Chesapeake Bay: "Report: More Oysters Surviving Diseases"

"Fewer oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are dying from the diseases that have devastated the bivalve population in recent decades, leading some to believe they may be developing a natural resistance, says a new report by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Dermo and MSX, the two parasites that have been killing oysters, still afflict them throughout the bay - but scientists are seeing more of them surviving, the Annapolis-based environmental group reports.  

Citing data from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, the report says that disease-related oyster mortality in the upper bay declined from 2005 through 2009 to 17 percent a year, down from 29 percent on average from 1985 through 2004."

Timothy B. Wheeler reports in the Baltimore Sun's B'More Green blog July 6, 2010.