Evaluation of Oyster Sampling Efficiency of Patent Tongs and an Oyster Dredge

Sampling efficiency of two oyster fishing gears, patent tongs and an oyster dredge, were compared in reference to diver-harvested quadrats in Chesapeake Bay, which supports important harvests of eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica. Mean densities of spat (≤35 mm), small oysters (>35 mm to 75 mm), marketable oysters (>75 mm), and all oysters (three size-groups combined) estimated from patent tong samples were not significantly different from those derived from diver-harvested quadrat samples. In contrast, the densities estimated from dredge samples were low, only 2–32% of the diver estimates. Accordingly, patent tongs are recommended as the sampling gear for estimating eastern oyster stock abundance in the Maryland portion of Chesapeake Bay.