Dataset Information

Millennial-scale sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay Native American oyster fishery.

ABSTRACT: Estuaries around the world are in a state of decline following decades or more of overfishing, pollution, and climate change. Oysters (Ostreidae), ecosystem engineers in many estuaries, influence water quality, construct habitat, and provide food for humans and wildlife. In North America's Chesapeake Bay, once-thriving eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations have declined dramatically, making their restoration and conservation extremely challenging. Here we present data on oyster size and human harvest from Chesapeake Bay archaeological sites spanning ?3,500 y of Native American, colonial, and historical occupation. We compare oysters from archaeological sites with Pleistocene oyster reefs that existed before human harvest, modern oyster reefs, and other records of human oyster harvest from around the world. Native American fisheries were focused on nearshore oysters and were likely harvested at a rate that was sustainable over centuries to millennia, despite changing Holocene climatic conditions and sea-level rise. These data document resilience in oyster populations under long-term Native American harvest, sea-level rise, and climate change; provide context for managing modern oyster fisheries in the Chesapeake Bay and elsewhere around the world; and demonstrate an interdisciplinary approach that can be applied broadly to other fisheries.

SUBMITTER: Rick TC

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4988611 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Millennial-scale sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay Native American oyster fishery.

Rick Torben C TC Reeder-Myers Leslie A LA Hofman Courtney A CA Breitburg Denise D Lockwood Rowan R Henkes Gregory G Kellogg Lisa L Lowery Darrin D Luckenbach Mark W MW Mann Roger R Ogburn Matthew B MB Southworth Melissa M Wah John J Wesson James J Hines Anson H AH

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20160523 23

Estuaries around the world are in a state of decline following decades or more of overfishing, pollution, and climate change. Oysters (Ostreidae), ecosystem engineers in many estuaries, influence water quality, construct habitat, and provide food for humans and wildlife. In North America's Chesapeake Bay, once-thriving eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) populations have declined dramatically, making their restoration and conservation extremely challenging. Here we present data on oyster size ...[more]

PMID: 27217572

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Dataset Information

Millennial-scale sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay Native American oyster fishery.

Publications

Millennial-scale sustainability of the Chesapeake Bay Native American oyster fishery.

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