Policy Committee Meeting

1
Mobile Bay National Estuary Program
Citizen Involvement and the Amazing American
Oyster
A Restoration Project Gone Awry
With Apologies to the National Egg Board
2
The Amazing American Oyster

• One adult oyster can filter 5 gallons of water
  per hour
• Oysters can also help prevent erosion by
  stabilizing sediment
• Oyster reefs provide habitat for over 300
  different species

3
Background

• Historically, Oyster Reef restoration in Alabama
  has been driven by commercial harvesting
• Benefits to the Mobile Bay ecosystem are taken
  for granted by fishermen, managers and
  scientists.
• Arguments for oyster reef restoration are rarely,
  if ever, made on an ecological basis.
• Unlikely that the general public understands the
  attendant benefits of maintaining oyster reefs.

4
What Is Oyster Gardening?

• It is a cooperative effort to restore relic
  oyster reefs in Mobile Bay
• It consists of volunteers growing oysters in
  cages from piers or by using open water floats
• Once oysters reach appropriate size, they are
  placed on an inactive reef.

5
Becoming an Oyster Gardener?

• Orientation Workshop
• Grow oysters in cages June-November
• Keep the cages clear of biofouling
• Keep predators out of the cages
• Measure oysters monthly

6
Managing the Oyster Gardening Program

• The Role of the Coordinator
• Measures height of oysters once a month
• Collects Water Data
• Temp., D. O., Salinity, and water clarity 2/week
• Educates volunteers on water quality
• Assist volunteers with any problems
• visits each site
• Cage repair
• Publicity
• All Research activity

7
Things accomplished by Oyster Gardening

• Research on oysters
• Improved water quality through oyster filtration
  
• Creation of habitat for other marine species
• Education of volunteers about the importance of
  oysters in the bay
• Increase in oyster populations and replenished
  reefs by protecting young spat through growing
  them in cages

8
Building the Cages to make them grow
Taylor Float Chesapeake Bay Design
Mobile Bay Float Designed by Blan Page (AUMERC)
and Kim Hamilton (MBNEP)
Page Cage Designed
by Blan Page (AUMERC)
9
Where Do We Get Juvenile Oysters (Spat)?

• Spat are obtained from two different sources
• Auburn Shellfish Lab
• Cedar Point Reef

10
Program Limitations

• Water Access- It must be classed as open for
  shellfish harvest
• Care- 45 minutes per week to care for oysters

11
Reality Check When Nature Hits

• Hurricane Ivan hit the Alabama Gulf Coast on
  September 16, 2004, damaging not only houses but
  also shellfish.
• Destroyed- An estimated 80 of the now 4
  million crop of Alabamas public oyster reefs
  were lost to the storm surge of Ivan.

12
Impacts of Ivan

• Harvest Reduced from over 70,000 to 26,000
• What was left was planted in November, 2005

13
Statistics Over Time

• 2001
• 30 volunteers 50,000 Boykin, Denton Shellbanks
• 2002
• 40 volunteers 70,000 Broodstock reserve/Bon
  Secour Fisheries
• 2003
• 51 volunteers 74,000 Denton Reef
• 2004 (Ivan)
• 62 volunteers 26,000 Denton Reef
• 2005 (Katrina)
• 50 volunteers 11,000 Denton Reef
• 2006
• 33 volunteers 60,000 Denton Reef

14
Using Research to improve program performance!

• An Oyster Gardening Program and Analysis of Two
  Off Bottom Oyster Culture Systems and Enteric
  Organisms in Mobile Bay, Alabama Kimberly
  Hamilton, MS Thesis, Auburn University 2004
• Other Publications

15
Without these Partners this program would not be
possible!

16
Continuing Support of the programA Five-Star
Restoration Project!

• Auburn University Shellfish Laboratory and
  Personnel were key for growing, technical
  assistance
• Many other partners made the program a success

17
Who Knew Oysters were sexy? We made the Swimsuit
Edition!
18
Unintended Consequences

• Expanded and loyal Volunteer base
• Increased local awareness and education
• Broadened support for other conservation and
  environmental issues
• Improved relations with skeptical state agencies
• New Partners
• New Programs

19
New Directions The Crab Watch Program

• Monitoring crab populations in Mobile Bay
• Monitoring invasive species through bi-catch

20
The Bottom Line

• Restoration Efforts have been mixed
• Areas of reefs stocked with gardened oysters
  continue to show increasing densities
• The real benefit of this program does not lie in
  the numbers of oysters returned to the reef , but
  in connecting citizens (including unlikely
  partners) to the resource and developing a
  conservation ethic that carries into other areas

21
Coastal America PartnershipWhere Do We Go From
Here?

• Alma Bryant High School Delegation (Bayou La
  Batre) represents Alabama in the Second National
  Student Summit on Oceans and Coasts

• Students presented Oyster Gardening to key White
  House and Congressional Officials (December 6-8,
  2006)