Making Daily Headlines · Page 9
After Overharvesting Oysters, the Chesapeake Asks Them to Clean Up
· New York time
Overharvesting sharply reduced oyster populations in the Chesapeake Bay, contributing to poorer water quality and less habitat for other species. Researchers and local residents are now finding ways to bring the reefs back. Oysters do more than appear on a menu. They filter water and create habitat, so rebuilding their numbers has benefits that extend beyond the shellfish themselves. Restoration asks people to reverse a decline that changed the bay's ecology as well as its oyster stocks. The reversal has a distinctly awkward logic: humans took too many oysters, then discovered how much work the oysters had been doing. A successful return would mean more than a better harvest. It would help restore the living structures that support other species. The bay's former cleanup crew is being invited back after management finally read the job description.
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