NORFOLK, Va. - It’s an outstanding year, also known as a banner year, for oysters in Hampton Roads!
News 3 spoke with an oyster gardener with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, who says she believes the oysters have grown so much more than in years past because of the light rainfall this area has received.
Experts say, unfortunately, record rains in 2018 led to an influx of freshwater that killed off many oysters in parts of the Chesapeake Bay.
Now, oyster gardeners say they are starting to see nature recover due to the recent large number of oysters they’ve seen.
“I’ve already put 5,300 on the reef I’ve built just in the past couple of months because they’ve outgrown their cages,” says Amy Flora, Norfolk Oyster Ambassador for Chesapeake Bay Foundation. “We have already put 43 million oysters in this river, and we have built 32 reefs and they’re thriving especially this year,” says Flora.
Oyster gardeners say they are just cleaning the river. Flora says the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's main goal is to put 10 billion oysters back into the bay before the year 2025.
