Review of Monitoring Process for Large-Scale Oyster ...
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Review of Monitoring Process for Large-Scale Oyster Restoration in Maryland Stephanie Reynolds Westby, NOAA Ward Slacum, Oyster Recovery Partnership Presented to the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission May 14, 2018
Transcript of Review of Monitoring Process for Large-Scale Oyster ...
Review of Monitoring Process
for Large-Scale Oyster Restoration
in Maryland
Stephanie Reynolds Westby, NOAAWard Slacum, Oyster Recovery Partnership
Presented to the Maryland Oyster Advisory Commission
May 14, 2018
• Annual monitoring report
• Monitoring is funded by NOAA and USACE-Baltimore District
• 2017 report will cover monitoring in fall 2017 and winter/ spring 2018; data collection for 2017 report currently wrapping up
Reef-level Oyster Metrics success criteria• Oyster density:
• Minimum threshold: 15 oys/ m2 over 30% reef area• Target: 50 oys/ m2 over 30% reef area
• Oyster biomass:• Minimum threshold: 15 g dry wt / m2 over 30% reef area• Target: 50 g dry wt / m2 over 30% reef area
• Presence of multiple year classes
• Neutral or positive shell budget
• Stable/ increasing reef height and footprint
“Biological Metrics”:Data collected at the same time; patent tong/ divers
ObjectiveMonitor restoration sites relative the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Metrics success criteria
“Structural Metrics”Data collected by NOAA using sonar
Oyster Metrics recommended monitoring schedule (reiterated in river-specific tributary plans)• Three years post restoration• Six years post restoration
Example: “2013 cohort”• Reefs planted with seed in 2013
• 7 seed only reefs• 10 shell-base reefs• 13 stone-base reefs
• Also monitored 4 reference reefs (untreated)
Year # Calendar Year
0 2013- reefs were planted with seed
1 2014
2 2015
3 2016 – “3 year monitoring”- presented in 2016 monitoring report
4 2017
5 2018
6 2019- “6 year monitoring”- presented in 2019 monitoring report
Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program
Funding
Implementation
Diving Patent-Tong, Analysis & Reporting Patent-Tong Vessel Support
Captain Ben Parks
Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program
Scale of operations
Tributary Scale
Chesapeake Bay
Harris Creek
Little Choptank
Tred Avon
2017 Sampling Extent
Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program
Cohort
Harris Creek
2017 Sampling Extent
Scale of observations
Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program
• Reefs- ~.5 to ~25 acres
• Systematic survey with random component
• Reef types-• Seed only• Substrate addition and seed
Scale of observations
12.5 m grid< 0.5 acres
25 m grid0.5 to .99 acres
50 m grid1.0 to 9.99 acres – PT1.0 to 3.99 acres - Diver
100 m grid> 10 acres – PT> 4 acres - Dive
Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program
Patent-tong sampling
Diver sampling
Waypoint collected when P-Tong deployed
Waypoint collected when anchor deployed
Biological Monitoring and Assessment Program
Scale of observations
Sample Processing• Live and dead (box) oysters counted• Subset of live and dead oysters measured• Total shell volume is measured• Volume of live and box measured• Percent of the total buried shell (anoxic) estimated • Percent of shell hash (broken shell) estimated• Primary and secondary substrate noted• Counts and measurements of live and box oysters attached
to representative samples of stone (Diver only)• Live oyster counted on stone substrate (Diver Only)
• Patent-tong samples 1.61 m2 area• Diver quadrat samples 0.5041 m2 area
Structural Metrics Monitoring and Assessment
• NOAA collects sonar data• Compares against baseline sonar data• Determines whether reef footprint and reef
height are increasing, decreasing, or remaining neutral
• Produces sonar image for each reef
Structural Metrics Monitoring and Assessment
Biological and structural monitoring data and assessments are compiled into Annual Monitoring Report
Questions?Discussion?
