Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are in the midst of a comeback. During the past 20 years, the oyster population in the Maryland portion of the Chesapeake Bay has tripled, according to this year’s stock assessment conducted by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science.

Maryland’s success in bringing back the oyster population is the result of dedicated restoration efforts, favorable environmental conditions, and informed fisheries management.

The good news for oysters is good news for the Chesapeake Bay. Oysters are keystone species in the Chesapeake Bay that support the marine food web, naturally filter water, and create habitats for other species.

Last month, I had the opportunity to join many of our partners to celebrate the completion of oyster restoration in the Manokin River Sanctuary on the lower Eastern Shore. The Manokin was the last of five oyster restoration sanctuaries completed in Maryland. The others are in the Tred Avon River, Harris Creek, St. Mary’s River, and Little Choptank.

The productive oyster reefs built up in these five sanctuaries are a testament to the hard work that DNR’s staff and partners have dedicated to this effort, and the new reefs prove how oysters can thrive when we support them.

At two sanctuaries, the stock assessment found a fivefold increase in oyster population since oyster restoration efforts began after 2010. In the Little Choptank sanctuary, an estimated 100 million adult oysters pre-restoration increased to 500 million, while a population of 40 million in the Harris Creek sanctuary in 2010 grew to 200 million after restoration was completed. In the Tred Avon River sanctuary, the population increased by about four times, from 40 million to 175 million.

As we approach October – the first month of oyster harvesting season – we will also embark on one of the key surveys of our oyster population, the fall oyster survey. After a remarkable year for oyster reproduction in 2023, the survey’s 2024 spatfall intensity index, a measure of reproductive success and potential population growth for oysters, was above the 39-year median for the fifth consecutive year.

A few short years ago there were many people who thought the cultural staple of Maryland oysters might not see another generation. We’re not quite back to that mythical time when the explorer John Smith reported that oysters in the Bay piled so high that boats ran aground on their reefs. However, we are in a far better place than 2005, when the stock assessment estimated a population of about 2.4 billion oysters in Maryland, compared to the 7.6 billion estimated this year.

As the overall oyster population has increased, so have harvests from the public fishery. The estimated dockside value of oysters harvested from Maryland averaged $3.5 million per year from 2005 to 2010 before oyster restoration began. During the previous five years, the estimated dockside value has averaged $18 million following years of oyster restoration.

The success of our work to bring back oysters is a reason to celebrate. It has shown us how targeted restoration can restore needed Bay habitat as well as an important commercial species.

Josh Kurtz is Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.