Shifting Tides Oyster News Roundup - Jan 18, 2021
This news roundup from around the Commonwealth and the country includes stories about impactful oyster restoration work, wild harvest and aquaculture, and climate solutions.
Massachusetts Oyster Restoration
“At least 40 shellfishermen and women will benefit from a national program designed to help harvesters with income, moving product and improving recreational shellfish areas as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. COVID-19 Related Rapid Response Funding from the Woods Hole Sea Grant and Cape Cod Cooperative Extension will help four Cape towns stretch their budgets to help those affected by the downturn in the shellfish industry.”
The Massachusetts Shellfish Initiative (MSI) Strategic Plan Work Group (SPWG) will reconvene on January 29 to continue work on a first consensus draft of the strategic plan, which the group hopes to release for public comment in early February. During the meeting, Work Group members will address outstanding questions and concerns, vote on strategy and recommended actions, produce a consensus draft, finalize the calendar and finalize the process for the public comment period. Learn more and stay engaged at http://www.massshellfishinitiative.org/
Oyster Restoration News Around The United States
“The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana this week resumed their Oyster Shell Recycling Program — which had been shut down since mid-March as a result of the pandemic — after what was a banner year for oyster shell recycling in Louisiana despite the extenuating circumstances.”
“Several years ago, the nonprofit NY/NJ Baykeeper installed an oyster reef in the Navesink but was told by the State to remove it. Their argument was that the reputation of the New Jersey Shellfish Industry could be harmed because oysters could be poached and sold as “safe” causing harm to the public.” Now the groups are rallying to bring oysters back. The Navesink Maritime Heritage Association, the NY/NJ Baykeeper, Clean Ocean Action, the Littoral Society, and many others are asking local residents to complete a survey that will push the restoration efforts forward.
Melody Schreiber of The New Republic writes about oysters as a crop with many environmental benefits.
https://newrepublic.com/article/160790/can-oysters-save-seas
Lynnhaven River Now, a nonprofit organization that works to restore the water quality of the Lynnhaven River in Virginia, has named an oyster reef after a city worker killed in a mass shooting in Virginia Beach.
The COVID-19 pandemic shut down restaurants in New Orleans, halting the supply of oyster shells for the Coalition To Restore Coastal Louisiana, which runs the city’s oyster recycling program. “Now, after a hiatus almost a year long, the program is slowly coming back… Rock and concrete have become the go-to material for oyster reefs. Those work, but recycled shell is the gold standard.”
https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_ef48e4bc-5746-11eb-bced-977d96431355.html
“A proposed project to increase the population of native oysters, leading to cleaner waterways in Coral Gables [Florida],” recently won support from the city commission. “With 21 different basins flowing into Biscayne Bay, native oysters will dissolve more nitrogen waste levels in the waterways and drop nutrient loads into seagrass regrowth, which has decreased over 85% since 2011… The project, which would use native oysters as a tool against algal blooms, would ask residents to place vertical oyster gardens under privately owned docks and shaded areas with at least 100 oysters, which would filter about 5,000 gallons of water.”
https://www.miamitodaynews.com/2021/01/12/coral-gables-seeks-clean-water-pearl-in-native-oysters/
“The North Carolina Coastal Federation and partners nearly tripled their goal to restore 50 million oysters in coastal waters. Through its 50 Million Oyster Initiative to build acres of new oyster reef and support at least 50 million oysters, there are now 140 million oysters on 43 acres of newly created oyster reefs in coastal North Carolina.”
https://www.coastalreview.org/2021/01/initiative-results-in-140m-more-oysters-in-nc/
Climate Impacts
“SIRO scientists have articulated a strategy by which efforts to restore degraded coastal ecosystems could be expanded over vast scales. The research, published in Current Biology in December, identified successful restoration efforts globally that could be replicated and implemented in similar environments.”
Dr. Shimrit Perkol-Finkel, marine biologist and CEO of Econcrete, writes in the Queens Daily Eagle that flood protection needs a revamp in 2021 before the next Sandy.
https://queenseagle.com/all/opinion-flood-protection-needs-a-revamp-in-2021-before-the-next-sandy
The Massachusetts Oyster Project is an all-volunteer non-profit working to strengthen our coastal environment by restoring native shellfish populations to our beaches and coastal estuaries. Through oyster cultivation, shell recycling, education and advocacy we can improve water quality, increase the diversity of sea life and mitigate the effects of climate change.