Projects & Programs

Africa

The Gambia

• TRY Oyster Women's Association (facebook) (Tumblr) is helping to train women how to harvest without harming the mangrove trees, as well as how to farm oysters in a way that avoids removing them from mangrove roots, instead providing greater protection. Case Study

Asia

Hong Kong

Europe

The Netherlands

• Platte Oester: Dutch Flat Oyster Consortium (POC) Projects "Our mission is to restore flat oyster (Ostrea edulis) beds in the North Sea."

• Shellfish Reef Restoration Pilots: Voordelta The Netherlands (PDF) "Once, shellfish reefs - mainly flat oysters - covered about 20% of the North Sea floor, but diseases, pollution and overfishing have led to a significant decline. As part of the Haringvliet Dream Fund Project, ARK Nature and World Wildlife Fund Netherlands are working on shellfish reef restoration. ..."

UK

Scotland

• Seawilding: Native Oyster Restoration "​Loch Craignish once supported a large population of native oysters but owing to human predation all but a few have gone. Native oysters are “ecosystem engineers”, filtering and cleaning water, sequestering carbon and contributing substantially to inshore biodiversity by creating reefs that become fish spawning grounds and nurseries.
  
  In 2020, Seawilding secured a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant for a five-year project to grow up to 1 million juvenile native oysters in Loch Craignish to restore the natural beds."

North America

USA

Alabama

• Oyster Shell Recycling Program "Oyster shells collected [from participating restaurants ] through this program are going back into Alabama waters to help more oysters grow, provide habitat, limit erosion and improve water quality. This program is one of the activities that ACF has  under our involvement with the Create a Clean Water Future Campaign."

California

• Alamitos Bay Oyster Restoration Project "A 60 square meter oyster bed was created in Alamitos Bay using volunteers from the community. The public participated in the project through “oyster gardening” where community members  hung strings of oyster shell off of private or public docks around Alamitos Bay where the oyster strings  collected native oyster recruits.
  
  Scientific monitoring activities have been ongoing since the bed was constructed.  Densities of native oysters on the restored bed during the most recent sampling period were 65-103 times the average reference location density."

• Bay Living Shorelines Project "uses shell from local shuckers to create living reefs. The Coastal Conservancy received a new grant in 2015 through the USFWS North American Wetland Conservation Act to implement “Phase Two” of restoration in the San Francisco Bay. This project will include additional tidal marsh habitat." San Francisco

• Orange County Coast Keeper "Small scale restoration projects are underway in Alamitos Bay"

Delaware

• Baysave "This program collects discarded oyster, clam and mussel shells from restaurants and recycles them into the estuary to provide a habitat for new oysters"

• Delaware Bay Oyster Restoration Project scroll to the bottom to click on the brochure and updates.

• The Delaware Estuary Living Shoreline Initiative

Florida

• Apalachicola Bay Oyster Restoration (PDF) "Through the NFWF Gulf Environmental Fund (about $4 million), “enhancing 18 acres and improving management of about 3,000 acres.  Projects will commence in summer 2014."

• Calcasieu Oyster Reefs on a Comeback After Removal of Dredges "In a report presented to the Wildlife and Fisheries Commission in August, LDWF biologists said that Calcasieu Lake oysters saw a 50% increase in total abundance in 2018 over 2017. This is a far cry from reports of previous years which saw oyster abundance in Big Lake suffer about a 90% decrease since 2003."

• Caloosahatchee River & Estuary "Ft. Myers: Eight reef sites have been constructed since 2003."

• Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance: Living Shorelines "CBA’s living shoreline initiative comprises oyster reef breakwaters and native shoreline grass plantings. The reefs and shoreline grasses help reduce shoreline erosion, act as a habitat for marine life, filter stormwater run-off, and improve water quality in Choctawhatchee Bay. CBA uses recycled oyster shells, limestone, or similar materials to construct reefs that act as a breakwater to stifle wave energy to slow or stop erosion. ..."

• Estero Bay "Five reef sites were constructed between 2003 and 2006."

• The FL.O.O.R. (Florida Oceanographic Oyster Restoration) Program "helps restore oyster reef habitat in the St. Lucie Estuary and Indian River Lagoon using oyster shells collected  from local restaurants as part of the Florida Oceanographic Society shell recycling program. With the aid of volunteers, FLOOR restores oyster habitat by constructing reefs and conducting other research projects with the shell. Used, shucked shells are the foundation of oyster reef construction."

• Florida Living Shores: Geiger Point

• Henderson Creek "Five reef sites were constructed between 2003 and 2004."

