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Eastern Oysters
were once abundant in Barnegat Bay.
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Oysters
Anatomy
Lifecycle
Why
the Decline
Disease
Comeback
Oysters in months without
an R |
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Eastern Oyster
- Problems
Crassostrea virginica |
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What
happened? |
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Once plentiful in
Barnegat Bay, the Eastern oyster had serious
problems: |
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United States
(18th, 19th Century)
The early colonies
on the eastern seaboard of the US-States,
harvested enormous quantities of oysters in the
18th and 19th century. Americans had learned
nothing from the hard lessons of over-harvesting
in Europe. The mistakes were simply repeated on
an even grander scale. |
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The importance of
eastern oysters continued when baymen began
harvesting shellfish for sale and associated
industries developed.
At the peak of the
oyster industry, from 1870 to 1930, the Barnegat
Bay-Cape May area produced 20 percent of all
market oysters harvested in New Jersey.
By 1930 this
figure declined to less than 10 percent. Oyster
harvest declined for various reasons including
overharvest, disease and changes to the bay’s
environment |
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Oyster habitat was
lost due increased salinity and sedimentation
resulting from alteration of Beach Haven Inlet
by the storm of 1919, and by the construction of
the Point Pleasant Canal in 1925.
High
salinity
favored oyster predators and parasites and
sedimentation smothered oysters. The effects of
severe storms on the bay’s ecology gain even
greater significance today in the aftermath of
Hurricane Sandy. |
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Sediment
Sand, silt and
clay are a natural part of the Bay, but
contribute to the "muddy" bottom that is good
for
clams, crabs and other shellfish but it is
detrimental to oysters. Oysters will that will suffocate if
not attached to a hard surface.
Sediment buildup
on the bay bottom after years of sand and soil
runoff from erosion and construction has entered
the bay with nowhere to go but to the bottom.
Decaying plant and
animal matter also add to the sediment. |
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Two diseases both contributed to the decline of
the oyster population not only in Barnegat Bay
but along the whole eastern seaboard as well.
They are MSX and Dermo.
MSX refers
to a disease of oysters caused by the protozoan
organism Haplosporidium
nelsoni. MSX (which stands for “multinucleated
sphere X”)
Dermo
disease was first identified as the cause of
extensive oyster mortalities
More detailed information can be found on
this webpage Oyster Diseases |
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There is however,
some good news.
As a result of
Aquaculture more and more "Oyster Farmers" are
making a living producing oysters for market and
in turn help to make the bay cleaner.
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