In 2019, AHB launched a new initiative to promote a sustainable oyster population in the Herring Bay Oyster Sanctuary. By 2022, AHB had planted over one-million juvenile oysters on a small reef in the Sanctuary, thanks to support from the community and partnerships with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation and the Chesapeake Beach Oyster Cultivation Society. Numerous individuals are offering their time and resources to the project, including intrepid volunteers who haul the oysters from the hatcheries to the reef and divers who monitor the oysters’ growth.

In May 2023, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) planted approximately 25 million juvenile oysters on a different 3.5 acre site in the Sanctuary. In January 2024, DNR announced plans to use proceeds from a legal settlement to restore oysters on another 12 acres in Herring Bay.

The initial monitoring results are very promising, with reports showing high numbers of live oysters and the emergence of a three-dimensional structure to the reef. Given that success, AHB launched a second restoration project on a different site in the Sanctuary in 2023.

We welcome your support of our continued efforts to bring this ecological powerhouse back to Herring Bay.