• Keep Pensacola Beautiful and FDEP "collect shells from area restaurants.  Offer Your Shell to Enhance Resotration (OYSTER).  In 2011-2012, 99 tons of shell were recycled."

• Naples Bay "Two reef sites were constructed in 2005 by FGCU."

• New Smyrna Beach "Volunteers helped make oyster mats for the Indian River Lagoon.  The oyster reef restoration project is a partnership coordinated by The Nature Conservancy, UCF, and Brevard Zoo.  It is funded by IRL National Estuary Program, TNC-NOAA, Disney’s Friends for Change, USFWS and private funds."

• Friends of GTM Research Reserve: Ponte Vedra "A small-scale recycling and restoration project came into fruition in 2012.  This program restored living shorelines, oyster reefs and benthic habitats with local restaurants participated in recycling efforts."

• Restore Our Shores "Oysters are considered a keystone species in the Indian River Lagoon (IRL) and hold a vital role in keeping the ecosystem balanced. From filtering and cleaning water, helping to control harmful algae blooms, protecting shorelines, to supporting growth of coastal marshes, it’s easy to see why Restore Our Shores (ROS) has worked for the last decade on a variety of projects to increase lost oyster populations that improve lagoon health." They also have Oyster Gardening and a Shell Recycling Program

• Restoring Oyster Reefs in Naples Bay "A new oyster reef restoration project involving restoring 5 acres of oyster reef habitat in Naples Bay. Over the past few decades, oyster reefs in Naples Bay have experienced an 80% decline due to urbanization and channelization. This oyster reef restoration project aims to place oyster habitat substrate (concrete, limestone rock, and shell) at three sites in Naples Bay to provide habitat for oyster colonization. Our most recent efforts have eliminated the use of plastic material in the restoration process. Check out the paper attached below discussing the use of non-plastic materials for oyster reef and shoreline restoration."

• Shuck & Share Oyster Recycling Program "has expanded to 6 counties along Florida’s east coast, involves more than a dozen partners and nearly 50 restaurants. The program focuses works to assist in larger shoreline and oyster restoration projects while involving hundreds of community volunteers in the collection, creation and distribution of restoration materials."

• Stuart and Port St. Lucie "Shell recycling is underway at local restaurants and volunteer based shell bagging and planting are designed to help restore the St. Lucie River and Indian River Lagoon. Martin County has one contractor that picks up the shell."

• Tampa Bay Watch’s Community Oyster Reef Enhancement (CORE) Program "the oyster reef ball  program (formerly called “oyster domes”) uses reef balls to stabilize shorelines and prevent erosion while creating habitat similar to natural oyster communities found along shoreline areas throughout Tampa Bay."

• University of Florida Oyster Nursery partners with citizen scientists.

Georgia

• Georgia Department of Natural Resources: Oyster Restoration Reefs

Louisiana

• Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana "CRCL’S Oyster Shell Recycling Program collects shell from New Orleans restaurants and public drop-off sites and builds oyster reefs and shoreline habitat across coastal Louisiana.
  
  Launched in 2014, this is the first program of its kind in Louisiana and one of the largest shell recycling programs in the nation."

• Grande Isle & St. Bernard Marshes "Started restoring 3.4 miles of reef in 2010, before the Deepwater Horizon explosion.  Projects were completed in April 2013.

• Louisiana Artificial Reef Program "includes planning documents and reef locations"

• Vermillion Bay "A .58 mile oyster restoration used stackable 5-feet diameter concrete rings.  Phase I of III was halfway complete at the time of the Deepwater Horizon spill (2010) but they were able to complete phases at the end of 2012.  LSU is monitoring as funds are available."

Maine

• Basin Oyster Project: Shellfish Reef Restoration "The Basin Oyster Project is an oyster shellfish reef restoration effort in Phippsburg, managed by a collaborative group of aquaculture farmers and scientists.
  
  Our work is geared towards education and quantifiable direct benefit to the local ecosystem through improving water quality and creating a regenerating shellfish reef habitat.
  
  In this video Dot Kelly, our chief scientist and member of the Phippsburg Conservation Commission, explains the oyster reef restoration project along the coast of the New Meadows River."

• Midcoast Conservancy: Regenerative Oyster Restoration "Native oysters are a keystone species that have true triple-bottom-line benefits – they are culturally, environmentally, and economically significant to our local communities. We are working to return native oysters to the Sheepscot River through aquaculture and the creation of regenerative, sustainable oyster reefs."

