Memorial Stadium Oyster Reef Sanctuary Project Photos

During the summer and fall of 2002 UMCES researchers teamed with private and state agencies to create the 6-acre Memorial Stadium Oyster Reef Sanctuary, created with rubble from Baltimore's famous arena. An innovative oyster reef restoration project, it was a joint project among the Center, private and state agencies and was aimed at restoring oyster in the upper Chesapeake Bay where oyster reefs were once abundant. For the Memorial Stadium project, Dr. Donald "Mutt" Meritt and Horn Point Laboratory Shellfish Culture Facility technicians at UMCES were charged with populating 14 concrete reef balls designed for the project with oyster spat. Reef balls are commonly used in coral reef restoration but this project was the first time they were used for oyster spat. Using more than 20 million oyster larvae, the reef balls were set at the culture facility for a week before being transported into the lab's nursery in the Choptank River, done with the assistance of the Oyster Recovery Partnership. On October 3, the reef balls along with 10,000 cubic yards of rubble were planted at the reef site, three miles of Tolchester beach in Kent County.