Oyster Restoration Initiative

Whitney Laboratory has established an oyster restoration initiative in the area. Learn more about the program below.

Restoring Local Oyster Reef Habitats

Restoring Local Oyster Reef Habitats

2023

Community Oyster Reef Enhancement (CORE) Modules in action! Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout Troop 875 and Troop 345 continued their efforts in oyster restoration by building oyster modules as part of their Eagle Scout service projects in 2023. They constructed over 2,000 oyster modules in 2022 and 1,550 in 2023. Modules were deployed in the Matanzas River behind Whitney’s Center for Marine Studies (CMS) building to restore habitats, prevent shoreline erosion and promote biological diversity. Additionally,
the BSA troops also aided in the construction of our new oyster and clam nursery facility located behind the CMS.


2022 - Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout Troop 875 and Troop 345 built Community Oyster Reef Enhancement (CORE) Modules as part of their Eagle Scout service projects in 2022, including the first female Eagle Scout in North Florida! They constructed over 2,000 oyster modules which were deployed in the waterway behind Whitney’s Center for Marine Studies building. Additionally, 1,200 established reef modules were transplanted to struggling waters in the Northern Indian River Lagoon to help establish active oyster reefs in an area where oysters died back but not recolonized near the city of Edgewater, Florida.

2021 - The Oyster Restoration Initiative entered its sixth year and we continued to engage citizen scientists, advance our understanding of oyster ecology, and restore local oyster reef habitats in our coastal ecosystem. To date, Whitney Laboratory volunteers and staff have created over 10,000 environmentally friendly Community Oyster Reef Enhancement (CORE) Modules to restore habitats, prevent shoreline erosion and promote biological diversity. They were deployed at multiple locations in Northeast Florida in a joint study with IFAS extension agents. Several new sites were established in partnership with the Riverside Conservancy in Edgewater, Florida where 2,500 CORE modules were used to restore oyster reefs in the Northern IRL. Citizen science oyster gardeners in Northeast Florida continued to grow oysters and collect important environmental data like water temperature, salinity, and water clarity for Whitney Laboratory.

2020 - In early 2020, Whitney Laboratory volunteers and staff created over 1,000 environmentally friendly Community Oyster Reef Enhancement (CORE) Modules to restore habitats, prevent shoreline erosion and promote biological diversity. They were deployed at multiple locations in Northeast Florida in a joint study with IFAS extension agents. Currently a new project is in the development stage with the Riverside Conservancy in Edgewater, Florida where 1,500 CORE modules will be used to restore oyster reefs in the Northern IRL. Citizen science oyster gardeners in Northeast Florida continued to grow oysters and collect important environmental data like water temperature, salinity, and water clarity for Whitney Laboratory.

COMMUNITY OYSTER GARDENING

COMMUNITY OYSTER GARDENING

Community oyster gardening is a citizen science initiative in which community members with a saltwater dock volunteer their time to grow oysters for oyster restoration projects.

These citizen scientists hang two oyster habitats from their dock, maintain the habitats by pulling them once a week from the water, rinse them to remove any fouling and/or predators and record the water quality data at their sites.

Why are oysters important?

  • Oysters are keystone species on which other species depend.
  • They provide cover, habitat and food for more than 180 other species of marine life.
  • Oysters form bars and reefs that protect shorelines from erosion and storm surge.
  • Oysters are filter feeders, meaning that they clean the water by consuming phytoplankton (microalgae), bacteria and detritus.
  • One average-sized adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day.
  • This filtration rate is a tremendous ecosystem service that strongly influences the environmental quality of estuaries.
  • Oyster reefs are feeding grounds for wading birds and many fish such as snapper, grouper and snook.
  • Oysters provide an important fishery for human consumption.

What threats are there to oysters?

Oyster reefs are vulnerable to:

  • Boat wakes, which damage the reefs
  • Pollution from development (storm water runoff)
  • Damage from anchoring
  • Freshwater floods
  • Diseases like Dermo (Perkinsus marinus) and MSK (Haplosporidium nelsoni), which cause mortality in oysters
  • Ocean acidification, which promotes the loss of calcium carbonate, weakening the shells and affecting reproduction and development

What is an oysters life cycle?

