Suzanne Bricker (NCCOS) counting oysters sampled by NOAA divers on the R/V Chesapeake.

Working in collaboration with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (MD DNR), researchers from the NCCOS Marine Spatial Ecology (MSE) Branch collected oysters to help calibrate the Farm Aquaculture Resource Management (FARM) model.

Using the RV Chesapeake, the research team traveled to two oyster collection sites in the Tred Avon River. NCCOS and MD DNR divers collected nearly 700 oysters that will be used for one year of monthly samples to develop a growth curve to calibrate the FARM model for bottom grown and restored Chesapeake Bay reef oysters. This calibration, combined with an existing one for container grown oysters, will be used to describe potential harvest and nutrient removal by cultivated and restored oyster reefs in Chesapeake Bay, an important oyster ecosystem service.

This capability will facilitate application of the oyster tissue best management practice (BMP) that was approved by the Chesapeake Bay Program allowing nutrient crediting for oyster bioextractive removal as part of watershed implementation plans (WIP) to address required nutrient reductions in nutrient impacted waterbodies.

View the EPA Project Page.