The new blueprint called for a minimum reef height of 12 inches, simulating historic oyster reefs. Previous reef construction required a thin shell layer a few inches thick on the bottom. The vertical design worked, Schulte said. Army Corps Lynnhaven Oyster Restoration Project Team set out restore the reefs and built them to mimic the historical high reef structure from the 1800's, Schulte said. The Corps' new strategy became geared toward ecological restoration: developing self-sustaining oyster populations on restored reefs. The project's mediocre success required the Corps to go back to the drawing board. The first two projects, in the lower Rappahannock River and the Tangier Sound, were designed to help the commercial oyster fishery. The Norfolk District became involved with native oyster restoration in 1999. Fish and crabs hide in the small crevices and holes created by the oysters and shells that make up the reef. The filtration process is significant to the water and aquatic life - it consumes algae, clarifies the water, helps bay grasses thrive and reduces shoreline loss. Today's oyster population would take more than a year to filter the same amount of water, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Chesapeake's historic oyster population could filter the Bay's volume every three or four days. Oysters are a key species for the bay's health because they act as a filter, improving water quality. Over time, overfishing, pollution, destruction of habitat and, most recently, disease ravaged the oyster population. The oyster population in the Chesapeake is estimated to be less than one percent of its size during the 19th century, according to the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Army Corps of Engineers, is turning a barren portion of the Great Wicomico and Lynnhaven Rivers into blossoming oyster reefs, teeming with healthy oysters.īut the shuck doesn't stop there: he has set his sights on the Painkatank River and its potential to become the next Wicomico. Schulte, a marine biologist at the Norfolk District, U.S. native is bundled up and on the water checking the reefs and thinking of innovative ways to naturally enhance the population of oysters. In the winter, as swirling winds and temperatures dip to 30-degrees, the Midland, Pa. Army Corps of Engineers more than 20 years ago, Schulte douses himself with sunscreen, puts on his trademark straw hat, white cotton tank shirt and shorts, and spends the day going from oyster sanctuary to oyster sanctuary, measuring the size of oysters and gathering underwater imagery of the reefs built since 2004. The native American oyster - diseased, overfished and languishing in dismal water - couldn't ask for a better friend than David Schulte.ĭuring the hot and humid summer months when sun bathers line the white sandy beaches and stroll along the Virginia Beach boardwalk, built by the U.S.
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