Reviving oyster beds with recycled shells

by Prufer

Marine science professor Keith Walters is on the hunt for restaurants that serve a lot of oysters – and not just for the culinary experience. He and a team of students and volunteers are rebuilding depleted oyster reefs with recycled shells through the Coastal Oyster Recycling and Restoration Initiative (CORRI).

The project first started at Coastal Carolina University in 2013 with funding from Fish America and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), but funds ran out, and the project ended later that year.

With additional funding from the Bunnelle Foundation, Walters and his group are back to work, recruiting Waccamaw Neck restaurants to save their shells and recycle them, collect the shells, bag them and rebuild reefs. In the first go-round, recycled shell was bagged and used to build reefs within six tidal creek systems from Little River to Georgetown. This time the rebuilding was center solely in Georgetown County tidal creeks and marshes.

So far, the Noizy Oyster and Flying Fish have signed up, but several more restaurants are needed. Participation by area restaurants is an essential part of the endeavor, according to Walters, a marine ecologist whose expertise is invertebrate population and community ecology within estuarine systems.

The ecological benefits of the project are many. By filtering the water they live in, oysters improve coastal water quality. Reefs additionally provide structure and food increasing all kinds of aquatic life including many valued fishery species. The beds also control erosion by acting as natural breakwaters along the shoreline. Natural oyster reefs have been lost over the years due to over-harvesting and other reasons, but Walters hopes this project will help rebuild these essential habitats and serve as living laboratories for ongoing marine research by CCU students. Reefs built two years ago were sampled by students to assess settlement of new oysters and use by coastal fish, and results were positive.

The oyster shells are collected at area restaurants by Fisher Recycling – Grand Strand, a company based in Pawleys Island and brought to a drop-off point on campus. The shells are quarantined to make sure they’re free of disease and then bagged for hauling to the various locations where reefs are constructed.

Everyone is invited to get into the act. Students, both undergrads and grads, and community volunteers are taking part. For more information or to contribute to the project, contact Keith Walters at 843-349-2477 or kwalt@coastal.edu.