then came an unexpected turning point: in october 2020, the america’s conservation enhancement act passed congress with bipartisan support. this new act provides landmark, sorely needed funding for the epa’s chesapeake bay program and other conservation efforts. in this video, drew robinson, of the choose clean water coalition, and dr. solange filoso, of the university of maryland center for environmental science, discuss why this act is so remarkable and how it may change the future of the bay.

lets take a closer look at how scientists at the george washington university are studying the effects of agricultural runoff on the development of eastern oysters.

the restaurant is a quaint little place right under the barnegat lighthouse. my great-grandmother’s clam chowder would draw crowds year after year. i’ve heard some people say they come back to the island each year only to get more of her chowder.

it was pretty clear to me, even then, that clams and shellfish were a big part of my family’s livelihood. not only that, the recipes passed down were family tradition, and they brought my family closer together as we shared them with others. i’m the fourth generation in my family to work at the restaurant. yes, that’s me in the pink shirt in the front. my parents met when they both worked at the restaurant years ago, so, if you think about it, i really do have clam chowder to thank for my entire existence.

more specifically, though, i can thank the clams and oysters of the barnegat bay also for every summer day i enjoyed swimming in the bay, or fishing with my dad (and to this day never catching anything). oysters and clams filter out the bay, and they are also essential to aquatic ecosystems. they provide food for some larger animals, and they form coral reef-like structures, which serve as homes for the smaller fish that we could never seem to catch.

these oyster reefs are incredible, and making them is no easy process. here you can find a video of people in my area building an oyster reef in the barnegat bay. in the chesapeake bay area, there are similar projects happening, but on a much larger scale. these projects, which bring together several non-profits and government organizations, capture the essence of what it is to work as a community for the betterment of the ecosystem.

projects like this pan out really well in small shore towns, such as barnegat light, where close-knit communities are willing to take time to go to a museum or show off a flashy clam sculpture in front of their business, but without a lot of support from the community, these movements can fall flat. it is especially interesting to see how shellfish restoration projects scale up to big cities like washington, d.c.

what i think gives these movements the inertia to keep going is a network of dedicated scientists who genuinely care about their work. i’ve had dr. scully in class, and on more than one occasion, she casually brought up waking up at five in the morning to check on how her own oysters are doing, or spending her saturday teaching local kids how to clean up the bay. she actually jumped at the chance to take my film partner jordan and i to film at an oyster hatchery that is two hours away. it would take an awful lot to get me to drive anyone two hours anywhere.

we also met stephanie tobash-alexander, a senior faculty research assistant at horn point lab. she was wearing oyster-shaped earrings, and i think this perfectly illustrates just how much oysters are a part of her life. she explained the oyster recovery partnership as a puzzle, with organizations coming together, with everyone needing each other’s assistance. part of the reason we chose to create a fictional oyster as our story’s central character was to contextualize the care given to just one oyster: ollie. this was validated in our visit to horn point. the treatment process is complex and long-winded, yet researchers share a true, unhinged allegiance to getting ollie back into the water, where he can restore mother nature to a self-sustaining tipping point. 

there are plenty of people who care about the welfare of their local ecosystems. the challenge is getting these scientists, who have spirited debates about which diatoms to feed the algae for oysters, to sound approachable and interesting to everyday people.

we didn’t want to focus on an audience of people who know which diatom they like best, or even the people who grew up riding bikes around the docks in the morning. we wanted to focus on the everyday people who don’t know about all that oysters do for us.

our approach was to find something a little closer to the heart, or stomach rather, of the general public. we used an oyster as a character because people are familiar with oysters, whether they’ve eaten them or seen their shells on the beach. we noticed a common thread throughout the story of ollie and the oysters in their ability to provide balance to the ecosystem, serving as a foundation of hope to rescue and stabilize the chesapeake’s diverse wildlife. that’s exactly what oysters represent to us as well. as the structures they create form homes for aquatic creatures, they also provide citizens of the mid-atlantic and chesapeake area with a sense of home and belonging.

our piece aims to make people understand just what is so special about the little shellfish that keep the bay clean. i urge you to get to know ollie the oyster, watch our video, and then go out and #savethebay.

my childhood was filled with stories of my father’s adventures on the bay: days of waking up early to go fishing with friends, catching as many fish, crabs, and oysters they could fill their stomachs with, as they bonded with each other and their surroundings. at the age of five, my father took me on my first fishing expedition on the famed bay.

i can vividly remember my excitement as i climbed on the boat eagerly awaiting the numerous fish i would soon be catching.

but that day we did not catch many fish — and i probably threw up more times than fish caught.  

reminiscing on this day, i know it serves both as one of my fondest childhood memories and also my first personal experience of the disastrous condition the bay’s ecosystem has fallen into. even at a young age it became clear that this was no longer the same body of water, which once flourished.

the bay’s origin

the chesapeake bay has taken several forms over the past 10,000 years. once a glacier formation, which then melted and flooded the susquehanna river valley, and now the largest estuary in the united states and the third largest in the world, as well as home to two of the five largest seaports in the north atlantic — baltimore and virginia beach.

prior to european colonization, the powhatan tribe primarily inhabited the chesapeake bay region. living within the bounds of the natural world, the bay grew alongside the tribe. the symbolic relationship between the powhatan and the bay allowed an alliance to grow strong.

but the expansion of european colonization started the next stage in humanity’s relationship with the bay.

the introduction to what appeared to be an endless supply of natural resources combined with the ability to port boats allowed society to slowly strip the bay of its natural bounty.

for hundreds of years we continued to take from the bay without consequences. today, we are faced with serious environmental concerns.

natural filters

part of the trouble with the health of today’s bay can be tied to one of its natural inhabitants: the oyster. and, specifically, the number of oysters in residence.

