Commentary by Steve King
(printed in the County Times, Sept. 6,2012.)
September 4, 2012
Letter To The Editor,
The article featured in the August 30, 2102 edition of the County Times newspaper, entitled, "ReefBalls' Will Be Sunk in River", does a good job covering one of the construction components that will be used as part of a major oyster reef restoration project that is expected to begin in the St. Mary's River later this Fall. However, it's important to point out to your readers that only 50% of the new reef will be constructed out of reef balls. Recycled concrete will be used for the other half of the project. Both materials have been selected for use on this project based on the recommendations of Professors Robert Paul and Christopher Tanner of St. Mary's College of Maryland after they conducted an exhaustive literature review of oyster reef construction projects that have been previously conducted throughout the United States. A detailed report on Drs. Paul's and Tanner's findings and recommendations can be found in, "St. Mary's River Oyster Reef Restoration: Construction and Monitoring, Final Report, June 15, 2012, a copy of which can be found on the website of the St. Mary's River Watershed Association at www.smrwa.org.
The St. Mary's River Oyster Reef Restoration Project will include post-construction oyster recruitment, growth and mortality monitoring, as well as monitoring the degree of colonization of the new reef by other marine flora and fauna. The monitoring is expect to take place for at least the next seven years and will be performed by students and faculty of St. Mary's College of Maryland. The purpose of the monitoring is to obtain critical data on the long-term success of the new reef to attract, retain and promote the growth of the oysters that will inhabit it. Water quality monitoring will also be performed in order to measure and document improvements in water quality that are expected as a result of the project.
In addition to both reef balls and recycled concrete being used to construct the reef, one third of each type of substructure will be covered with a clean oyster shell veneer and one third will be covered with oyster shell veneer containing live oyster spat. The purpose of the veneers is to enable the project's researchers to measure any changes in oyster growth rates, recruitment and survivability that may occur as a result of placing oyster shell and spat-on-shell on the reef, as compared to using only bare concrete. Collection of this data will be essential to future decisions on how to sustainably restore oyster reefs throughout the Bay.
It is important for your readers to understand that unlike the bottom "bars" upon which the Chesapeake Bay's few remaining native oysters now exist, this project will construct one of the first fully three dimensional reefs within the Chesapeake Bay. The reef will extend from the bottom of the River to within one foot of its surface at mean low tide. It will range from 8'- 4' in height in water that ranges from 9'- 5' in depth at mean low tide. It will consist of twenty four circular mounds, each six meters ( 20 ) in diameter that will be constructed on 2.8 acres of a 5 acre site in front of the Queen Anne Hall dormitory at St. Mary's College of Maryland. The reef mounds will be configured in three parallel rows that will be oriented parallel to the shoreline.
This project is not simply about constructing reef balls. It's purpose is to re-construct as functionally as is possible the shape and vertical relief of the historical three dimensional reefs upon which most of the Chesapeake Bay's oysters lived before the end of the American Civil War. The project is intended to serve as a model for the sustainably restoring the Eastern Oyster (Crassotrea Virginica) throughout the Chesapeake Bay, which scientists now understand is absolutely essential to restoring the water quality of the Bay and its fisheries. Most people are unaware that prior to 1865 when both the Virginia and Maryland legislatures repealed legislation that was enacted at the beginning of that century that prohibited mechanical dredging for oysters, that over 70,000 acres of rock-solid three dimensional reefs flourished throughout the Bay. Those reefs broke the surface of the water at low tide in many areas and armored its shoreline in many locations. The hard structure of the reefs dissipated the energy of the waves, greatly reduced tidal erosion by armoring the Bay's shoreline and provided superior habitat for the Bay's oysters. The reefs evolved over the last 5,000 years as billions upon billions of oysters grew upon each other both vertically and horizontally as the water levels of the Atlantic Ocean rose after the to form the modern level of the Chesapeake Bay after the last Ice Age. Some of the reefs in the lower part of the Bay rose were as high as 25'-30' off the bottom. Because of the superior habitat provided by the reefs' three dimensional structure scientists estimate that there were so many oysters in the Bay prior to 1865 that they filtered its entire volume from the bottom to the surface every three days and consumed huge volumes algae and other plankton. That highly efficient natural algae filtration system kept the concentration of algae in balance with the needs of the Bay's ecosystem, despite the naturally high nutrient load that is typical of an estuary. The result was clear water and light penetration to far greater depth than occurs today, as well higher dissolved oxygen levels because of the improved habitat for submerged aquatic vegetation.
