NCCOS and colleagues from theFisheries lab in Milford and the Oyster Recover Partnership were featuredin The Fish Farmer's Magazine, Aquaculture North America. While oysters are delicious and a good source of iron and omega 3 fatty acids for a healthy diet, oystersalso benefit water quality by removal of detritus and phytoplankton from the water through filtration as they eat. The article highlighted the recently approved recommendations for crediting oyster tissue for nutrient removal as a Best Management Practice (BMP) that were developed by the Oyster Best Management Practice (BMP) Expert Panel conducted by the Chesapeake Bay Partnership.

This means jurisdictions within the Chesapeake Bay watershed can now include harvested oyster tissue as a nutrient reduction BMP to fulfill nutrient reductions required by the EPA. These recommendations created a conversation between oyster growers and regulators interested in using shellfish filtration to reduce nutrients, which could result in increased use ofaquaculture and continued water quality improvements. The recommendations may have far reaching positive outcomes (i.e. good for consumers, good for the economy, good for the environment, good for wild oysters) that could expand worldwide, since eutrophication is a global issue. While biofiltration isn't a new idea, the visionary aspect of Chesapeake Bay's BMPs are addressing nitrogen reductions with a much broader application than ever before and providing a framework of policy that other states and potentially other countries, can use.

See: Aquaculture North America magazine article "Oysters Play a Role in Improving Water Quality" (magazine web link missing).

For more information contact Suzanne.Bricker@noaa.gov or Julie.Rose@noaa.gov

Related Project pages:

• Shellfish Aquaculture and Payment for Ecosystem Services in Chesapeake Bay http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=250
• National Estuarine Eutrophication Assessment: Update http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=249
• Eutrophication and Oyster Aquaculture in the Patuxent River http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=251
• AquaSpace - An Ecosystem Approach to Making Space for Sustainable Aquaculture http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=252
• Planning for Sustainable Shellfish Aquaculture in Complex Multiple Use Environments: Determining Social and Ecological Carrying Capacity for South Puget Sound (PECSA) http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=248
• Aquaculture and Eutrophication in Long Island Sound and Great Bay - Piscataqua Estuary http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=32
• http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/coastal-pollution/noaa-estimates-nitrogen-removal-rates-shellfish-farms-around-world/

• Improved Aquaculture Decision-making Using the Aquaculture Mapping Atlas and FARM Model http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=59
• Shellfish Aquaculture and Payment for Ecosystem Services in Chesapeake Bay http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/projects/detail?key=250

Try the models yourself at :

www.eutro.org/register (Assessment of Estuarine Trophic Status[ASSETS] eutrophication model);

www.farmscale.org (Farm Aquaculture ResourceManagement [FARM] shellfish aquaculture model)