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Nicole CarlozoNOAA Social Coast Forum

Charleston, SCFebruary 18, 2014

Oyster Aquaculture Expansion in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay: Informing industry opportunities and conflicts through GIS and participatory mapping processes

Saving Maryland’s Oyster

Data Portals (DNR Aquaculture Division)

Suitability Modeling (NOAA Fellow/MD DNR)

Addressing user-conflicts and needs through stakeholder participation (NOAA Fellow/ MD DNR)

State Actions

Why do we care?

Oyster Aquaculture Planning

The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica)…

A Heritage in Oysters: Crisfield, Cambridge, Oxford, St. Michaels, Galesville, Solomons, Smith Island…

Oyster Police cannon

Photos courtesy of MD Historical Society, MD DNR, National Archives

The Declining Fishery

“In ten or fifteen years the oyster men of Chesapeake Bay will be extinct, and their unique maritime culture and independent way of living will pass into folklore and history…” (Wennersten, 1981)

Dermo

MSX

1949. Dermo 1959. MSX

Source: NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office

Taking Action

• Habitat protection/sanctuaries• Artificial reefs• Large-scale restoration

– 20 tributaries by 2025• Enforcement• Promote Aquaculture

(1820, 1965, 1906…2010)– Oyster Restoration and

Aquaculture Development Plan– Data collection and transparency

Marine Spatial Planning*

* Data sharing, transparency, data collection, tool development, stakeholder participation, use-conflicts, coastal planning

Data Portals (Online Aquaculture Siting Tool)Suitability Modeling (GIS Model)Addressing user-conflicts and needs through stakeholder participation (Participatory GIS)

Oyster Aquaculture Planning

Online Aquaculture Siting Tool

Aquaculture Policy: Exclusion areas

• SAV zone (5 years)• Oyster Planting Areas (6 years)• Closed Harvest Areas• Public Shellfish Fishery Area (150 ft buffer)• Harvest Reserve Area (150 ft buffer)• Pound net sites (150 ft buffer)• Yates bars within sanctuaries (150 ft buffer)• Federal navigation channels (150 ft buffer)• Navigation buoys (250 ft buffer) – requires Army Corps of Engineers / Coast

Guard Review• Shoreline (50 ft buffer, unless landowner permission)• Blind spots (500 yard buffer) – locations change annually• MD artificial reef initiative sites• Current shellfish leases• Potomac River main stem• No more than 10% of any sanctuary can be leased (leases must be compatible

with restoration).

1) Identify high priority aquaculture areas that align with TMDL water quality goals.

2) Investigate oyster aquaculture as a BMP to meet Chesapeake TMDL water quality goals.

3) Develop recommendations about the best ways to balance competing coastal uses.

1) Identify high priority aquaculture areas that align with TMDL water quality goals.

Develop Suitability Parameters Bottom, Caged, and Floating Aquaculture

Interviews

Literature Research

Expert facilitation

Develop GIS ModelEnvironmental Parameters: DO, Salinity, Temp, Bottom Substrate, Bacteria

Policy Parameters: Online Aquaculture Siting Tool, Cultural/Historic Sites

Additional Parameters: Bathymetry

Oyster Aquaculture Suitability ModelModels: • Bottom, Caged, Floating• Raster Calculator:

– Suitable = 1– Unsuitable = 0

DOTemperatureSalinityBottomPolicyBacteriaBathymetry

Priority AreasParameter - Priority Suitability

Dissolved Oxygen (Data: CBP Interpolator)

> 4 mg/L summer average

Salinity (Data: CBP Interpolator)

8 – 12 ppt (bottom/caged)8 – 25 ppt (float/triploid)

Bacteria (Data: MDE)

MDE approved non-conditional areas

Substrate (Data: NOAA OysterDecision Support Tool)

Hard/shell > mixed > gravelNo priority for floating cultures.

• Long-term survival, optimal filtration• Reduced disease risk• Ability to harvest• Suitable substrate for reduced maintenance

NOTE: Fetch, wave action, chlorophyll, and flow were not incorporated into this initial model.

2) Investigate oyster aquaculture as a BMP to meet Chesapeake TMDL water quality goals.

Average N content: 8.2% of tissue dry weight (DW) and 0.21% of shell DW.

Average P content: 1.07% of tissue DW and 0.06% of shell DW.

(2013 STAC Report)Source: NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office/EcoCheck

Oysters and Water Quality

3) Develop recommendations about the best ways to balance competing coastal uses.

Participatory Mapping (pGIS) “Gathering and mapping spatial information to help communities learn, discuss, build consensus, and make decisions about their communities and associated resources.” (NOAA Coastal Services Center 2009)

Recreational Use Data

Area of Focus for Mapping Choptank River Recreational Uses

Participatory Mapping Pilot

Participatory Mapping

• Inform land acquisition / recreation planning, public access needs, and future oyster aquaculture expansion.

• Identify current use patterns to determine future needs or potential conflicts.

• Reduce information gap

• Integrate CMSP into management efforts.

• 24 recreational use categories– Charter/Guided– Fishing/Hunting– General– Cultural/Historic Uses

• 3 Breakout rooms

• +40 participants

• 8 to 10 staff

• E-beam (electronic pen)

PurposeWorkshop

Stakeholder ParticipationDraw on local experts to obtain knowledge about recreational uses:

• location (spatial range)• intensity (general vs. dominant)• other use characteristics (seasonality)

Workshop facilitators & mapping specialists help convert local knowledge into readable maps

Use interactive mapping software to explain…“What happens where?”

“To what extent?”

Data CollectionGeneral Use Footprint : Areas in which the use is known to occur with some regularity (over the past 3 5 years), ‐regardless of its frequency or intensity.

Dominant Use Areas: Areas routinely used by most users most of the time (within the seasonal patterns for that use).

Putting the Pieces Together…

Next Steps

– Suitability Model: HAB risk areas; Climate risk areas; refine as needed.– Develop workshop materials for Chesapeake-wide PGIS workshops.– Engage state/local resource and recreation planners.– Data sharing (Coastal Atlas).

Thank You!

Nicole Carlozoncarlozo@dnr.state.md.us