The Eastern oyster once dominated the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland and Virginia. Now the bivalve is barely hanging on.
The state of Maryland is drawing up plans to set aside 25 percent of all oyster habitats in the Chesapeake as permanent sanctuaries where harvesting would be banned. Scientists and environmentalists insist that if oysters can just be left alone, they might start to come back — and bring a whole bunch of other creatures with them.
That's why divers were at work under the murky water of Maryland's Severn River recently, looking for oysters that they planted five years ago at a spot just off the bay. It takes several minutes to find any.
There was a time when the water was crystal clear. You didn't have to search much for oysters. You could practically trip over them.
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Photo by Steve Earley, The Virginian-Pilot/Associated Press
