam shell with juvenile oysters growing on it. The “spat” will be replanted off
Hope Creek in Salem County to restore storm-damaged oyster beds.
“Shell planting is the single most important action we can
take to rebuild and revitalize the oyster beds of Delaware Bay,” said Dr. David
Bushek, director of Rutgers University’s Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory.
“Shell planting enhances oyster habitat, giving them a leg up on survival so we
can continue to reap both the ecological and economical benefits they
provide.”
Protection, said the annual oyster harvest generates over $3.5 million for
oystermen and pumps some $20 million into the bay region’s economy.
Congressman Frank LoBiondo underscored the financial return from oyster bed maintenance, putting it at almost $40 per every $1 spent.
“Who wouldn’t do that over, over and over again?” he asked.
