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.