Maryland Sea Grant

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August 2025 •

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CQ Archive

• Restoration Takes Root: Living Shorelines for Changing Coasts
• Bay Blues: How Blue Catfish Are Changing the Bay
• Complicated Contaminants: Finding PFAS in the Chesapeake Bay
• A Growing Industry: Advancing Oyster Aquaculture in Maryland
• Boats on the Bay

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Maryland Sea Grant

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THE MARYLAND SEA GRANT DOCUMENTARY "Who Killed Crassostrea virginica? — The Fall and Rise of Chesapeake Bay Oysters" investigates the historic crash of the oyster fishery. Was this ecological calamity a tragedy of overfishing? A casualty of pollution? An accident of history? A scientific mistake? The film re-evaluates these theories in light of recent findings from science labs, from the bottom of the Bay, and from long-forgotten historical archives. It reveals how scientific detective work solved a 40-year mystery.

The hour-long documentary has premiered at the D.C. Environmental Film Festival and at several other festivals. It was also broadcast on Maryland Public Television April 10 and 11, 2011.

The film is now available on DVD. To order a copy ($24.95), visit the web at www.mdsg.umd.edu/oysterfilm.