Unfortunately, over the decades that followed the Civil War, the Reconstruction Period and the Westward Expansion eras created a tremendous demand for oyster shell for road and foundation bedding, for making plaster and mortar, for the liming of agricultural fields, for grinding into chicken grit, etc. and for a cheap source of high value protein to feed our nation's expanding population. The return of mechanical dredging in 1865 provided a way to harvest the shell and meat of live oysters, as well as the shell of the dead oysters upon which the reefs had been formed. The technology was so efficient that by the beginning of the 20th century most of the Bay's former three dimensional reefs had been literally mined down to the bottom. As a result of such wholesale habitat destruction the Bay's oyster population plummeted. Loss of habitat and continued over fishing throughout the 20th century, combined with the emergence of new oyster diseases in the 1950's and 1960's to further reduce the Bay's current oyster population to less than 1% of what it was prior to the Civil War. Because the Bay's oysters are almost gone, its natural algae filtration system is now no longer functional. Algae growth now goes unchecked and results in high turbidity that blocks light from reaching submerged aquatic vegetation. Extremely low dissolved oxygen levels occur seasonally in many parts of the Bay that suffocates fish, the few remaining oysters on the bottom and other marine organisms. Algae growth is further accelerated by the higher than natural levels of nitrogen and phosphorus that are now entering the Bay because of human activities.
The St. Mary's River Oyster Reef Restoration Project is intended to demonstrate how the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay can be restored by sustainably restoring the Bay's oysters. This cannot be done without restoring the oyster's natural habitat, the three dimensional reefs. The ultimate goal is to use the results of the demonstration project to push for the restoration of half (35,000 acres) of the three dimensional reefs that existed prior to 1865. Scientists believe that if this goal can be accomplished the water quality of the Bay and its ecosystem will dramatically improve. The Rotary Club of Leonardtown has accepted this challenge. Armed with a Grant from Rotary District 7620, as well as financial contributions from eight other Rotary clubs within the District- including the Rotary Club of Lexington Park here in St. Mary's County - the Rotary Club of Leonardtown has initiated this project through a partnership with the St. Mary's River Watershed Association and St. Mary's College of Maryland. The public outreach program and the day-to-day management of the construction process will be the responsibility of the Watershed Association.
Thanks to the efforts of Mr. Bob Lewis, Executive Director of the Watershed Association, over the past year all state and federal permits have been acquired for the project, so we are anxious to proceed with construction. On October 13th, the Watershed Association will host Riverfest 2012. To kick off the construction of Phase 1 of the reef construction a groundbreaking is planned to be part of the day's events. Phase 1 will consist of constructing 6 of the reef mounds over a 0.5 acre area closest to the shoreline. Phase 2, which will take place in 2013-2014 will include the other 18 reef mounds and will expand the site to 2.8 acres. We invite your readers to join us on October 13th as the first reef ball is placed in the St. Mary's River.
As your August 30th article indicated, Chesapeake Bay Foundation staff recently supervised the construction of reef balls by Rotarian and non-Rotarian volunteers at their facility in Shady Side, Maryland. Enabling us to construct reef balls using volunteers will substantially reduce the cost of the project and the Rotary Club of Leonardtown is grateful for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's continuing support. We are also grateful to Dr. Christopher Puttock of the Rotary Club of College Park, who is also the District's Environmental Committee Chairperson, for encouraging the District's support for the project, for helping raise much of the club contributions and for organizing the August 29th reef ball building activity. That event resulted in the construction of 30 of the 75 reef balls that will be required for Phase 1. Dr. Puttock is confident that he can muster enough volunteers to build the rest of the reef balls over the next month or so. We hope he is successful.
In closing I want to encourage your readers to keep informed on the progress of this innovative project and to consider participating and financially contributing to the effort by visiting the St. Mary's River Watershed Association website at www.smrwa.org or by visiting the project's Facebook page at, "St. Mary's River Oyster Reef Project". Your coverage of the project is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Steven L. King
Project Manager
Rotary Club of Leonardtown
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