Ten years after billions of oysters were dumped into the Chesapeake Bay, scientists returned to measure the results—and what they found completely defied expectations. The massive restoration project was launched to revive a species nearly wiped out by overfishing and pollution.
The Chesapeake Bay’s oyster population had fallen to roughly 0.3 percent of its historical levels by 2011, a decline that contributed to the collapse of the estuary’s broader ecosystem. The loss of oysters, which once filtered the bay’s water and built the structure of its floor, led to murky water, oxygen depletion, the disappearance of underwater grasses, and a sharp decline in commercial fisher…