N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Dee Freeman has visited fishermen going to work to plant oyster shell cultch for the Division of Marine Fisheries. According to the report the division is paying fishermen $2 per bushel to help distribute shell materials as part of a federal economic recovery grant received by the North Carolina Coastal Federation.
The report also states that for the first three weeks of an oyster’s life, it is a free-swimming animal that is carried about by currents. After the third week, the oyster sinks to the bottom and must attach itself to a clean, hard surface in order to survive. During the summer months, the division “plants” shell and rock (called cultch) to provide additional habitat for larval oysters and clams. Not only are these planting sites beneficial to oysters, they provide habitat and protection for juvenile finfish, crabs and small marine organisms. Larger fish tend to congregate around these sites, feeding on the smaller fish and marine life.
Large vessel are used to transport the cultch out to a designated site, where the shells are either dumped off with a front end loader or sprayed off with a high-powered hose. The division has selected 72 fishermen through an application process to participate in the cultch planting project. They will distribute 41,000 bushels of oyster shell between now and July 31 on 19 cultch planting sites in different coastal waters of the state. The sites, located in Hyde, Carteret, Pender and New Hanover counties, combine for a total of two acres.
