This article from the Washington Post states that the oyster harvest from the Chesapeake Bay, from both Virginia and Maryland, is going to be a fairly big harvest.
Virginia expects largest oyster harvest in three decades
"Virginia estimates that commercial oyster businesses will harvest 300,000 bushels this season in public fishery areas. Maryland expects to harvest 600,000 bushels, marking the fourth consecutive year the state has seen harvest increases. Because Maryland has more public fishery areas, its harvests tend to be larger than Virginia, officials said."But ... here's the other part of this.
"Oysters are an important part of the Chesapeake Bay’s ecology because they filter sediment and nitrogen out of the water. They also provide a habitat that attracts crabs and fish."
So, added up, Maryland and Virginia are going to harvest nearly a million bushels of oysters, which, if left in the Bay's waters, would help clean up the water going into the Bay, reduce eutrophication (a process that reduces oxygen in the Bay's waters), and generally improve the environment of the Bay for all of the other biota that live there.
Shouldn't they be left in place to reproduce until there are a LOT more of them, as historically was the case? Wouldn't this growing population contribute to much improved water quality in the Bay?
What's the rush?
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