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ANNAPOLIS — A debate over aquaculture's role in the future of the Chesapeake Bay may be driving a wedge between government officials trying to restore life in the prized estuary and the men who have used largely the same methods for more than 100 years to make a living on the water.

Oxygen-deficient "dead zones" in the Bay are leading to the disappearance of aquatic life and of the watermen who harvest it for seafood markets, said a report released Wednesday that details how life has changed for watermen and their communities in recent decades.

On the surface, both the watermen and federal officials say they want the same thing: a vibrant Chesapeake Bay able to sustain crabs, clams, oysters, fish and watermen.

Below the surface, there is tension and mistrust among watermen who believe the government is intent on reviving the fishing industry in the region at the expense of a way of life.

The government is "trying to make big business run the whole thing instead of small independent businessmen," said Larry Simns, longtime president of the Maryland Watermen's Association.

Simns has no problem with aquaculture, defined as the regulation and cultivation of water animals and plants for human use or consumption.

At 72, Simns has spent his working life fishing on the Bay and about half of that time experimenting with aquaculture.

But he makes no secret that aquaculture is not the culture of watermen.

"They're saying they want to help the watermen with aquaculture, but the watermen, they know how to grow oysters," he said. "And if it was going to be profitable they would be doing it. We're about making a living."

While certain forms of aquaculture, such as salmon farming, are regarded as harmful to an ecosystem, growing shellfish such as oysters — a natural filter — is considered beneficial.

"We should go forward with trying to restore the native oyster, but in order to do that we've got to separate the objectives of ecological restoration and economic viability of the industry," said Peyton Robertson, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Chesapeake Bay office.

That requires establishing large-scale sanctuaries in protected areas, supporting the industry through development of viable aquaculture "and ensuring that there's a means for [watermen] to transition to some different ways of doing business," he said.

Growing oysters in captivity has proved too labor intensive and just as tricky as harvesting them from the wild, said Simns, who operates a fishing charter from Rock Hall but has turned to crabbing recently as the poor economy has hurt the charter business.

Maryland has 5,931 licensed commercial crabbers. That number has dwindled from as many as 10,000 people who were engaged in some form of commercial fishing on the Bay as recently as six years ago, Simns said.

Preserving life in the Bay and the livelihood of the watermen who make a living on it will take a new approach, advocates and federal officials agree.

Stronger limits on pollution from agriculture and development are needed, according to the report by the Environment Maryland Research & Policy Center. The report also says that a better job must be done curbing pollution from wastewater treatment plants.

Bay restoration discussions must consider "not just the waters, not just the fisheries, not just the marine life, but the human life and the human communities that thrive and have thrived historically off of the Bay and the Bay's vast cornucopia of marine life," said Tommy Landers, field organizer for the nonprofit group Environment Maryland.

The 34-page report comes after a week that saw seven federal agencies issue draft plans for cleaning up the Bay and Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) of Pikesville release details of a Chesapeake Bay Program reauthorization bill that would provide cap-and-trade credits on dumping nitrogen and phosphorus into the Bay's waters. Cardin also called for a 2020 deadline for launching all restoration efforts.

The report also comes as federal and state governments in recent months have stepped up money and programs aimed at transitioning the Bay toward greater economic viability.

In 2008, the General Assembly approved $3 million to help employ watermen and provide financial assistance to seafood businesses affected by the crab decline.

A year ago, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez declared the Bay's blue crab fishery an economic disaster.

In January, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Marine Fisheries Service awarded Maryland $10 million to help bail out the crab industry and announced a three-year plan developed by NOAA and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources that included a focus on aquaculture.