• Maine Sea Grant: Oyster Garden Program "Oyster gardening is an educational program, which uses the process of growing oysters to engage participants in topics like estuarine ecology, shellfish biology, aquaculture regulation, stewardship, public health, natural resource management, and a host of others. Oyster gardening got its start in the Chesapeake Bay region, and has since spread to many other coastal states. Our program here in Maine has been adapted from those developed elsewhere, to meet our particular needs, opportunities, and constraints."

• Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program "Our goal is to increase filtration capacity in the bay, which helps reduce the impact of excess nitrogen and keep harmful algae in check." The organization "has launched a Shell Recycling Program with local participating restaurants and festivals."

Massachusetts

• Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group "is a non-profit organization working to restore shellfish resources for the well-being of the entire island community since 1976.
  
  We operate facilities on Chappaquiddick, in Tisbury and in Oak Bluffs. In 2019, we grew 13.5 million quahogs, 27.5 million scallops and 12.5 million oyster seed for the Shellfish Departments of our six island towns. We also released over 146 million scallop eggs & larvae and 45 million oyster eggs to help supplement the wild populations."

• Massachusetts Oyster Shell Recycling Programs "Municipalities across the Commonwealth are seeing the benefit of shell recycling programs. We put together this page to be a resource to help you figure out if there’s a local place for you to drop off your shell. This is a work in progress, so we’ll update this page with more information as we find it. ..."

• Mass Oyster Project (MOP) "is supporting restoration programs around the state. They also recycle shell, speak to school groups, and are working to streamline cumbersome regulation."

• Recycle Oyster Shells on Cape Cod "Don’t throw them away! Oyster shells can be recycled and actually make a great habitat for young oysters. In this article, we look at how to properly recycle oyster shells on Cape Cod and the shell recycling programs that each town on the Cape has."

• Town & County of Nantucket: Shell Recycling Program includes a list of participating restaurants and raw bars.

Mississippi

• Mississippi Bay Project earmarked $11 million to enhance more than 1,400 acres by placing cultch as needed. Enhancements began in 2012 with 200 acres of cultch, continuing in April and summer 2013 with a deposition of approximately 1,200 acres.
  
  Since that time, a commitment of $1 billion from BP has been made for additional restoration projects."

New Jersey

• American Littoral Society: Shell Recycling

• Mordecai Island Trust: Living Breakwater Projects

• The Oyster Barrier Constructed at Gandy's Beach

• Oyster Monitoring "NY/NJ Baykeeper manages a 1-acre oyster reef at Soundview Park in the Bronx River. The reef provides substrate for new oysters to attach to, increases habitat in the area, and encourages natural recruitment for a self-sustaining reef. The “Scientific Reef” portion provides space for scientific experiments. The “Community Reef” is a small sub-plot within the large reef, providing a unique opportunity for eco-volunteerism in the NYC metro area. Volunteers are able to get in the water and observe oyster biology and ecology up close, monitoring survivorship, growth, and biodiversity."

New Hampshire

• CCA NH Oyster Restoration Program

• Coastal Conservation Association of New Hampshire: Oster Shell Recycling Project

• Oyster Reef Restoration in Great Bay Estuary, Rockingham County "As ecosystem engineers, oysters play a significant role in maintaining a healthy and stable environment and providing habitat for estuarine-dependent and migratory fishes.  However, like many coastal regions around the world, Great Bay Estuary in New Hampshire has experienced a recent reduction in adult oyster populations.  This project, led by the New Hampshire chapter of The Nature Conservancy, will help mitigate these losses by adding 400,000 oysters to the estuary, restoring two acres of reef in an area that has seen a 90% reduction in oyster habitat since 1970."

North Carolina

• North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries "runs a statewide program that offers a tax credit ($1/bushel).  It maintains a list of about 75 restaurants that recycle shell, broken down by county.  The state also has participating landfills for obtaining weight ticket receipts for the tax credit.  The state also implemented a ban on oyster shells in the dumpsters."

• Oyster Habitat Protection and Restoration "APNEP has partnered with a diverse group of stakeholders involved in growing, harvesting, studying, managing and eating oysters to protect and restore North Carolina's oyster habitats and fishery."

• PenderWatch & Conservancy "a grass roots non-profit conservation group dedicated to the preservation and conservation of the environment in eastern Pender County, N.C., has been involved in shell recycling and placement for 10 years."

• Recycle for Reefs: Drop-Off Sites "Shell recycling drop-off sites are located at the Coastal Federation’s three regional offices and in the following counties: Brunswick, Carteret, Craven, Dare, New Hanover, Onslow, Orange, Pamlico, and Pender. Explore the map ..., or call us at (252)-393-8185 to find a shell recycling site near you."

