CHESAPEAKE BAY MAIN STEM

There are seven public oyster reefs monitored in the Chesapeake Bay mainstem (approximately 100 acres) and one reef (Milford Haven; approximately 1 acre) that is located in the area known as “Hole in the Wall” (an area with Gwynn’s Island to the north and Mathew’s County to the south). Six of the seven reefs in the mainstem of the bay are part of the Deep Rock Management Area located east of Gwynn's Island. The remaining mainstem Chesapeake Bay reef (Blackberry Hang) and Milford Haven are both managed separately. Blackberry Hang is located just north of the mouth of the Great Wicomico River. There are between seven and twenty-two years of data included, depending on when monitoring began for a particular reef. Recruitment at all of these sites is typically very low, with only 27 out of the possible 121 year/site combinations having moderate (>50 spat m^-2) or good (>100 spat m^-2) recruitment. Since 2003, in the Deep Rock Management Area, 2015, 2019, 2021 and 2023 were notable year classes, on Blackberry Hang, 2015, 2016, 2019, 2022 and 2023 were notable and 2015 and 2022 were notable on Milford Haven. In general recruitment on all of the reefs in the mainstem of the bay has been higher since 2015. From 2003 to 2014, average recruitment on the Deep Rock Management Area reefs and Blackberry Hang ranged from 1 to 14 and from less than 1 to 21 spat m^-2, respectively. In contrast, average recruitment from 2015 to 2023 in the two areas (Deep Rock Management Area and Blackberry Hang), ranged from 10 to 92 and from 15 to 146 spat m^-2, respectively.

In recent years, the density of market oysters on all of these reefs has tended to be higher than in earlier years. From 2003 to 2008, the overall average density of market oysters on the reefs in the Deep Rock Management Area was less than 1 m^-2, whereas from 2009 to 2023, the average density of market oysters ranged from 2 to 29 m^-2 and has remained above 5 m since 2012 and above 10 m^-2 since 2020. From 2004 to 2016 market oyster density on Blackberry Hang was never more than 5 m^-2, but from 2017 to 2023, market oyster density ranged from 11 to 20 m^-2.

GREAT WICOMICO RIVER

There are twenty-four public oyster reefs (approximately 193 acres) monitored in the Great Wicomico River. Seventeen of these reefs are located upriver of Sandy Point in the traditional seed harvest area with the other seven located downriver of Sandy Point in the harvest (market oysters) area. This area has been harvested with hand scrapes since 2006. There are between ten and twenty-four years of data included, depending on when monitoring began for a particular reef. Recruitment in the system was highly variable (ranging from a low of 0 spat m^-2 to a high of 1051 spat m^-2), both within the system at different sites in a given year and between years. Overall, there were five strong year classes observed during the monitoring period; 2002, 2006, 2012, 2016 and 2022 with an overall average of 101 (seven reefs), 167 (eighteen reefs), 189 (twenty-two reefs), 154 (twenty-four reefs) spat m^-2, and 127 (twenty-four reefs), respectively. In general, there have been more small and market oysters in the system since 2007. In every year from 2000 to 2006, the average over all of the sites was less than 1 market oysters m^-2 with less than 20 small and market oysters m^-2 combined. From 2007 to 2023, the average over all of the sites in a given year ranged between 2 and 12 market oysters m^-2 with 18 to 97 small and market oysters m^-2 combined. The average market oysters over all twenty-four reefs has remained above 10 m^-2 for the past three years (since 2021).

JAMES RIVER

There are thirty-four public oyster reefs (approximately 6,820 acres) monitored in the James River. Twenty-three of these are located upriver in the traditional seed, hand tong area, with the remaining eleven located downriver in the hand-scrape harvest (market oysters) area. One reef, Wreck Shoal, located in the seed area was designated as a sanctuary reef in 2010. There are between nine and twenty-six years of data included, depending on when monitoring began for a particular reef. Recruitment in the system over the monitoring period was highly variable (ranging from a low of 0 spat m^-2 to a high of 1,319 spat m^-2), both within the system at different sites in a given year and between years.

