80 neighbors help restock Chesapeake oysters

Residents on the southern tip of Kent Island in Maryland are changing how they manage their waterfront property. Instead of just fishing or swimming, a growing group is cultivating oysters in their own piers to help restore the Chesapeake Bay. John Consoli, a professional photographer at the University of Maryland, leads this effort. He calls the group the Peer to Pier Network.

Consoli estimates he has recruited about 80 people to join the initiative. His wife Kathy Consoli describes the work as the most hardworking hobby she has seen. She compares him to a Pied Piper of oysters because he keeps finding new participants. The network includes octogenarian neighbors, local business owners, and even Consoli's dental hygienist.

The biological impact is measurable. Each adult oyster filters up to 50 gallons of water a day. This process cleans the bay and supports sea grass growth, which in turn provides habitat for crabs and other organisms. Oyster shells also create a complex structure where small fish and crabs can hide and eat. Consoli says he recently found a seahorse among his oysters, a creature he had never seen before in his life.

Historical data shows the need for this restoration. Oyster reefs in the Chesapeake declined by over 99% by 2011. Elizabeth North, a fisheries oceanographer at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, says current populations are likely still a fraction of historic levels. Ryan Carnegie, a biologist at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science, notes that while farming has expanded, wild oysters have only made a partial comeback.

Consoli got involved through a university photo shoot of oyster research. He was inspired by the team working on the problem. Miao Yu, a mechanical engineer at the University of Maryland, is developing technology to help farmers. She works in the Neutral Buoyancy Research Facility, which houses a giant cylindrical tank for testing underwater devices.

Yu's team uses a custom-built robot called Oysterbot. It is a raft-like device with sonar mounted below. On a recent fall morning, PhD student Michael Xu steered the robot with a joystick to scan the bay floor. The team also uses a smaller off-the-shelf robot called the BlueROV to get close-up video. They use AI to stitch these visuals together to count live and dead oysters and measure their size.

The goal is to turn sonar data into an actionable map for farmers. Currently, planting oysters is difficult because murky water makes it hard to find hard surfaces for the babies to settle on. Harvesting is also inefficient because divers cannot see clearly. Yu says the team is trying to transform this guesswork into precision. She hopes to scale the technology to coastlines nationwide within a decade.

Consoli places his oysters just below the surface where nutrients are concentrated. He does not intend to eat his own harvest, but the cleaner water benefits commercial fishermen. In August, he worked with Libbey's Coastal Kitchen to place one million baby oysters around their dock pilings. Eight people in wetsuits handled the installation despite jellyfish in the water. Restaurant operator Andrew Westlin called the project a no-brainer for giving back to the community.

Earl Collins, a neighbor of Consoli, says he is impressed by how well the oysters clean the bay. Ann Ziegler, who lives nearby, says her family ate raw oysters they had grown. John Patrick, another neighbor, reports seeing croaker, crabs, and eels around his pier since he started the project. The group continues to expand as more residents learn about the potential of their waterfronts.