The Herring Bay Sanctuary has eight historic oyster bars within the sanctuary boundaries. There are two sites in the sanctuary that have artificial reefs constructed by the Maryland Artificial Reef Initiative (MARI). Advocates for Herring Bay, a community-based environmental group, in partnership with other organizations planted spat-on-shell on a site within the sanctuary from 2019-2021. In 2022, they conducted a dive survey to evaluate the planting site. They found an average of 236 oysters per sqm. The department planted 26.5 million spat-on-shell on 3.5 acres on Holland Point in 2023 as part of the state's small-scale restoration effort.
Throughout 2024 and 2025 DNR is planting 60 million spat-on-shell on 12 acres on Bay Shore as part of the EverForward grounding mitigation funding.
In 2024, DNR announced the Herring Bay Sanctuary as one of the three sanctuaries to receive the next large-scale restoration. This restoration will consist of seed only restoration (hatchery-produced spat-on-shell added to naturally existing remnant reefs) and substrate and seed restoration (adding reef-building substrate to the reef footprint, followed by planting with hatchery-produced spat-on-shell). As a restoration plan is developed, additional information will be posted.
