Some recent media attention about oyster culture and restoration in the Chesapeake Bay and other coastal areas intrigued some environmentally minded citizens in Chincoteague Island, VA. They're now contemplating starting commercial oyster aquaculture in their own water body, Chincoteague Bay. The success of a certain existing Chincoteague Island commercial oyster operation may have been a motivating factor. They have asked you, as an objective environmental expert from outside the area, to help them decide whether it makes sense environmentally to do so. (Whether it makes sense economically is another question for another time.) They want to know, briefly:

a. The links between oysters, environmental quality and human health

b. Chincoteague Bay's current environmental quality, and in the potential near-term future

c. Your recommendations, based on a & b