"What watermen have observed about the oyster population is backed up by the recently released 2008 oyster survey by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
"Preliminary results from 2008 indicate that reproduction was poor throughout most of the bay, with the exception of the lower Eastern Shore areas of Tangier Sound, Honga River, and the Little Choptank River," said Mitch Tarnowski, DNR fisheries biologist. "In general, mortalities and oyster disease levels appear to be relatively low again this year."
In Tangier Sound, the mortality rate was 9 percent -- the lowest in the bay -- which Tarnowski attributed to above average rainfall."
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