Shifting Tides Oyster News Roundup - January 2022

This news roundup from around the Commonwealth and the country includes stories about impactful oyster restoration work, wild harvest and aquaculture, and climate solutions. 

[CBS Video] “In the chill of winter, when most tourists have migrated, you'll find professional and amateur shellfishers alike uncovering oysters from the waters of Cape Cod Bay. Correspondent Seth Doane returns home to Massachusetts, where his father, Paul, an 11th-generation Cape Codder, harvests oysters by the bucket in the town of Wellfleet, to be shared with friends and family during the holiday season.”

cbsnews.com/video/oysters-the-pearls-of-cape-cod/

“There are indications that as waters warm in the Great Bay, oysters may be spawning earlier than in the past, helping efforts to replenish this important species.”

granitegeek.concordmonitor.com/2022/01/05/a-benefit-of-climate-change-great-bay-oysters-may-be-spawning-earlier/

“According to a local waterman, the lack of oyster shells has him worried.”

wmdt.com/2022/01/oyster-season-on-steady-incline-lack-of-shells-still-a-major-concern/

“In New York, a secret weapon has emerged in the fight against rising sea levels — oysters.”

businessinsider.com/how-millions-of-oysters-are-helping-new-york-fight-flooding-2022-1

“Students at St. Stanislaus High School in Mississippi are among the volunteers along U.S. coasts raising oysters to help restore, or repair, weakened reefs.”

learningenglish.voanews.com/a/volunteers-raise-oysters-to-restore-reefs/6357992.html

[Video] “Volunteers along U.S. coasts are raising oysters from tiny translucent spat to hard-shelled bivalves that can help restore depleted reefs.”

youtube.com/watch?v=oB7hfTwzFoA

[Academic Paper] “Reef design and site hydrodynamics mediate oyster restoration and marsh stabilization outcomes”

esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2506

“Seawilding, a native oyster reintroduction and seagrass restoration project based in Scotland, shows how community-led efforts can achieve real change”

oceanographicmagazine.com/features/rewilding-scotland/

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.