New polling shows that Marylanders overwhelmingly want to protect oyster sanctuaries, despite state and federal attempts to roll back those protections.
More than three in four voters support keeping protections in place for oyster sanctuaries, rather than opening the reefs to harvesting, according to polling data released by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF).
Sanctuaries are parts of the Bay where oyster harvesting is prohibited. Oysters help filter the water, provide habitat for fish and crabs, and support recreational and commercial fisheries. Maryland’s oyster restoration efforts have been so successful that its oyster population has tripled since expanding its oyster sanctuary network. The expansion has helped the oysters recover from disease, habitat loss, and overfishing.
“Maryland voters support oyster sanctuaries because they understand what they can do for the Bay and its communities,” said Allison Colden, executive director of CBF Maryland. “Opening these protected areas for harvest would run counter to the public’s best interest and backtrack on decades of progress.”
The survey was conducted by two research firms, one Republican and one Democratic. Nearly 600 Maryland voters were polled between July 1 and July 9. Results overwhelmingly favored keeping protections in place, with 78 percent supporting maintaining existing oyster sanctuaries, and only 8 percent opposing it.
Support crosses party lines and geography, as well. With 82 percent of Independents, 81 percent of Democrats, and 68 percent of Republicans in favor of maintaining protections, every region in the state measures support at 75 percent or higher. The more voters learned about the issue, the higher support grew and the more favorable they viewed candidates who would fight to maintain existing oyster sanctuaries.
“Maryland voters clearly do not want to see the Chesapeake Bay’s existing oyster sanctuaries opened for harvesting,” said Lori Weigel, a pollster with the Republican research firm New Bridge Strategy.
“Support for oyster sanctuaries and legislative candidates who would vote to maintain them was overwhelming across all parties, ages, and geographies,” said Miranda Everitt, a pollster with the Democratic research firm FM3.
Despite this clear and multi-partisan support for oyster sanctuaries, there have been multiple attempts to open protected reefs to harvest recent months. There was a bill in Maryland’s 2026 General Assembly session (HB1388) attempting to open four sanctuaries to harvest. On the federal level, the U.S. House of Representatives’ FY27 Appropriations Bill tried to strip the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) of its funding for oyster sanctuaries unless they were opened to harvesting. Additionally, legislative leaders tasked Maryland’s Oyster Advisory Commission (OAC) with finding ways to change sanctuary management, including opening sanctuaries to harvest. CBF is a member of the OAC and is working with it and other partners to keep the sanctuaries protected while supporting watermen and the local seafood industry.
Marylanders who were polled said they want to keep oyster sanctuaries protected because they improve water quality, provide a home for other species, and they contribute to the local economy. These reasons match the findings of a 2021 NOAA report.
“Relative to pre-restoration conditions, fully mature, restored oyster reefs in Harris Creek, Tred Avon River, and Little Choptank River could increase commercial blue crab harvest by more than 150 percent,” the report says. “[T]he number of small fish and invertebrates increases with the number of live oysters. So healthy restored reefs are a good source of food for larger fish.”
“Oyster restoration is working,” said Ben Ford, Miles-Wye Riverkeeper at ShoreRivers. “But we’re not done. There’s still only a fraction of oysters in the Bay as there once was. We must continue protecting and investing in oyster sanctuaries if we want a healthy and vibrant Chesapeake Bay.”