Recruitment on the twenty-three reefs located in the traditional seed area, has been especially good since 2008. From 1998 to 2007, there was only one year (2002) when the average density of spat over all twenty-three reefs was greater than 100 spat m^-2. Since 2008, the average density of spat over all twenty-three reefs has been greater than 100 spat m^-2 in fourteen out of the sixteen years. Only over the past two years (2021 and 2022) has this increased recruitment resulted in an increase in the overall number of markest oysters on these reefs. The average market oyster density over all of the reefs was at a twenty-six year high in 2023 (average of 24.3 m^-2).

At the eleven sites located in the hand-scrape harvest area, the three strongest year classes were 2015, 2018, and 2019. Recruitment in this area of the river has generally been higher in recent years. From 2006 to 2014, the average recruitment over all of the sites ranged from 1.8 to 17.7 spat m^-2, whereas from 2015 to 2023, the average recruitment over all the sites ranged from 50.0 to 252.7 spat m^-2. In general, the density of small and market oysters combined has been higher since 2015 as well. From 2006 to 2014, the average small and market oysters combined over all of the sites ranged from 3.2 to 9.8 m^-2, whereas from 2015 to 2023, the average ranged from 19.8 to 130.0 m^-2. It should be noted that White Shoal was added in 2015 so from 2006 to 2014, there were only ten sites included in the calculations, versus eleven sites from 2015 to 2023. The overall average market oyster density on these eleven reefs has remained above 10 m^-2 for the past three years. Also as noted in the specific text regarding Nansemond Ridge, this reef has been the focus of regular shell plants for the purpose of seed movement to other reefs within the Commonwealth since 2017.

LYNNHAVEN BAY

There are twelve public oyster reefs (approximately 48 acres) monitored in the Lynnhaven River system. All of these are designated as sanctuary reefs, closed to harvest. There are between eleven and fourteen years of data included, depending on when the particular reef was built and monitoring began. Eastern Branch 3 and Eastern Branch 4 were not sampled in 2017 and haven`t been sampled since 2018. Eastern Branch 1 and Eastern Branch 2 have not been sampled since 2016. The remaining reefs in the system were not sampled in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Recruitment was typically low (less than 50 spat m^-2) throughout the system, but varied depending on location, with the Broad Bay area typically having the highest recruitment. The four exceptions to low recruitment occurred on Broad Bay 2 in 2016 (183 spat m^-2) and 2022 (106 spat m^-2) and on Linkhorn Bay 3 (101 spat m^-2) and Linkhorn Bay 4 (80 spat m^-2) in 2017. The strongest year classes in each of the different areas of the Lynnhaven River system were 2008 (Eastern Branch reefs), 2016 (Broad Bay reefs) and 2017 (Linkhorn Bay reefs). In Broad Bay, 2022 was also a notable year for recruitment. The reefs in the Eastern Branch are in a fairly dynamic area and the majority of the shells that were initially planted have essentially been buried by sand. From 2013 to 2015, greater than 31% of the oysters in the system were market size, with an overall system average of 12 to 15 market oysters m^-2. This has varied since, with a mean over all the reefs in 2018, 2020 and 2022 of 13.3, 30.0 and 21.1 m^-2 respectively. Market oysters accounted for 23.7% of the oyster population in 2018, 39.3% in 2020 and 23.1% in 2022.

