 Oysters consume nitrogen-containing compounds (nitrates and ammonia), phosphates, plankton, detritus, bacteria, and dissolved organic matter, removing them from the water.What is not used for animal growth is then expelled as solid waste pellets, which eventually decompose into the atmosphere as nitrogen.In Maryland, the Chesapeake Bay Program had implemented a plan to use oysters to reduce the amount of nitrogen compounds entering the Chesapeake Bay by per year by 2010.