Oyster shells deployed in Wellfleet Harbor in time for oyster spawn

We did it! We got all the shells into Wellfleet waters just in time for oysters to spawn.

This is so important because when oysters spawn, their larvae are free swimmers until they settle down on something, to spend the rest of their days. They seem to "prefer" settling on shells, and by placing these bags of shells in areas where they're less likely to be disturbed there's a better chance that those oyster larvae will survive and grow to become bigger, water cleansing oysters.

Because Wellfleet Harbor has a muddy bottom, oysters can sink into the ground (that's bad news). So the Wellfleet Shellfish Department uses racks to elevate the bags off bottom. Some of what we call the cultch bags were loaded directly from the trucks to the racks during low tide, while others were brought out to the area by boat and then placed on the racks during the next low tide. This work took place over several days and got done thanks to Damon, Erika, Mark and the Wellfleet Shellfish Department team.

This achievement is the culmination of work extending back to last summer, because these are the shells we picked up from area restaurants in 2022. Then an incredible group of people, earlier this spring over several days, bagged the over 37,000 pounds of shell into over 350 bags. And now, finally, those oyster shells are back in the water.

For the oysters!