On behalf of the Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Group, Dr. Eric Powell of Rutgers University’s Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory has released the monitoring results of the 2005 Oyster Shell-Planting Revitalization Project in the Delaware Bay.

The report reveals that, while overall oyster abundance has declined to its lowest levels throughout the bay since the onset of Dermo disease (circa 1989), as well as to one of the lowest levels in the 1953 to 2005 record, abundance has increased in the areas where shell planting took place. Oyster larvae require a clean, hard surface to which they can attach for future growth, but the sources of these shells have diminished over time.

The 2005 shell-planting program was designed specifically to address the issue of low recruitment by restoring six critical beds in the Delaware Bay. As a result, 280,000 bushels (approximately 150 acres or 10,500 tons) of shell were planted in July to begin the restoration of natural beds in New Jersey and Delaware, where the abundance of oysters had declined.

The revitalization project was funded in 2005 with a total of $750,000 from Congress, the Cumberland Empowerment Zone Corporation, the States of Delaware and New Jersey, the Delaware River and Bay Authority, and the oyster industries of both states. The oyster beds were then monitored to determine the success of the planting effort.

“Oyster recruitment doubled in the target areas of the bay, which is a big success. The 2005 program could lead, in three years, to a 50-percent increase in the number of oysters that could be harvested,” said Powell.

“These findings hold great promise as to the potential outcome of this important work being done in the bay,” said Kathy Klein, executive director of the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, a member-organization of the restoration group.

“It also demonstrates just how critical working together in a bay-wide partnership is to restoring one of the Delaware Estuary’s signature species, from both an ecological and economic standpoint.”

With the additional $2 million Congressional funding allocation that was granted for 2006, the oyster shell-planting and transplant program will be able to continue and expand at a much greater scale. This bi-state program is a collaborative effort at the local, state and federal levels that will benefit the environment, as well as the oyster industry.

Copies of the “2005 Shell-Planting Program in Delaware Bay” report can be found online at the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary website.

5/5/2006