• Restaurant to Reef Program "Dumping oyster shells in landfills is banned in North Carolina because of their value for habitat restoration." Via this link, you can apply as a volunteer or restaurant to support the program.

Oregon

• Netarts Bay "The Nature Conservancy partnered with local Whiskey Creek Hatchery to restore Olympia oyster using spat on shell in bags."

South Carolina

• South Carolina Oyster Restoration & Enhancement (SCORE) "runs as a part of the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Is offers shell recycling drop-off locations throughout the state. Proceeds from the Saltwater Recreational Fishing License help fund recycling and restoration programs. It maintains a list and map of shell drop-off locations."

Texas

• Galveston Bay Foundation "has a shell recycling program and an oyster gardening program and has restored 20 acres in East Bay. The program has a fairly unique policy that all newly restored reefs are closed to public fishing for at least two years."

• Restaurants to Reefs: Galveston Bay Foundation’s Oyster Shell Recycling Program (PDF) "Galveston Bay Foundation has an oyster Shell Recycling Program and a restoration program.  Current recycling program has two restaurants (currently looking for more) and is building a shell aging area."

• Matagorda Bay "A restoration of 45 acres in underway in Half Moon Reef in cooperation with The Nature Conservancy.  Funding is through the Coastal Impact Assistance Program, KBR, Shell and Meadows Foundation."

• Sink Your ShucksTM was founded by the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) in 2009 and is led by the Coastal Conservation and Restoration group with assistance from the Texas Surf Conservancy. The program was the first in Texas that reclaims oyster shells from local restaurants and returns them to our local waters providing both substrate to form new reefs and habitat for fish, crabs and other organisms.
  
  Shells are picked up from local restaurants and transported to Port of Corpus Christi property where they are quarantined. The program has collected 3 million pounds of shell to date! The shell is then moved from the stockpile location to various sites for restoration efforts conducted by HRI. Over 45 acres of oyster reef habitat has been restored throughout the Mission-Aransas Estuary in Copano, Aransas, and St. Charles Bays. Each spring, volunteers from various groups participate in shell-bagging events to create the building blocks of reefs in St. Charles Bay, adjacent to Goose Island State Park. Thanks to over 2,000 volunteers to date, over 2 million pounds of shell have been placed in the bay to create new oyster reef habitat."

Virginia

• Friends of the Rappahannock "Our oyster reef restoration programs work with local residents, watermen, river bottom lease holders, partner groups, students, and businesses to protect and restore native oyster reefs in the tidal Rappahannock River. Programs include oyster reef restoration, oyster gardening, and oyster shell recycling. The goals of these programs are to promote a clean and healthy Rappahannock River and its tributaries, enhance habitat for fish and wildlife, restore oyster populations to sustainable levels, and ensure a resilient and bio-diverse broodstock is proliferating in our tidal ecosystems."

• Lafayette River "has a collaboration with NOAA to create reefballs"

• Lynnhaven River Now has the Save Oyster Shells (S.O.S.) Program "in Virginia Beach, which benefits the Lynnhaven River. There are currently five drop sites in the Virginia Beach area and collections of shell from more than 20 restaurants. The program offers summer internships."

• Piankatank River (PDF) "planted 1 million cultchless oysters, working with The Nature Conservancy and CBF."

• Virginia Oyster Heritage Program "The Virginia CZM Program made a major $1.5 million dollar investment in the Oyster Heritage Program, which restored oyster reefs in the Rappahannock and Seaside Eastern Shore.  This efforts catalyzed the practice of building 3-dimensional sanctuary reefs to “feed” nearby 2-D harvest reefs."

• Virginia Oyster Shell Recycling Program (VOSRP) "is a public-private and nonprofit collaborative effort whose focus is the restoration of oyster populations in the Chesapeake Bay. The program takes shells destined for the trash and returns them to restoration areas in the Piankatank River. The VOSRP collects from restaurants and  public drop-off locations in Charlottesville, Richmond, Williamsburg, Newport News, Hampton, Norfolk, Suffolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Virginia Beach, Northern Virginia and on the Middle Peninsula and Northern Neck of Virginia. The shells are aged in local storage facilities for nearly a year and then placed in seeding tanks. The spat (baby oysters) attach themselves to the shells, which are then returned to the bay. Each shell might contain as many as 10 to 15 spat."

• Virginia Shell Recycling

Washington

New Zealand

• Mussel Reef Restoration Project in the Hauraki Gulf "The group (Revive our Gulf) has already placed 150 tonnes of live green-lipped mussels at a number of sites near Rotoroa Island and in Mahurangi Harbour."