Photo Credit: Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Photo by Winn Brewer
Dear Friends of ORP,
This year, we are celebrating a major milestone in a much longer journey of Chesapeake Bay restoration—and your support is essential to carry this success forward.
After decades of collaboration, ORP and our partners in Maryland completed restoration of all five large-scale oyster sanctuaries promised under the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. Increases in Maryland’s oyster population and improved harvests demonstrate that large-scale restoration is successful, and that oysters are once again supporting the Bay’s resilience. This is an unprecedented achievement, and one you helped make possible. But lasting recovery takes time, persistence, and continued support...
The Bay's future depends on what we do next.
In 2025, ORP brought together partners, scientists, watermen, and community voices to shape our next five-year strategic plan, a roadmap that builds on this success and accelerates our progress. Our focus is clear: revitalize oysters, support sustainable fisheries, and deepen the partnerships that make Bay recovery possible. At the heart of this next chapter is a tangible and urgent goal: doubling the capacity of our shell recycling effort. Every shell collected from a restaurant, public drop site, or event becomes home for dozens of new oysters—each filtering water, creating habitat, and preserving Chesapeake Bay culture. Your gift keeps that cycle alive. It moves shells from plate to reef, sustains restoration, and ensures that the momentum we have built over three decades continues. Thank you for believing in the power of oysters and for being a part of this incredible journey. Together, we have proven that restoration works.
introduction
ORP’s 31st year of planting oysters in the Chesapeake Bay will forever stand as a defining milestone. In 2025, ORP and its partners completed Maryland’s ambitious 10-year restoration strategy – oyster populations fully restored in five Bay tributaries. This achievement, unprecedented in scale and impact, garnered national attention and demonstrated that large-scale oyster restoration is key to the health of our Chesapeake Bay. What began as a small group of people committed to the Chesapeake Bay’s Crassostrea virginica is today the largest nonprofit organization dedicated to oyster restoration in the world. Over the years, ORP became a trailblazer -- advancing science, technology, history, and cultural understanding to refine the methods that now produce and plant billions of healthy, juvenile oysters in the Bay’s waters.
Our Success Has Always Been Rooted in Partnersip
The State of Maryland and the federal government have maintained an unwavering commitment to rebuilding the Bay’s oysters. Maryland’s commercial watermen have contributed irreplaceable knowledge of the Bay’s conditions. The University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science (UMCES) built and operates the state-of-the-art hatchery that produces the billions of larvae planted across thousands of underwater acres each year. This collaborative, transparent approach has grown into a true community of practice—one that now functions at an industrial scale. Through new programs developed by ORP and intentional knowledge transfer across sectors, Maryland has expanded its production capacity beyond the public hatchery alone. Private hatcheries and spat-on-shell producers have come online, strengthening the commercial industry and accelerating the growth of oyster aquaculture.
The Long Term Strategy is Working
The Bay’s oyster population has tripled in just the past 20 years. Commercial harvests are the highest in three decades. Monitoring data indicate that thousands of acres of historic but previously barren oyster bottom have been rebuilt into thriving, self-sustaining oyster reefs.
making history
2025 marked a defining moment for ORP, the Chesapeake Bay, and the global restoration community. In September, partners gathered to celebrate the completion of the largest oyster restoration initiative in the world — a decade-long effort that restored 2,400 acres of oyster reefs in Maryland and Virginia. This accomplishment reflects more than 30 years of vision, investment, and collaboration.
Pictured (L to R): Lieutenant Colonel Mark W. Pollak, US Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District; Secretary Stefanie Taillon, Virginia Department of Natural and Historic Resources; Secretary Josh Kurtz, Maryland Department of Natural Resources; Carrie Robinson, NOAA Fisheries’ Office of Habitat Conservation; Lee McDonnell, US Environmental Protection Agency
This historic 10-year restoration effort resulted in the production and planting of nearly 7.5 billion spat-on-shell over 1,300 acres in Maryland’s five large-scale restoration tributaries.
- Harris Creek in Talbot County: 2.5 billion spat-on-shell on 343 acres
- Little Choptank River in Dorchester County: 2.2 billion spat-on-shell on 358 acres
- Tred Avon River in Talbot County: 1.2 billion spat-on-shell on 131 acres
- St. Mary’s River in St. Mary’s County: 151 million spat-on-shell on 60 acres
- Manokin River in Somerset County: 1.4 billion spat-on-shell on 455 acres
The Public Fishery
Harvest in Maryland’s public oyster fishery has drastically increased in the last decade, thanks to extensive replenishment efforts, and this remained a top priority for ORP in 2025. Public fishery production surpassed sanctuary plantings with a grand total of 388 million spat-on-shell, 128,000 bushels of shell, 500 tons (~10,000 bushels) of recycled concrete, and 24,000 bushels of oyster seed set onto reefs in Maryland’s 11 coastal counties. ORP relies on Maryland’s commercial watermen for their local knowledge and expertise to identify the target reefs and transport and plant shell and juvenile oysters. Representatives from Maryland’s oyster aquaculture industry help provide expertise and equipment to produce and plant remote-set spat-on-shell.
Photo credit: Jordan Paige Studios
Community Restoration
ORP is grateful for the support of the public in building and growing oyster reefs in partnership with local communities.
ORP teamed up with 14 local watershed associations to sponsor Marylanders Grow Oysters, recruiting thousands of waterfront property owners to raise 4 million oysters under their private piers.
Two community-funded Build-a-Reef campaigns planted 10 million spat-on-shell in Herring Bay and 9 million in the Severn River in 2025.
These focused local efforts deepen community engagement and expand oyster habitat at scales that collectively make a measurable impact.
