Virginia’s Middle Peninsula is a beautiful part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed—both on and off the water. But it faces challenges due to climate change, a lack of capacity to restore habitat, and rural coastal economic hardship. While the Middle Peninsula isn’t as highly populated as many parts of Virginia, it is still home to many people. Residents live mostly near the shore, so ensuring that shorelines are resilient is important for this area’s future.
That’s why we’re working with partners to restore and conserve fish habitat and to enhance coastal community resilience to climate change. The area was selected as a NOAA Habitat Focus Area in 2022.
Restoring and protecting habitats including wetlands and oyster reefs is important for both the ecosystem and the economy. Research by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science indicates that Middle Peninsula marshes and living shorelines create benefits valued at $6.4 million each year.
Protecting Wetlands Using Nature-Based Solutions
Preserving healthy wetlands is an important part of the Middle Peninsula Habitat Focus Area effort. Hog Island is a relatively small island made up almost entirely of wetlands. It is located by the southwest entrance to Mobjack Bay. It is one of the first places wind and waves coming into the Chesapeake from the southeast make landfall. It helps shelter nearby areas, including a nearby oyster aquaculture farm as well as other wetlands and the mainland behind it. But years of wind and waves, sea level rise, and other changes, have led to erosion. Its south-facing shoreline along the York River, which sees the highest wave energy, is eroding at 4 to 5 feet per year.
Because Hog Island’s wetlands serve as a buffer, helping the communities on the mainland behind it persist, it’s important that Hog Island is protected. Hog Island is owned and protected by the Middle Peninsula Chesapeake Bay Public Access Authority. The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the Virginia Coastal Zone Management Program provided funding to the Public Access Authority to support a living shoreline project here. The NOAA Chesapeake Bay Office also pitched in funding for the design of the project.
Natrx, a contractor for the Public Access Authority, used concrete structures set in a line a few feet off the south-facing shoreline to help with wave attenuation. The structures have another purpose: They provide a place for oysters to settle and grow into reefs. Natrx installed more than 700 linear feet of the structures. Oyster larvae from nearby reefs float through the water and settle on the concrete structures. Structures that were installed in spring and summer 2023 already had many oysters growing on them in 2024.
Work also is under way at the Guinea Marsh Wildlife Management Area, on the western shore of Mobjack Bay. We have completed a design for shoreline restoration, using oyster structures to both reduce shoreline erosion and increase habitat for fish and shellfish. Partners are working to identify funding to let them turn the design plans into reality.
Oyster Reef Restoration
In addition to nearshore oyster restoration work that protects shorelines, there are also oyster reef restoration projects further offshore. These projects develop healthy reefs that provide habitat for many species and help filter the water. Restoring oyster reefs supports fish habitat for commercially and recreationally important fish species. Healthy habitat is good for fishing.
Oyster reef restoration is under way in Mobjack Bay. Up to 65 acres of oyster reef will be constructed in this project. Work here started in May 2024.
The lower York River is home to a large-scale oyster reef restoration effort. Partners marked completion of its initial in-water restoration phase in 2023. The project means there are 200 acres of healthy reef in the lower York River. This project is one of the large-scale oyster restoration efforts taking place across the Chesapeake Bay as part of the Chesapeake Bay Program’s goal to restore healthy oyster reefs to 10 tributaries by 2025.
We look forward to working with our partners to continue work to protect and restore important habitats in the Middle Peninsula HFA.
