![]() ![]() “The most effective means to restore oyster habitat is to provide oyster larvae with clean shell or cultch to set on, where the oysters glue themselves to the substrate and grow in that same spot the rest of their lives,” says Paterno. ![]() Large-scale habitat restoration efforts are underway to revitalize Delaware Bay oyster populations and ensure the economic survival of the oyster industry. Today, the Delaware Bay oyster fishery is carefully managed with a view toward resource and fishery sustainability. ![]() The oyster has also served as a principal Delaware Bay fishery, holding particular economic, social and cultural significance to communities along the Delaware Bayshore.ĭuring the last century, dramatic declines in oyster production have occurred due to over-harvesting, disease, habitat loss and environmental change. Here, the eastern oyster is recognized as a keystone estuarine organism because of its role in providing vital ecological services such as improving water quality, creating complex structural habitat and enhancing fisheries production. It is widely recognized for its diverse wildlife and vast wetlands, and serves as a critical migratory stopover for shorebirds that feed on horseshoe crab eggs. The Delaware Bayshore region stretches along the southwest coast of New Jersey and contains expansive coastal marshes, woodlands, beach habitats and many tidal rivers. Oyster reefs are arguably one of the most imperiled habitats on earth and oyster habitat restoration has become an important conservation goal worldwide. And with Project PORTS, there is plenty of opportunity to learn. “The program is founded on the belief that stewardship grows from an underlying appreciation and understanding of the environment,” explains Calvo. The bags were relocated to the restoration site after oyster spat attached. Molly Calvo and Elly Thomas count shell bags deployed at an intertidal area in the lower Delaware Bay. This unique program gives K-12 students an opportunity to experience environmental stewardship first hand as they help restore critical oyster habitat.ĭeveloped and coordinated by the HSRL, Project PORTS utilizes the oyster as a vehicle to teach students, educators and the broader community about the bayshore environments and the methodologies and science of a real-world oyster restoration project. This proved to be a solid day’s work for the 100 students who worked like buzzing bees to get every single piece of shell into a bag.įor the past 10 years, this scene has become a spring ritual with hundreds of fourth graders rounding out the school year by working hand-in-hand with scientists through a community-based oyster restoration program known as Project PORTS: Promoting Oyster Restoration Through Schools. It was time to get to work to create 500 bags of shell that would ultimately serve as founding structure for a real-world oyster restoration project. Eagerly greeted by Rutgers University Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory (HSRL) marine scientists Jenny Paterno, program coordinator, and Lisa Calvo, aquaculture extension program coordinator, who were ready to hand out mesh netting and gloves to the waiting students. The excited fourth graders at D’Ippolito School in Vineland, New Jersey, raced across the school grounds to a small area beside the ball field where the surf clam shells were haphazardly stacked in a pile. Friends from Max Leuchter Elementary School are working hard and having fun building shell bags for oyster restoration efforts in the Delaware Bay. ![]()
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