Oyster Aquaculture
Oyster aquaculture continues to grow in Maryland, driven by hundreds of small businesses investing in sustainable seafood production. ORP supports this sector through underwater mapping, technical assistance, and new business management tools, including the Maryland FARM (Farm Aquaculture Reporting and Management) app, which simplifies daily operations and state reporting requirements and will be launched in 2026.
Sustainable Fishing
Maryland’s oyster population has tripled in the past 20 years, a direct result of effective sanctuary restoration and responsible harvest management. ORP strengthened this progress in 2025 by supporting best management practices that improve accountability, data accuracy, and Bay health.
Key Initiatives Include
- Expanding Maryland’s FACTS™ (Fishing Activity and Catch Tracking System) program by laying the groundwork to add a module for seafood dealer reporting.
- Derelict Fishing Gear removal of nearly 1,000 ghost crab pots in Anne Arundel County, which directly improves habitat and benefits the blue crab fishery.
Since the signing of the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Agreement, ORP’s Shell Recycling Alliance ™ (SRA) has recycled 360,000 bushels of oyster shell from more than 200 restaurants in the Chesapeake Bay region. Shell, the substrate of choice for ORP, is the most valuable resource in oyster restoration. In 2025 alone, the SRA collected nearly 30,000 bushels of shell, diverting them away from local landfills and returning them to the Bay as the foundation for new reefs.
Best Management Practices
ORP’s leadership in restoration science helped secure federal recognition of oyster restoration as a qualifying Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Best Management Practice (BMP) for reducing nutrients in the Bay. In 2025, ORP launched the first-ever oyster BMP pilot project with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, UMCES, and Queen Anne’s County. Building on the outcomes and consensus recommendations from the ORP-led Eastern Bay Oyster Coalition, ORP is establishing a scalable process for long-term, county-funded oyster restoration that will help meet EPA-mandated water quality goals.
(Pictured L to R): Ward Slacum, ORP; Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey, US Environmental Protection Agency; Jason Ruth, Harris Seafood; Lee McDonnell, US Environmental Protection Agency
Events, Outreach, & Community Engagement
Public enthusiasm for oyster restoration fuels ORP’s work and expands support for the Bay. Each year, ORP hosts festivals, corporate team building events, fundraisers, educational workshops, and restaurant collaborations that celebrate Maryland seafood and Bay stewardship. ORP is committed to both the ecological and economic value of Maryland’s oyster and seafood industry. Each year, ORP connects the public with commercial watermen, oyster farmers, and state officials to promote healthy and sustainable Maryland-raised seafood.
Chesapeake Oyster Week
ORP’s annual Chesapeake Oyster Week – held in March – celebrated the iconic oyster at more than 60 area restaurants serving up their own special and unique oyster dishes. Maryland Governor Wes Moore proclaimed “Maryland’s Oyster Week” and ORP’s social media amplified a simple message to more than 16 million people: eat local, recycle shell, restore reefs.
The 2025 World is Your Oyster Fest was a monumental celebration of successful Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration! The event highlights included the Tito’s Handmade Vodka Shucking Competition, where reigning champion Francisco Lopez of the Walrus Oyster & Ale House defended his title, and engaging "Shuck Like a Pro" workshops sponsored by Flywheel Digital. Over 800 attendees enjoyed gourmet seafood, and UMCES Horn Point Lab and its hatchery team were recognized with the "Pearl of the Chesapeake" award for their advancement of Bay restoration science. With more than 10,000 oysters consumed and $65,000 raised, WIYO was a HUGE success!
OUR PARTNERS
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has led Maryland’s oyster restoration strategy for more than three decades. The Department’s leadership, funding, and technical know-how made ORP’s 10-year, five-tributary restoration a success. With that success, the Department is now focusing on new restoration targets in Herring Bay, Eastern Bay, the Nanticoke River, and Hoopers Strait.
ORP and UMCES Horn Point Lab Oyster Hatchery pioneered the process of remotely setting oysters on a large scale, a process that today is the hallmark of ORP’s large-scale restoration strategy. In 2025, the hatchery, located in Cambridge, produced 2.4 billion oyster larvae, which were used to produce spat-on-shell deployed on both sanctuary and public reefs, as well as private aquaculture leases.
Maryland’s commercial watermen are central to the culture and working heritage of the Chesapeake, and their partnership has been fundamental to ORP for more than three decades. Working alongside ORP, watermen bring generations of on-the-water knowledge and help ensure restoration and replenishment efforts are practical, responsive, and effective. They also bring the tools of their trade to this work, from vessels to specialized equipment, directly supporting oyster planting and monitoring.
NOAA has been a key partner in advancing oyster restoration by providing scientific, administrative, and financial support needed to scale this work. NOAA provided funding that helped develop the spat-on-shell production processes and build the scientific and policy foundation for baywide restoration. Today, the NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office ensures the work is coordinated, science-based, and achieves measurable results for the Bay.
The US Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore District has been a core partner in Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration since the beginning, helping shift the focus toward ecological recovery. The District developed the landmark Chesapeake Bay Oyster Recovery Project, Maryland plan and later produced the Oyster GIS Master Plan, both foundational to large-scale oyster restoration. Its collaboration with ORP continues to guide science-based work across the Bay.
The US EPA Chesapeake Bay Program coordinates and tracks oyster restoration across the Bay. The Program adopted restoration of oyster populations as a core goal of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. ORP provides expertise in large-scale restoration implementation and objective evaluation methods, helping ensure that restoration efforts are effective, measurable, and aligned with Baywide recovery goals.
Credits:
Oyster Recovery Partnership