oyster restoration in virginia beach
TRANSCRIPT
Mark W. Luckenbach
Watershed Forum Mar. 14, 2016
2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013
Year
Mil
lion
s of
Bu
shel
s
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6 Oyster Landings in Virginia
2001 - 2014
Publicgrounds
Leasedbottom
Outline
• Positive trends for oysters
• Science and management behind these trends
• Implications for community-based restoration
From Hudson and Murray 2015
0
10
20
30
40
50
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
Mark
et
oy
ste
rs s
old
(x
10
6)
In 2014:
107.1 M single oyster seed planted
39.8 M aquacultured oysters sold
$17.1 M farm gate value
U.S. East Coast leader in oyster
aquaculture production Survival
Growth
Market Size
Age (months)
% S
urv
ival
Siz
e (m
m)
Late 1980’s
Now
A thin veneer of shells has not been sufficient to
promote the development of a sustainable reef
Recruitment + New shell growth < Shell loss rate
Greater attention to reef architecture
with sufficient 3-D structure
Enhanced growth & survival; shell persistence
Metapopulation dynamics, Source-sink modeling Detailed bottom mapping
FromLipciusetal.2015.Front.Mar.Sci.FromNOAAChes.BayOffice
0
10
20
30
40
50
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Market
Small
Spat
0
10
20
30
40
50
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014
Better restoration
Better fisheries management
Harvest bar Sanctuary
Lessons for watershed groups• Your efforts can make a difference
• This does not work everywhere
• Understand oyster recruitment
patterns
• Importance of reef structure
• Selective breeding is for aquaculture
Water quality impacts• Oysters provide some water quality benefit
• Last season’s oyster harvest ~ 40,000 lbs. N
• N loading in VA from septic & WWT
~74,000,000 lbs. (oysters removed 0.05%)
• Land-based efforts have a much bigger
impact.