Tuesday is a big day for the Chesapeake Bay’s oysters. The Maryland legislature will hear five bills about oysters alone. And these bills are causing a lot of conflict.

Senator Richard Colburn (R-Eastern Shore) introduced legislation that would hold certain areas of the bay as oyster sanctuaries. His bill states that designation of these sanctuaries would rest with the General Assembly.

Not everyone is happy about it. Currently, the state Department of Natural Resources designates any sanctuary in the bay.

DNR spokeswoman Darlene Pisani said an interview with Gazette.net, “we would not support something that would undermine our efforts to move forward on our oyster restoration strategy.”

But Colburn thinks this is necessary to restore the oyster population.

On his Facebook page, Colburn explains the importance of this bill: “The problem is that those people who make a living harvesting oysters were not included in the decision making of the location of these sanctuaries.”

He says that the General Assembly would protect these interests.

The Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs committee will hear testimony from all sides on Tuesday.

Photo courtesy of UMCES.