When the first ships sailed up the Chesapeake Bay in the 1600s, they had to navigate around large reefs created by oysters that had been settling and growing on top of each other for thousands of years. Now, because of disease, poor water quality, and decades of overharvest, the oyster population in the Bay is at about 1% of what it once was. Oyster production in the Chesapeake Bay has declined to the point that the industry has nearly collapsed. Federal and state agencies, industry, academic institutions, and nonprofit groups have all been working hard to restore the native oyster population to levels that will once again provide significant ecological and economic services.

How Does the Oyster Fishery in the Bay Work?

The oyster fishery in the Chesapeake Bay operates as a public fishery and as a leased bottom fishery, in which people can lease an area of bottom from the state to grow oysters. In the public fishery, oysters can be harvested from any area that has not been set aside as leased bottom or closed because of public health concerns. In addition, Maryland uses a system of managed reserves, in which areas are closed and then reopened to harvest after a certain period of time. For more on managed reserves, please visit our Restoration Techniques page.

Oyster aquaculture is a growing industry that supplements the oyster supply. Leased bottom offers oyster farmers options for managing around disease and water quality problems. In addition to planting oyster shell on the bottom (to catch settling oyster larvae) or planting spat-on-shell on the bottom, oysters can be grown off the bottom in cages or rack-and-bag systems. For more information, please visit our oyster aquaculture page.

Fishery regulations are established with respect to season and time limits, catch limits, and gear restrictions. These regulations are based on management strategies designed to conserve the oyster resource. For more information about the Maryland oyster fishery regulations, please visit the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and for information about the Virginia oyster fishery regulations, please visit the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

Oyster Landings

“Landings” are the number of pounds of fish or shellfish brought to dock or shore by commercial and/or private fishermen. Although it is not necessarily the most accurate measurement, landings statistics are used to get an idea of how the oyster population in the Bay is doing because they are the easiest and least expensive measurements to obtain. Oyster landings have decreased nationwide over the past century—in part due to the decline of the Chesapeake Bay oyster fishery, which was once a major contributor.

Before 1900, more than 10 million bushels of oysters (yielding approximately 64 million pounds of meat) were harvested annually in Maryland by a large dredge fleet. Virginia harvests at the time were approximately 6-7 million bushels (38-45 million pounds of meat), and were harvested primarily by hand tongs. Landings have declined dramatically since then, and continue to trend downward. During the past 30 years, the oyster harvest has declined from about 3.2 million bushels in Maryland and 1.9 million bushels in Virginia to only 45,000 bushels in 2006 for Maryland and Virginia combined.

More detailed data on landing statistics for the oyster and other Bay species provide some interesting information. The graph below shows oyster landings for Maryland and Virginia since 1880. The years when the oyster diseases MSX and Dermo were found in the Bay are indicated with arrows.