The Status of Virginia’s Public Oyster Resource 2024

Authors

Melissa Southworth, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow
Roger L. Mann, Virginia Institute of Marine ScienceFollow

Document Type

Report

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

VIMS Department/Program

Molluscan Ecology Program

Publication Date

12-2024

Abstract

Excerpt from publication: "The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) monitors recruitment of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791), annually from late spring through early fall, by deploying spatfall1 (settlement and recruitment of larval oysters to the post metamorphic form termed spat) collectors (shellstrings) at various sites in three Virginia western Chesapeake Bay tributaries. The survey provides an estimate of a particular area’s potential for receiving a "strike" or settlement (set) of oysters on the bottom and helps describe the timing of recruitment events in a given year. Information obtained from this monitoring effort provides an overview of long-term recruitment trends in the lower Chesapeake Bay and contributes to the assessment of the current oyster resource condition and the general health of the Bay. These data are also valuable to parties on both the public side (Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), Conservation Replenishment Department) and private industry who are interested in potential timing and location of shell plantings in order to optimize recruitment of spat on bottom cultch (shell that is available for larval oysters to settle on)..."

Description

Files: Annual Report, field data sheets, excel spreadsheets with data, metadata file, site info files.

DOI

https://www.doi.org/10.25773/xws0-5r81

Keywords

Oyster—Monitoring, Oyster fisheries—Chesapeake Bay (Md. and Va.), Oyster fisheries—Virginia, Oyster—Chesapeake Bay (Md. and Va.)

Recommended Citation

Southworth, M. and R. Mann. 2024. The status of Virginia’s public oyster resource 2024. Molluscan Ecology Program, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, Gloucester Point. 53 pp. https://www.doi.org/10.25773/xws0-5r81