Oyster reef survives Key Bridge collapse, but environmental concerns remain for rebuild
The collapse of the Francis Scott Bridge in 2024 impacted wildlife in the Patapsco River and the Chesapeake Bay.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation has a public Baltimore oyster growing program, which allows the public to participate in oyster restoration. The mollusks are then planted in the Patapsco River.
One of the locations is on a sanctuary reef next to where the Key Bridge was standing, near Fort Carroll.
However, after the bridge collapsed on March 26, 2024, the program had to pivot, and that area where millions of oysters were planted was unable to be accessed for some time.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation did not plant any oysters in the area last year, but it can now resume.
Oysters are considered a keystone species in the area. An adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day.
One of the oyster reefs close to the Key Bridge was in danger of being buried, but it survived.
"The scale of what happened, and also the bottom type in the Baltimore Harbor, very silty, muddy, so the likelihood that there would be a giant sediment flume that would then cover and smother the oysters was high, so definitely a hold your break moment, and a lot of relief when we saw the oysters were doing really well, and that we would be able to resume programming as normal," said Kellie Fiala, the Maryland Oyster Restoration Coordinator of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Environmental concerns
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation says there are environmental concerns along the Patapsco River, especially considering the Key Bridge rebuild is expected to be built taller and wider.
Organization officials said they are lucky the oyster reef near the bridge site avoided any major contamination.
"And our major concern there is that it increases the amount of impervious surface that's going over the river, and roads have runoff that come off of them that contain automobile fluids, gas, antifreeze, tire dust, so we want to make sure that when we have this expanded service," said Gussie MaGuire, a Maryland staff scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. "We also have expanded capacity to deal with the stormwater that is running off the bridge."
According to Chesapeake Bay Foundation officials, some ideas to battle the stormwater runoff include creating a natural infiltration structure directly underneath the bridge.
There are also concepts for floating wetlands, like at Baltimore's National Aquarium.
In 2022, WJZ reported how the Chesapeake Bay's oyster reef habitat is becoming decimated because of over-harvest, disease in the oyster population, and pollution.
"The oyster population is estimated to be at a very small fraction, maybe one to two percent of what used to be in the Chesapeake Bay and it's estimated that now there's less than 10,000 acres of productive oyster bottom in the bay," said Dr. Allison Colden, the Maryland Senior Fisheries Scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Why are oysters important to the ecosystem?
Oysters are a crucial part of the ecosystem within the Chesapeake Bay, according to experts.
They keep other species healthy and the water quality safe.
"They provide a major filtration benefit to the water," Captain Zack Kelleher told WJZ. "We have cleaner water. We have more submerged aquatic vegetation growing. We have cooler water, more oxygenated water that allows a lot of other Chesapeake species to thrive. We have a ton of hard-working watermen here that go out and depend on this resource. We have a lot of aquaculturists who go out and raise farm-raised oysters. We're all kind of fighting for the same thing, which is clean water."
The oysters are critically important to the bay's water quality, which means more wildlife in the waters.
"These oyster reefs are critically important for small crabs, small fish, worms, and other organisms that are important prey," Colden said. "Fish come along and prey on those species that live on oyster reefs, and larger fish come and prey on them."
