All of the methods used in this project to physically restore oyster habitat involve planting oyster shells in the habitat as either two dimensional shell plants or three dimensional oyster reefs. While the biological benefits of restoring the oyster population are numerous, the actual restoration of Chesapeake Bay oyster populations is equally dependent on the availability of oyster shell habitat and the physical restoration of shell habitat in the Bay. Deployment of oyster shell as shell plants or reefs is an excellent beginning. However, data are needed to evaluate the suitability of planted shell as oyster habitat over time. Ongoing restoration projects are designed to have long term ecological impacts within watersheds and the ability of a project to transition from a restoration project dependent upon additions of oysters and oyster shell to a self-sustaining oyster population is dependent, at least in part, upon the natural half-life of the oyster shells used to restore the habitat. Oyster larvae settle preferentially upon clean oyster shell. However, many other benthic organisms in Chesapeake Bay also settle on and occupy clean oyster shell setting up a race or competative interaction for the available clean shell. The rate of oyster shell fouling at a site will directly affect the amount of oyster shell available for oyster spat to settle onto, and thus, the observed recruitment of oysters to a site. Data on the percentage of clean oyster shell available over time will be used to evaluate current shell planting practices with an eye toward increasing the availability of clean shell as much as possible.