PIANKATANK RIVER

There are eighteen public oyster reefs (approximately 227 acres) monitored in the Piankatank River. Five of these are seed reefs (most recent harvest on any of these reefs was in 2018), but the rest have either never been harvested or for the older reefs have not been harvested for at least twenty years or more. There are between nine and twenty-six years of data included, depending on when monitoring began for a particular reef. Recruitment in the system was variable (ranging from a low of 0 spat m^-2 to a high of 308 spat m^-2), both within the system at different sites in a given year and between years. Overall, there were three strong year classes observed in the system over the monitoring period. These were 1999, 2002, and 2010, with an average of 115 (eight reefs), 114 (nine reefs) and 110 (ten reefs) spat m^-2 respectively. The most recent notable year was 2019 with 72 spat m^-2. Following a fairly large die-off of oysters in all size classes, the oyster population in the Piankatank River was at very low levels in 2004 and 2005. The population of small and market oysters had started to rebound by 2007 (small oysters) and 2008 (market oysters) and in general have remained at higher levels since then. From 1998 to 2006, the overall average density of small oysters in the river ranged between 1.0 and 18 m^-2 whereas from 2007 to 2023 the overall average ranged between 18 and 55 m^-2. For market oysters, the overall average density in the river from 1998 to 2007 was consistently less than 1 m^-2, while from 2008 to 2023 the density ranged between 2 and 14 market oysters m^-2. The highest density of small oysters observed over the twenty-six year period occurred in 2021 and the highest density of market oysters observed occurred in 2022.

RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER

There are fifty-nine public oyster reefs (approximately 710 acres) monitored in the Rappahannock River. Seventeen of these are designated as sanctuary reefs with the remaining fourty-two located in the rotational harvest areas (Rappahannock River Rotation Areas 1-6; thirty-two reefs), in Rappahannock River Area 7 (eight reefs), Rappahannock River Area 8 (one reef) or the Corrotoman River Hand Tong Area (one reef). There are between six and twenty-four years of data included, depending on when monitoring began for a particular reef. Recruitment in the system was highly variable (ranging from a low of 0 spat m^-2 to a high of 559 spat m^-2), both within the system at different sites in a given year and between years. There was a seven-year period (2003 to 2009) when recruitment was consistently low (overall average across the river of less than 10 spat m^-2), but recruitment over the past fourteen years (2010 to 2023) has improved, such that seven of the years had an average greater than 20 spat m^-2 (six out the past nine years). In most years, recruitment tended to be slightly higher at the more downriver sites but in 2022 and 2023 recruitment was highest at the more mid to upriver sites. Average recruitment over the past two years at most of these sites was anywhere from 4 to 50 times higher than what is typical in that part of the river. From 2002 through 2021, the overall mean recruitment at the more upriver reefs in the Rappahannock River system (the reefs located upriver of Towle's Point) was never more than 15 spat m^-2. The overall mean at these reefs in 2022 and 2023 was 108 and 50 spat m^-2, respectively. Throughout the Rappahannock River system, three years, 2015, 2019 and 2022, had an overall mean recruitment (mean across all reefs monitored in a given year) greater than 50 spat m^-2; 2023 was also notable with an overall average of 49 spat m^-2. In general, the density of market oysters has been higher since around 2008. From 2000 to 2007, the overall density of market oysters ranged from less than 1 m^-2 to 2 m^-2. From 2008 to 2023, the overall density of market oysters in any given year ranged between 2 and 19 m^-2, and has remained above 5 m^-2 since 2012 and above 15 m^-2 for the past three years.

TANGIER AND POCOMOKE SOUNDS

There are fourteen public oyster reefs monitored in Pocomoke Sound (approximately 472 acres) and thirteen monitored in Tangier Sound (approximately 166 acres). Nine of the reefs in Pocomoke Sound and twelve of the reefs in Tangier Sound are part of the Pocomoke and Tangier Sound Rotational Harvest areas. The remaining five reefs in Pocomoke Sound are located near the mouth of the Pocomoke River and are managed separately. The remaining reef in Tangier Sound (Cod Harbour) is a designated sanctuary reef. There are between nine and twenty-one years of data included, depending on when monitoring began for a particular reef. Recruitment in these systems is variable, both within the systems at different sites in a given year and between years. Recruitment was typically low or moderate, with two reefs in Tangier Sound having good (>100 spat m^-2) recruitment in 2020 one having good recruitment in 2022 and two having good rectuitment in 2023. Recruitment over the monitoring period ranged from 0 to 91 spat m^-2 in Pocomoke Sound and from less than 1 to 299 spat m^-2 in Tangier Sound.

