Saving Nature ' S Jewel : A Look Into Restoring The Population Of Eastern Oysters

The Chesapeake Bay is a 200-mile-long estuary extending from Norfolk, VA to Havre de grace Maryland. On average this bay contains about 68 trillion liters of water. This bay is the largest estuary in North America. It inhabits more than 3,000 species of plants, animals, and fish. “Since the early twentieth century, the Chesapeake Bay has experienced serious environmental degradation. Problems include large reductions in sea grass, reduced amounts of finfish and shellfish (especially oysters and crab), seasonal depletions in dissolved oxygen, and increases in sedimentation.” (Atkins & Anderson, 2003) These changes are brought on by pollution (Eutrophication and Toxic Contamination), development, deforestation, and agriculture. And according

It is their home, their thriving place. According to the National WIldlife Federation, ¨The Bay supports 3,600 species of plant and animal life, including more than 300 fish species and 2,700 plant types.”. Not only does the wildlife depend on the bay, but humans do as well. The Chesapeake Bay contains a 64,000-square-mile watershed, this watershed provides large amounts of drinking water for us in Maryland, along with several other states. Everyday, the condition of the water declines, meaning the home for wildlife and our drinking water does too. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation pointed out that, ¨Toxic chemicals are constantly entering the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams via wastewater, agriculture, stormwater, and air pollution. These harmful chemicals, such as mercury, PCBs, and PAHs, do not break down easily and persist in the environment for many years, impacting not just fish and birds, but humans as well.¨. How important does the restoration of the bay sound

Scientists and researchers began giving a large volume of effort and look into the extremely complex problems that face the Chesapeake Bay. When research for the improving and saving of the Bay’s overall health began it seemed very simple and there were only a couple of problems. The problems included nutrients from agricultural runoff; these nutrients were phosphorus and nitrogen. The combination of the nutrients in the Bay caused a large volume of algae that choked some of the marine life. While bringing in algae the nutrients also killed grasses on the seafloor. These seafloor bed grasses that once covered more than half of the Chesapeake Bay’s floor now only covered a tenth of their original area. Though the estuary was having problems it did not receive the terrible pollution from industries that many large rivers and lakes do in other urban areas (Brown, p. 397).

The food chain of the Chesapeake Bay is very simple. It has fish, big fish depend on small fish. The small fish feed off of oysters or sometimes zooplankton. Oysters then feed off of many small zooplankton. Once, it gets down to what the zooplankton feed off of it is mostly algae or grass. Now, since there is a major decrease in the algae population, this

Oyster reefs, giant populations of oysters, provide habitats for many other types of organisms such as worms, snails, sea squirts, sponges, small crabs, and fishes.

Also crabbing which is much like fishing, but the crabs take a major hit every year causes a decrease from taking to many of the species at one time. In fact, it is technically illegal to take a certain percentage of females, however this is rarely enforced as pollution is put into the bay Graczyk, et al (2006) found that salinity levels in the water can cause oyster filtration and energy to change dramatically. Over harvesting isn’t the only cause for the oysters decreasing population. The oysters are also affected by watermen who visit each week for recreational and business purposes. Many oysters are silted over due to mid-Atlantic farms, growing cities and the oyster reefs being destroyed by their dredges (Strickland, 2009). The reefs were not just beneficial to the oysters they are a part of the bays life cycle. The oyster reefs also supply homes for small fish and other small sea creatures (Strickland,

Sharks play a crucial role in the ecosystem. They are an apex predator and are critical to keeping balance and safety of their community and even their ecosystem. Due to overexploitation, many species of sharks are close to extinction and this can lead to devastating impacts in the ocean ecosystem. The shark keeps the food webs in balance. The keep the population of many prey under checked. For example since the population of sharks have dwindled down, the cow nose ray population blew out of proportion. Because of this the ray destroyed the population of one of their main source of food, the bay scallops. If it were not for sharks, many species would overpopulate and cause the same harm as the cow nose ray. While keeping prey from overpopulation,

