As a pilot project Nature Conservancy deposits oyster shell into shallow water to restore ecologically important oyster beds that are in decline in the Gulf of Mexico. According to the Nature Conservancy it has deposited 200 cubic yards of oyster shell into the shallow waters of Copano Bay on Monday. The agency said that this is part of an effort to create new shelter for oysters and other marine animals, including juvenile sport fish that depend on shell reefs. The mound of shells was carried into the bay on a 30-foot barge and blown into shallow water with a fire hose within a one-acre patch where an oyster bed previously existed.
Rafael Calderon, director of The Nature Conservancy’s Gulf of Mexico Programme, told that pysters have been in serious decline since the 1980s in Texas, in part due to pressure from commercial fishing but also because of shell dredging for use as roadbed material and in making concrete. It is said that oyster beds provide important habitat for many other species, from invertebrates to juvenile fish, including many sport fish vital to the state’s recreation revenues.
Calderon opined that they are filter-feeders, filtering up to six gallons of salt water an hour each. According to him oysters consume plankton – tiny microscopic plants and animals found in the water – and play an important role in maintaining good water quality in bays and estuaries.
The Nature Conservancy’s oyster-reef restoration project is being funded in part by grants from NOAA, the Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program and BP America. Project partners include the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the University of Texas Marine Science Institute.
