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Phase 2 of Army Corps of Engineers’ oyster reef project completed

By Sherry Hamilton on December 20, 2023
mathews piankatank oyster reef completed 1
PHOTO BY ROXY GWYNN Equipment was removed last week from the site of a 53-acre oyster reef construction project recently completed in the Piankatank River. The new reef surrounds a 25-acre oyster reef built in 2017 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, which were the agencies responsible for the new reef, as well. This photo was taken looking at the scene from Gwynn’s Island.

The latest U.S. Army Corps of Engineers oyster reef project in the Piankatank River wrapped up last week, adding 53 acres of protected reef to an already-existing 25-acre reef.

Heather Lockwood, the corps’ project manager for Phase 2 of the long-term project, said the reef was built in partnership with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission. The contractor was Seaward Marine. Construction began in March and ended on Dec. 13.

The new reef, made of large-sized (A-1) granite rock, encircles the 25-acre reef, which was built in 2017 as part of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement that Virginia has with Maryland. The encircling construction will enable spat from all over the existing oyster reef to strike on the new rock and populate it, said Lockwood.

The 25-acre reef has been very successful, said Lockwood, surpassing all metrics that were set for it. Those metrics were that, after five years, the all-natural, unseeded reef would have at least 50 oysters per square meter, co...

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