Globally, economies and ecosystems have always depended on oysters (Crassostrea virginica) for many benefits such as enhancement of commercially important invertebrates and finfish, stabilization of shorelines, filtration of coastal water, and removal of excess nitrogen. Oyster population and growth has declined drastically, and in 2008 many commercial leases were abandoned because oysters were dying before reaching market size. This study focused on the correlation of oyster reduction with water salinity and conchs. Just before this decline there was an increase in the crown conch (Melongena corona), which is the oyster’s predator. A prolonged drought in southeastern United States at this time could be a factor because of reduced inputs

protection, so the shore will not have erosion done to it. Oysters exist in our community because

Although ocean acidification is affecting the entire world’s oceans, a noticeable effect it is causing would be the major effect it is having on oyster farms in Oregon and Washington. Since about 2006 up to 80% of oyster larvae have started to die-off (Grossman). The young oyster are very vulnerable to their environmental conditions during the first few days of their lives because this is when the oysters are developing the most. Therefore the inability for these oyster to develop is a sign that there is a big change in the oceans conditions. When the pH level of the ocean becomes too low, the young oysters’ shells start to break apart and oyster larvae start to die, this causes hatcheries to be left with nothing to distribute. Not only is

A single oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water per day (“NOAA…”). Past research has been done in which oysters have been able to decrease the amount of Labyrinthula zosterae, an eelgrass pathogen, from the water column (which for these purposes is defined as a column of water from the surface to the bottom). It isn’t known, however, whether oysters can filter other pathogens like S. marcescens. If oysters could remove S. marcescens from the marine environment, oyster beds could be planted to protect Elkhorn corals located in areas where wastewater treatment is lacking or ineffective. Protecting corals will become increasingly important as global warming is becoming increasingly urgent. As global warming increases, tropical waters will heat up making the environment less suitable for corals. The increased temperature will also aid in the growth of S. marcescens as the marine environment begins to more closely model the human body, speeding up the process of coral extinction even further (“Human Waste…”). We will need the coral reefs to protect the coastlines from tropical storms, which will increase as global warming worsens

Oysters and the reefs they form provide many ecological, economic, and social benefits. The health of an oyster bed reflects the overall health of the coastal ecosystem they live in. Not only are they an important part of the estuarine food web, they also provide an excellent habitat for inshore marine life, and form important commercial and recreational fishery. Oysters help control erosion along the shorelines and filter the water they live in. These benefits make them an important species in the estuary.

Seafood is not only consumed by humans but also by others creatures living in water and on land such as bigger fishes, bears, and whales. Seafood contains full of many of the things our bodies need to operate as nature planned. Seafood contains protein, vitamins, minerals, fats, omega-3 fatty acid. Although seafood can be cooked in different ways but cooking treatment can affect the amount of nutrients in seafood. Ocean is the primary source of food for more than 3.5 billion people. (8)

The reasons of the last decline in the Solent oyster population from 2006 are still unknown. This species has constituted an important fishery in the Solent with commercial explotation since 1800’s. Due to some life characteristics of this species oyster beds are very vulnerable to commercial exploitation and overfishing (Laing et al., 2005; Orton, 1927c). However, other hypotheses point to trends in increasing sea temperatures, habitat degradation, chemical and physical pollution.

They are the most dominant element of the benthic community in the Miocene of Egypt. Until now, oysters from the study area were only mentioned in passing by a few authors (Gindy et al., 1969; El-Shazly and Abdel-Hamid, 2001). Like their modern representatives, oysters cement themselves onto the substrate by their left valves. Most cementing bivalves are found in shallow water environments having depths of less than 35 m (Kauffmann, 1969). Modern oysters are typically founded in estuaries, bays, and tidal creeks from brackish water (5 parts per thousand [ppt] salinity) to normal marine water (35 ppt salinity) (Loosanoff, 1965). They are very tolerant organisms, able