In the middle of Hooper Strait Oyster Sanctuary, a narrow waterway between two islands in the Chesapeake Bay, a crane swings over the water and drops a dump truck-size load of stones. Again and again, the crane's bucket scoops stone from a barge and spreads it across the Bay bottom. When the crane reaches the edge of its range, a tugboat pushes the barge forward, and the process begins again.
Load by load, the crew is building the foundation for more than 70 acres of new oyster reef—the first step in an ambitious new phase in Chesapeake Bay oyster reef restoration. In 2024, NOAA's Office of Habitat Conservation awarded the Maryland Department of Natural Resources $10 million for the work. The funding comes through the Investment Infrastructure and Jobs Act for the Community Based Restoration Program.
After completing a decade-long effort to restore oyster reefs in 10 Chesapeake Bay tributaries, NOAA Fisheries and its partners are advancing a new goal. The Chesapeake Bay Program aims to restore or conserve at least 2,000 additional acres of oyster reef habitat by 2040.
"The Hooper Strait project is the opening chapter of the next story," said Stephanie Westby, NOAA's oyster restoration coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay. "This is the largest amount of funding NOAA has directed toward a reef-base construction project to date."
Building on a Decade of Successful Oyster Reef Restoration
For many years, government agencies and conservation organizations have worked to rebuild Chesapeake Bay oyster populations damaged by overharvesting, pollution, disease, and habitat loss. The 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement set a goal of restoring oyster populations in 10 Bay tributaries by 2025. By the end of 2025, they had restored 1,900 acres of oyster reef.
Monitoring shows that the restored reefs are successful, as seen by both the number of oysters present and their overall size. "About 99 percent of the reefs that we've monitored meet the minimum success criteria for density and biomass," said Westby. "And about 83 percent meet or exceed the higher ideal target."
A 2025 Maryland oyster stock assessment found the state's oyster population has more than tripled since 2005. Some restoration sanctuaries saw oyster numbers grow four- to five-fold. In Virginia, oyster harvests recently reached a 35-year high. Scientists can't separate the effects of restoration from other factors, such as improved environmental conditions, but the trends are encouraging.
The Next Generation of Oyster Reefs
The past decade has also taught NOAA and its partners more about what healthy oyster populations need. At Hooper Strait Sanctuary, they are applying those lessons by expanding habitat around reefs where oysters are already thriving and reproducing.
A connected network of reefs helps oysters reproduce. Males and females release sperm and eggs into the water, where fertilization occurs. The larvae then drift with the currents before settling to the bottom. To survive, they need to land on a hard surface, such as an existing oyster reef or stones. The Chesapeake Bay does not have enough of this habitat.
"If oyster larvae don't have a hard structure to attach to, they will land in the mud and die," Westby said. "That hard structure is what we're building in Hooper Strait."
Hooper Strait Sanctuary offers a promising place to add that habitat. With other functioning oyster reefs nearby, the area already has plenty of oyster larvae drifting through its waters. By building a new reef base, partners hope to give those larvae the hard surfaces they need to settle and grow. Protected from harvest, oysters on the new reef can grow larger and produce more offspring.
"Larger oysters tend to be female, and as the oyster's size increases, it can produce more eggs, increasing the reproductive potential of the entire region," said Laurinda Serafin, oyster restoration manager for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "This can help populate reefs in nearby public fishery areas as well."
Murtech, a local veteran-owned small business marine contractor, is laying the base for more than 70 acres of reef. Crews are placing about 1,669 tons of stone per acre to build a 12-inch reef base. If construction stays on schedule, stone placement should finish by spring 2027.
Oyster larvae could begin settling on the new reef that year, and those oysters could begin reproducing by 2028. As new generations settle and grow, they will gradually transform the stone base into a three-dimensional living reef that provides habitat for fish, crabs, and other Bay species. Because they are filter feeders, oysters also help clean the water and provide other benefits to the ecosystem and economy.
The NOAA-funded project at Hooper Strait Sanctuary is only the beginning of Maryland's next phase of large-scale oyster reef restoration. The state plans to restore 400 acres in Hooper Strait and about 700 more in Herring Bay and the Nanticoke River sanctuaries as funding becomes available. In the meantime, NOAA will continue to work with Maryland and other partners to improve conditions for oysters and other marine species in the Chesapeake Bay.
Restoration Supports Local Business
NOAA's investment at Hooper Strait also supports a Maryland small business and its workers. Oyster reef construction has become an increasingly important part of Murtech's marine construction work. Before Hooper Strait, the company built more than 150 acres of oyster reef in the St. Mary's and Manokin River sanctuaries.
Building the reef takes expertise. GPS aboard the vessel tracks where crews place the stone. Hydrographic surveys map the underwater reef so the crew can check its height and shape as it takes form.
"People might think we're just throwing stones overboard, but there's a lot of precision engineering, surveying, and technical skills required," said Tanner Jennings, general manager of Murtech.
Weather adds another challenge. "It's still crazy to me how fast the weather can change," Jennings said. "In the Chesapeake, one second it's flat calm, then suddenly you have a 65-mile-per-hour squall coming through."
For Jennings, those challenges come with a greater sense of purpose.
"Normally we're building infrastructure," Jennings said. "But this one, it's creating habitat and improving the health of the Bay, which we rely on as part of our community. We're more exposed to the elements, with big barges, big boats, and big cranes. It's more risk, but more reward."
Jennings and many of his coworkers grew up on Maryland's Eastern Shore and have spent much of their lives around the Chesapeake Bay. For him, restoring the Bay is also tied to the future of Eastern Shore communities.
"Doing this work is really meaningful to us," said Jennings. "We have a large waterman community around here, and the seafood businesses all kind of rely on the health of the Bay. So anything that can stimulate revenue for the betterment of the community, we're all for."