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Chapter 2 - Coastal EcosystemsThis bank appears to have been a verywell-known and prominent feature inthose days, though no populartradition of it remains. For example,Winthrop’s History of New England,edited by the Rev. John Savage, p. 106,contains under date of August 6, 1633,the following statement: “Two menservants to one Moodye, of Roxbury,returning in a boat from the windmill,struck upon the oyster-bank. Theywent out to gather ‘oysters, and, notmaking fast their boat, when the floodcame, it floated away, and they wereboth drowned, although they mighthave waded out on either side; butit was an evident judgment of Godupon them, for they were wickedpersons.The loss of oyster populationsthroughout the Northwest Atlanticis chronicled in many of the annualreports of the United States Bureau of Fisheries (USCF1916). There is a wealth of credible historic informationand maps indicating that oysters were formerly much moreabundant than in modern times. East coast annual oysterharvests peaked at nearly 27 million bushels during the1890s, declined to about 12 million bushels by 1940, andhave been well below 0.5 million bushels in recent years(Figure 2- 4). Intense market demand and increasinglyeffective fishing methods fueled oyster fishery growthduring the 1800s even though oyster populations hadalready been sharply reduced during the 17th and 18thcenturies due to pollution and sedimentation from millsand logging.Figure 2-4. East Coast oyster landings and prices (inflation-corrected) of oysters,1880 to 1990. Reprinted with permission from Mackenzie (2007).Chesapeake Bay, the nation’s largest estuary, hashistorically produced the highest oyster landings in theNorthwest Atlantic. Ingersoll (1881) reports that in 1880total Chesapeake Bay oyster production exceeded 17million bushels. In Maryland and Virginia, the oysterindustry employed at least 32,000 people in harvesting,processing, and marketing operations. AdditionalChesapeake Bay production included millions of seedoysters sold and transported to help augment diminishedoyster resources at many locations from Delaware toMaine. However, even during these times of extraordinaryabundance, there were warning signs that these harvestlevels were unsustainable (Ingersoll 1881; USBCF 1893).Comprehensive and detailed estimates of oyster loss andcurrent restoration opportunities for the project areahave not been produced. However, loss and restorationpotential have been estimated for some locations usingboth historic maps and habitat models. At Great Bay, NewHampshire the extent of oysters before significant lossesoccurred between the 1700s and about 1970 remainsunknown. However, GIS analysis of available map data(Figure 2-5) indicates that oysters covered at least 365hectares, and perhaps as much as 525 hectares, comparedto the current extent of live oyster bottom of 20to 40 hectares. It should be noted that although diseasehas taken a heavy toll on oysters within the Great BayNorthwest Atlantic Marine Ecoregional Assessment • Phase 1 Report 2-