Dredging of old oyster shells in the Chesapeake Bay near the Baltimore County shore was delayed Wednesday after protests by fishermen, a farmer and an environmental group.
The Department of Natural Resources wants to move 260,000 cubic yards of the old shells to oyster sanctuaries elsewhere in the bay as breeding grounds for new oysters. Young oysters called spat grow best on old shells, DNR officials told the Board of Public Works, which was asked to approve the dredging permit.
This is the sixth year of an oyster-growing program trying to restore the native oyster population, part of an effort that began over 30 years ago. The board, made up of the governor, comptroller and state treasurer, extended the program for one additional year last year.
“This is important to us,” said Mike Slattery, assistant Natural Resources secretary, so “we don?t interrupt the restoration program.”
But Sherman Baynard of the Coastal Conservation Association, said, “We haven?t been given a commitment to a long-term strategy.” He said this was “a continuation of what we?ve done without any forethought and good planning.”
“They?ve turned the upper bay into a mud hole,” said farmer Robert Fantom of Cub Hill, who said he was tired of farmers being blamed for the ills of the Chesapeake.
Rich Novotny, of the Maryland Saltwater Sportsfishermen?s Association, accused the DNR of lying, and said the reefs created by the old shells were important feeding grounds for sport fish. “Fishing in the upper bay is terrible,” Novotny said.
Bill Goldsborough, senior scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, supported the dredging, but said, “it?s not a black and white issue at all. ? We view this as being to the net benefit of the bay.”
Comptroller William Donald Schaefer took the side of the opponents. “I?m not convinced you?re doing the right thing,” Schaefer told the department staff. “I think I?ve been too lenient on these things, letting them go through.”
