Eastern oysters were long a commercially and ecologically important species in the Delaware Estuary. As far back as the early 1800s, oysters from Delaware Bay were known for their unique taste and high quality meat, and they were extremely popular on the oyster market, with significant economic importance to bayshore communities in Delaware and New Jersey. Throughout the early 1900s, annual oyster landings ranged from one million to two million bushels. In the 1950s, oyster production was dramatically reduced by a parasite called MSX, and by 1960 only 49,000 bushels were harvested in Delaware Bay. The industry gradually rebounded as seedbeds recovered in the late 1960s and early 1970s and native oysters developed some resistance to the disease. In 1990, however, a new parasite known as Dermo appeared in several locations on the New Jersey side of Delaware Bay and spread over much of the eastern bay, causing heavy losses of planted and seeded oysters.