Farmers have removed huge amount of oysters from the reefs which is leading to poor health throughout the Chesapeake Bay. In the 1850s over 1.5 million bushels were harvested yearly but three centuries later that number jumped to over 20 million. By the twentieth century the Chesapeake Bay had become one of the United States’ largest oyster fishery (Chesapeake Bay Program, 2016). The supply and demand needs of the economy is what drives the fisheries to harvest larger and larger amount, which in turns is destroying the oyster
Farmers have removed huge amount of oysters from the reefs which is leading to poor health throughout the Chesapeake Bay. In the 1850s over 1.5 million bushels were harvested yearly but three centuries later that number jumped to over 20 million. By the twentieth century the Chesapeake Bay had become one of the United States’ largest oyster fishery (Chesapeake Bay Program, 2016). The supply and demand needs of the economy is what drives the fisheries to harvest larger and larger amount, which in turns is destroying the oyster