When oysters spawn, they release their sperm and eggs in the water. After fertilization, millions of eggs develop into a free-swimming larvae stage that lasts from two to three weeks (depending on water temperature), after which the larvae settle onto hard surfaces, preferably other oysters. At this point they are referred to as spat (less than 1 cm). Several spat may set on one oyster shell and remain there the rest of their lives. In Florida, adulthood is reached in about eight to 12 months, when they are ready to spawn. Mature oysters can spawn multiple times a year for many years.


How does an oyster gardener get oysters?

Oyster gardeners receive their ”seed” or “spat” on recycled oyster shell. These baby oysters are produced in our hatchery at the Whitney Lab. Here is how we do it: local oysters are spawned at the hatchery and their larvae reared for about two weeks. At the end of the free‐swimming larval phase, larval oysters are ready to set (attach) to a substrate. At this point we introduced clean recycled oyster shell and the larvae attach to the shells and undergo metamorphosis. We then move the “seeded” shells to our nursery for further growth until they are ready to be picked up by the gardeners.


How does an oyster gardener get started?

First, to become an oyster gardener, you must own a dock in a salty waterway with tidal flow and see evidence of oysters growing naturally nearby. Then, you must attend a two‐hour workshop to learn about the Oyster Restoration Program and get trained on how to maintain the habitats and record important data.


What is expected of an oyster gardener?

First, to become an oyster gardener, you must own a dock in a salty waterway with tidal flow and see evidence of oysters growing naturally nearby. Then, you must attend a two‐hour workshop to learn about the Oyster Restoration Program and get trained on how to maintain the habitats and record important data.


Are oyster gardeners allowed to eat the oysters?

No, the oysters will be used to restore oyster reefs. 


COMMUNITY OYSTER REEF ENHANCEMENT (CORE) MODULES

The modules are lightweight, easy to produce, plastic-free structures. They are structurally stable and provide abundant microhabitats for wild baby oysters (spat) to settle on and for diverse reef organisms. 

How do we use core modules?

  • To reduce wave action and prevent shoreline erosion
  • To enhance oyster populations by providing new oyster reef habitat
  • To promote biological diversity and enhance local fisheries

 


What are other benefits of core modules?

  • As the modules develop into mature oyster reefs, the resiliency of the restored areas will improve, allowing the sites to withstand the effects of sea level rise and of increased storm frequency caused by climate change.
  • Restored oyster reefs provide important forage and refuge habitat for shrimp, crabs, clams, snails and worms, and many species of marine fish. They also encourage recruitment of natural vegetation such as mangroves and marsh grasses, further increasing biodiversity in our estuary.

Three critical shoreline areas were identified in the local waters of the Matanzas River Estuary in Marineland, Fla. These areas were particularly vulnerable to erosion from boat wake exposure, wind‐driven currents/waves and storms as well as sea level rise. The CORE modules were deployed intertidally in rectangular arrays to maximize wave attenuation according to each site’s topography and exposure.


How did core modules come about?

Oyster reef restoration efforts in Florida often utilize non-biodegradable materials such as plastics, thereby contributing to the detrimental accumulation of plastics in the environment. Recognizing the need to restore the degraded shoreline habitats of the Town of Marineland in an environmentally responsible way and engage local community volunteers, we designed the modules to be:

  • Environmentally friendly: the mixture is biodegradable and plastic-free, and the oyster shells are recycled from restaurants
  • Hold up to the natural elements long enough (four to six years) to allow naturally occurring spat to attach and grow into fully developed reefs
  • Be easily constructed so that volunteers of all ages can participate
  • Light weight and small for easy handling

Results to date have shown that after four months of deployment, modules can successfully recruit between 150 and 200 oyster spat each.


The Florida Coastal Management Program funded this project with a Grant from the NOAA Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management awarded under the Coastal Zone Management Act. Completed June 2017. Funded by Florida DEP, The Town of Marineland and the St. Augustine Rotary Club.