Just a few days ago the Army Corps, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), Nature Conservancy and other organizations completed what is now the largest man-made oyster bed. The oyster bed is located in Harris River, a finger of the Chesapeake Bay on the eastern shore, and covers 330-acres.

The significance of this accomplishment is two-fold; first, oysters are a secret weapon in filtering nitrogen from the polluted Bay and second, it is hoped that the thriving reef will allow oysters to reestablish themselves in the waters of the Bay.

“A 2013 study showed that in one year, a reef seeded with oysters by the state of Maryland — about 130 oysters per square meter — removed 20 times more nitrogen pollution that flows from everything from lawns to farm in fertilizer. Oysters and bivalves scarf up phytoplankton that consume nitrogen. Phyto­plankton produce algae blooms that die, turn into a sticky black goo and suck oxygen — needed by pretty much every inhabitant of bay tributaries — from the water.”

Read the full article here.