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Maryland’s oyster harvest is one of the few remaining in the country that relies almost exclusively on public fisheries, as opposed to harvesting from leased areas. Leased areas use aquaculture techniques rather than harvest from natural oyster bars. Today, there are only a handful of oyster aquaculture businesses in Maryland’s portion of the Chesapeake Bay, but that may change. In the past few years, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has adopted a number of enhancements to its Shellfish Certification Program to assist the growing aquaculture industry while ensuring the safety of the product.
“MDE is involved in the emerging aquaculture business in Maryland that utilizes new technology to advance the industry,” said Dr. Richard Eskin, Director of MDE’s Technical and Regulatory Services Administration. “The aquaculture industry in Maryland faces many challenges and it is MDE’s goal to ease the administrative burdens while continuing to ensure protection of public health.”
The Status of Shellfish Aquaculture in Maryland
At the turn of the twentieth century, Maryland’s annual oyster harvest exceeded 4 million bushels. Currently, about 100,000 bushels are harvested each year. The main causes of this decline are the oyster diseases MSX and dermo. These diseases kill the oysters but are harmless to people. Historical overharvesting and destruction of the shell beds as well as an increase in pollution levels associated with the expanding human population have also diminished the harvest, resulting in the need to explore aquaculture alternatives.
In contrast to natural oyster bars, many of Maryland’s aquaculture sites are located near the water’s surface and close to the shoreline. Oysters grown in these areas are more exposed to pollution from stormwater runoff. Sources of pollution include failing septic systems, poor manure management practices, pet waste, and wildlife excretions. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state regulators, and the shellfish industry all recognize the potential for illness from eating raw shellfish. As a result, an established national cooperative program ensures stringent requirements for the sanitary harvesting, handling, and sale of all bivalve molluscan shellfish.
All commercial aquaculture activities must be carefully monitored to provide the necessary assurance that the end products are safe for human consumption. MDE ‘s responsibilities include shoreline surveys and extensive water quality monitoring of aquaculture sites. Based on the monitoring results, MDE routinely classifies areas where harvesting can safely take place.
Recently, MDE instituted a number of enhancements, meant to address concerns in the aquaculture industry while maintaining Maryland’s reputation for high-quality shellfish. These enhancements are welcomed by the aquaculture industry.
Adopting New Technologies to Make Science-based Decisions
About two years ago, MDE improved its method of estimating rainfall events, which serves as basis for issuing conditional closures for affected shellfish harvesting areas. The system utilizes daily rainfall estimates produced by the National Weather Service’s (NWS) Mid-Atlantic River Forecast Center. The NWS multi-sensor precipitation estimator combines regional radar scans with rain and stream gages to quantify a daily rainfall magnitude. Prior to this technology, the state issued broad shellfish closures based on a limited system of land-based, volunteer operated rain gages stationed throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. The added precision of the NWS data has resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of required conditional closures and fine-tuning where such closures are needed.
Helping Overcome the Administrative Burdens
In Maryland, anyone wishing to start an aquaculture venture must first acquire appropriate permits and licenses issued by the following agencies: The Maryland Department of the Environment, Department of Natural Resources (DNR), and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH), with oversight from the Board of Public Works and Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA). To make this process less burdensome, MDE now posts on its web page detailed procedures for obtaining MDE permits, licenses, and water quality approvals. Additionally, in 2005 the Maryland legislature established an Aquaculture Coordination Council and an Aquaculture Review Board tasked with promoting Maryland’s aquaculture, streamlining the permitting process, and developing a statewide aquaculture policy. As part of this process, the Board meets monthly to review the status of aquaculture permit applications.
Sharing Water Quality Monitoring Data
MDE recently developed an electronic process for openly distributing the shellfish water quality monitoring data to each aquaculture business. The new system allows each aquaculture business owner to follow trends as they occur. Increased access to such data is already helping growers better understand the need for conditional closures and work toward mitigating potential problems.
The underlying goal of the Department’s shellfish policy is to provide the consumer with a safe, high-quality product. This is compatible with the interests of Maryland’s oyster and clam aquaculture industry. Maryland has a long history of no illness associated with Maryland oysters and, by working together with our sister agencies, federal regulators, and industry representatives, MDE seeks to continue this trend.
Click here for more information on Maryland Shellfish Harvesting areas.
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