SERC’s cutting-edge research and scientific monitoring abilities will complement CBF’s capabilities to carry out large-scale oyster restoration throughout the bay.” “We’re pleased to have SERC as a new partner in our oyster restoration efforts. “Collaboration between scientists, fishery managers and restoration practitioners is key to reversing the historic decline of oysters,” said Allison Colden, CBF’s Maryland senior fisheries scientist. The foundation also leads the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance, a group of nonprofits, community organizations and oyster growers working toward a goal of adding 10 billion oysters to the bay by 2025. In addition to adding oysters to the bay, CBF’s advocacy efforts have helped permanently protect Maryland’s five large-scale oyster restoration tributaries and loosen regulations surrounding oyster aquaculture to promote new sustainable business opportunities. Fish, crabs and other marine species often use the nooks in oyster reefs to hide from predators and scour the reefs for food. Increasing oyster populations would be a boon for the overall bay ecosystem, which benefits from oysters’ natural ability to filter water and build habitat. Oyster population levels have declined dramatically since the 1800s due to a combination of overharvesting, pollution and disease-leading scientists to estimate there are less than 1% of preindustrial levels of oysters remaining in the bay. Oyster restoration efforts in the bay are focused on bringing back the species following widespread loss. 14, CBF and SERC leaders and staff celebrated the new partnership by planting more than 200,000 oysters on a reef near the SERC dock that was first built by the foundation for SERC research activities in 2006. The foundation will dock its specially designed oyster restoration vessel, the R/V Patricia Campbell, at the facility’s pier on the Rhode River. “We hope this partnership will usher in a new era of collaboration between our organizations to expand oyster restoration efforts and advance cutting-edge oyster science.”ĬBF and SERC plan to engage volunteers, schoolchildren, teachers, college students and others to learn about and help with oyster restoration efforts through hands-on activities. “We’re so thankful our oyster restoration program has found a new home at SERC on the shores of the Rhode River,” said CBF President Hilary Falk. Previously, the foundation’s Maryland Oyster Restoration Center was located at Discovery Village in Shady Side, Maryland. Our partnership provides a model of collaboration that can be scaled up and replicated throughout the Chesapeake and beyond.”ĬBF has coordinated Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration efforts for over 20 years and has added more than 332 million spat, or juvenile oysters, to reefs throughout the bay. Going forward, CBF’s spat on-shell production process and the vessel R/V Patricia Campbell will allow SERC to apply rigorous experiments at a scale to test new ideas about the complex interactions of reef design. “SERC’s base in the Rhode River provides ready access to new restoration sites on the Western Shore, where we can engage more people as citizen scientists in regenerating biodiversity and ecosystems services for the bay. “This new partnership of SERC and CBF brings a strong blend of research and public engagement for restoring oysters in the bay-a crucial step in rebuilding the co-benefits of healthy oyster reefs,” said SERC Director Tuck Hines. SERC’s research into the challenges facing coastal areas worldwide, including climate change, invasive species and pollution threats to ecosystems, will help inform CBF’s ongoing efforts to restore oysters and increase reef habitat in the bay. SERC and the foundation will work collaboratively to expand research opportunities, train students and promote the Chesapeake Bay’s restoration through this new partnership. The restoration center will produce spat-on-shell oysters and “reef balls”-giant concrete domes with holes to provide hard surface for young oysters to settle on and safe hiding places for fish and other aquatic life. The new partnership includes relocating the foundation’s oyster restoration center to the SERC campus in Edgewater, Maryland. The Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) announced a new partnership centered on oyster restoration Nov.
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