the shellfish act as a filtration system. they filter sediment and pollution, and promote a naturally sustainable ecosystem for the underwater grass and aquatic life.

the late 18th century brought a steep decline in oyster population to the bay. prior to the mass harvesting of oysters, their reefs were so large and numerous they were known for causing hazardous navigation within the bay.

it is estimated that during this time more than 15 million bushels of oysters were harvested from the bay each year. a number, which later jumped to over 20 million at the end of the 19th century.

as large amounts of oysters were harvested, that natural filtration system slowed. it is estimated that it once took no more than three days for the oysters to filter the 18 trillion gallons of water that flow within the bay. today? it’s believed to take over a year for the bay to be naturally filtered. 

steps for recovery

crews placed granite and mixed shell (e.g., clam, quahog, etc.) as substrate materials to rebuild the oyster habitat in harris creek off the chesapeake bay. (photo by the u.s. army corps of engineers)

these serious environmental concerns were brought to light in the 1970s. the environmental protection agency (epa) conducted a report from 1976-1983 demonstrating the steep decline in the health of the bay. this report sparked the creation of the chesapeake bay commission, created in 1980, an agreement between virginia, pennsylvania, and maryland legislators, in order to protect, sustain, and assist in re-establishing the thriving the ecosystem of the bay.

the chesapeake bay foundation and chesapeake bay oyster management plan have allowed individuals to involve themselves in the restoration effort. through these programs easily accessible means local communal support has been established.

although the formation of these organizations has assisted in the health of the bay, it still faces an uphill battle.

the simple acts of recycling oyster shells, cultivating oyster reef communities, and monitoring and reducing agricultural runoff have shown positive signs of an uptick in the health of the bay. the revival and restoration of oyster reefs communities have played a large role in the cultivation of the increasing population.

once able to sustain, grow, and thrive on an individual basis, society has taken this away from the bay. we are now charged with the preservation and protection of the bay, in order to live in harmony beside it.

it has been 16 years since my first memorable interaction with the bay. today, summer weekends are filled with impromptu trips to the bay. each weekend getaway we take provides a further glimpse into my father’s youth, as the bay continues to rejuvenate itself.

crabs, fish, and oysters were once the backbone of a prolific seafood economy around the chesapeake bay. however, the runoff pollution from cities, suburbs and farms across states spanning from virginia to new york has damaged the area’s economy and put some of the local drinking water quality in peril. this film shows a day-in-the-life of just a few of the many people dedicated to innovations that promote urban sustainability.

in the film’s prologue, oysterman brian droneberger shares his success and failures in the damaged fishery. the first of chesapeake footsoldiers’ three longer segments profiles buddy willey and bryan gomes of the oyster recovery partnership. buddy assists oyster gardeners throughout the region while bryan teaches maryland youth about the importance of oysters – the chesapeake bay’s natural water filters. the second story showcases the work of biologist-conservationist drew koslow, who collaborates closely with eastern shore farmers to stop the flow of nutrients into waterways by using bioreactor technology. finally, pat fasano educates and persuades amish farmers in pennsylvania about the pressing need to implement new and better conservation techniques.

chesapeake footsoldiers will be released on april 30 on maryland public television. please see the following link for another sample from the film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzuncaf1kpq

not too long ago, i didn’t know much about oysters. sure, i knew some make pearls and some taste good as appetizers, but since then, i’ve learned the oyster is much more than an expensive food at the seafood counter. they are one of the most important species in the chesapeake bay. 

oysters are a life source for the chesapeake bay. as oysters repopulate, they build reefs that provide food and shelter to small fish and crabs. and just as trees help clean the air, oysters help filter the bay, which paves the way for more aquatic life. by doing so, oysters act as a sustainable resource for one of the most valuable commercial fisheries. without oysters, the bay would a polluted, morbid swampland.

in the 1600s, oysters were so plentiful that their reefs racked above the water surface and posed navigational hazards for ships. the millions of oysters kept the bay clean and clear up to depths of 20 feet or more.

but history has not been kind to the oyster. oyster populations have plummeted to 1 percent of their historic pre-colonial levels.

what endangered this once abundant species? a bad case of the humans.

it started with overharvesting in the mid-1800s and advanced to habitat destruction this past century. this was seen in “dead zones,” or cubic miles of oxygen-depleted water, which have risen due to pollution from tributaries upstream. agricultural runoff has been the largest source of this pollution.

similar to a cancerous tumor, dead zones signal a much larger problem for the bay.

high levels of fertilizers, pesticides and animal waste from nearby farms stimulate algae blooms in the water. algae suck the oxygen from the water, hindering the development of oyster larvae in affected waters. as oysters die, so do the fish. as the fish die, so do their predators. eventually, the entire ecosystem is put at risk. over the last three decades, the oyster decline has cost chesapeake businesses more than $4 billion and cut more than 5,500 oystermen jobs. 

in 2010, the issue became a national priority when president obama stepped in with an executive order aimed at limiting pollutants from impaired waterways, which reduced agricultural chemicals by 25 percent from 2009 levels. not everyone was pleased. interest groups opposing bay cleanup efforts spent more than $18 million lobbying during the 2011-12 election cycle and even blocked a bill that same year on pollution control within the bay.

this is bad news for our little oyster friends.

the longer government stalls pollution limitations, the more damage this will have on the oyster’s longevity. even moderately low levels of oxygenated waters increase their susceptibility to deadly diseases such as dermo. at what point will the entire chesapeake bay become a victim?

now, when i visit the grocery store and look at the oyster through the seafood glass counter, i see a small, clam-like species with a remarkable ability to transform the environment. i also see a species that can take away as much as it provides. then i look at all of the bay’s fish at the counter and ask myself, which ones will be served without the oyster? 

_{top photo courtesy of 663highland.}