The strongest year class in Pocomoke Sound was 2019 (overall average was almost twice as high as the next highest year), but 2006, 2007, 2010, 2018, 2021 and 2023 were also notable years; these were all years with an overall average >15 spat m^-2. In general, the density of small and market oysters increased in years following these recruitment events. From 2012 to 2017, recruitment was extremely low in this system with the overall density in all size classes reaching a low of 1.6 m^-2 in 2015. Both small and market oyster densities have increased since, with around 13 and 8 small and market oysters m^-2 in 2023, respectively.

The strongest year class in Tangier Sound was 2020. There were six years that had an overall average between 20 and 30 spat m^-2 (2002, 2006, 2015, 2018, 2021 and 2022) and four that had an overall average greater than 35 spat m^-2 (2007, 2019, 2020 and 2023). The overall average spat observed in Tangier Sound has been greater than 25 m^-2 for the past six years (2018 through 2023). In the sixteen years prior, 2007 was the only year that had greater than 25 spat m^-2. In general, the density of small and market oysters increased in years following each of the notable recruitment events, with the overall average of small oysters over the twenty-two years ranging between 2 and 37 m^-2 and the overall average of market oysters ranging between less than 1 and 21 m^-2. Average oyster market density has remained above 17 m^-2 for the past three years.

YORK RIVER AND MOBJACK BAY

There are seven public oyster reefs monitored in the York River (approximately 257 acres) and five monitored in Mobjack Bay (approximately 129 acres). Three of the five reefs in the York River and three of the reefs in Mobjack Bay are part of the York River and Mobjack Bay rotational harvest areas. The remaining four reefs in the York River and the two reefs in the Mobjack Bay are designated as sanctuary reefs. There are between five and eighteen years of data included, depending on when monitoring began for a particular reef. Recruitment in these systems is variable, both within the systems at different sites in a given year and between years. Recruitment was typically low to moderate and ranged from less than 1 to 414 spat m^-2 in the York River and from 0 to 744 spat m^-2 in Mobjack Bay. During the monitoring period, 2019 was the strongest year class in the York River, with 2015 also being a notable year. The strongest year class in Mobjack Bay was 2019, with 2015 also being notable. Recruitment in 2019 in Mobjack Bay was two to four times higher than 2015 recruitment (the next highest year at all of the sites) and twelve to twenty-six times higher than the third highest recruitment year (recruitment varied between sites).

In the York River, the density of market oysters on the four sanctuary reefs trended upward over the fifteen-year monitoring period, with the average over the two reefs remaining above 11 m^-2 since 2020. On the harvest reefs, the density of market oysters has been higher since 2012, when compared with earlier years; from 2009 to 2011, there were less than 1 market oysters m^-2 in any given year, whereas the density from 2012 to 2023 ranged between 3 (2012 and 2015) and 13 (2022) market oysters m^-2. The density of small and market oysters combined on all seven reefs in the York River was around 4 m^-2 in 2009 and 2010, but began to increase in 2011 and has ranged between 22 and 33 m^-2 for the past eight years (2016 to 2023).

In Mobjack Bay, the density of market oysters on all of the reefs varied a good bit over the monitoring period, ranging from an average low of less than 1 m^-2 to a high of 11 m^-2. On Brown's Bay #2, (added to the VOSARA site in 2018) market oyster density increased from less than 1 market oyster m^-2 in 2013 through 2015, the first three years of sampling on the reef, to an average of 11 to 25 market oysters m^-2 from 2016 to 2023. On Brown's Bay #1 (added to the VOSARA site in 2020) the density of market oysters has remained above 18 m^-2 since 2021.