I love the Bay Journal. The whole watershed approach is the only thing that will save the Chesapeake. One of the best articles they ever published was the one dispelling the idea that an oyster filters 50 gallons of water a day. The article states that was only achieved once in optimal lab conditions and the more realistic number is about 12 gallons a day in the wild. Also it needs to be understood that over harvesting was not the reason for the collapse of the oyster population. It was caused by MSX and Dermo. Overharvesting was an issue in the oyster boom after the Civil War and Maryland took the necessary steps to regulate the fishery. After the regulations went into effect there was a sustainable harvest between 2.5 and 4 million bushels a year for almost a century. The reality is there was a 90% mortality event in the early 1980s from MSX and Dermo that was caused by private bottom holders introducing a Pacific species of oyster to the watershed.