er,” Dodd said.
The Chesapeake Bay oyster certainly doesn’t need any more bad news. Two diseases, Dermo and MSX, origin unknown, have killed them by the bushel for decades. That and overfishing have dramatically reduced their numbers, officials said.
Recently, the critter showed signs of a modest recovery in Virginia and Maryland. Virginia, which harvested only 79,600 bushels of oysters in 2005, racked up about 236,200 bushels in 2011, the most since 1989. Maryland had 26,400 bushels in 2005 but hauled in 121,200 bushels in 2011.
Oysters are filter feeders that play a critical role in cleaning the polluted bay. “One hundred years ago, the bay was crystal-clear because they filtered it every three weeks, as opposed to every three years today,” Ries said.
That is one of several reasons why the two states recently launched all-out offensives to protect bay oysters.
Virginia created huge sanctuaries in public waters such as the Rappahannock River where watermen are allowed to harvest oysters on a rotating basis about every two years. The state also strongly encourages private aquaculture, selling plots of riverbed or bay floor to oyster farmers for $1.50 an acre.
Maryland has poured $50 million into its oyster recovery effort over the past 16 years. The state now forbids oyster harvesting on a quarter of the bars where they grow, protecting them with a fine of up to $25,000 and 15 years in prison. Maryland is only beginning to develop aquaculture.
But along with the oyster, the bay blue crab is making a comeback. In the last winter dredge survey, an annual population count funded by the two states, crab numbers were up 66 percent from 2003.
The Chesapeake Bay Program — the regional partnership trying to restore the bay — called it a baby boomlet, with an increase from 207 million juvenile crabs in 2011 to 587 million the next year. The population jumped after Virginia closed its winter dredge season, when watermen dragged heavy metal traps in rivers at a time when mostly females were preparing to reproduce.
The season remains closed, all but ensuring more crabs — and more hungry mouths to feed on mussels, clams and the bay oyster.
Under ocean acidification, oysters won’t be able to keep up. “As you’re using up your energy, it could make you more vulnerable not just to predators but to disease,” Dodd said.