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Oyster Restoration Workgroup’s Mission
Oysters and oyster reefs once were common along much of the U.S. coastline. The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, has declined to levels where serious thought is being given to introducing a non-native species, C. ariakensis, in the Chesapeake Bay. The Olympia oyster, Ostreola conchaphila, rarely is harvested today unless under aquaculture. Once valued primarily as a resource, oysters are now recognized as important “ecosystem engineers” in estuaries. Oysters create complex habitats relied on by numerous fish, crustaceans, bivalves, other invertebrates, birds, and mammals. During feeding, oysters also can filter large volumes of water, improving clarity and quality while transferring nutrients from the water column to the sediments. In recognition of the importance of oyster reefs to overall coastal ecosystem functions, large- and small-scale restoration of reef habitats is ongoing in most coastal states. However, consensus on what constitutes a successful reef restoration project currently does not exist.
The most commonly used metric of success has been the presence of market-sized oysters (75 mm or 3”), but in SC oysters >75 mm are <10% of all oysters at most sites. The Oyster Restoration Workgroup and this website were established to address questions of reef restoration success as well as all pertinent issues associated with the restoration of both intertidal and subtidal oyster reefs. Visitors will be able to view findings from past meetings and workshops, as well as details for upcoming events, obtain contact information for professionals and experts working in the field, obtain detailed descriptions of suggested approaches for measuring reef restoration success, and find links to the latest literature. Future additions to the site will depend on the needs of the oyster restoration community.
Upcoming Events
Restore America’s Estuaries’ 4th National Conference
“Creating Solutions Through Collaborative Partnerships”
The 4th National Conference on Coastal and Estuarine Habitat Restoration is just around the corner, October 11-15. The conference will be held at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island, and is expected to attract more than 1,400 people from the conservation, policy, science, and business community. The 5-day program is designed to help advance the science, pace, practice, and success of estuarine habitat restoration at all scales.
Habitat restoration offers great promise for reversing trends of habitat loss and degradation and is a crucial component of comprehensive ecosystem restoration, protection and management. The Conference Program will address all aspects of coastal and estuarine habitat restoration that involves the manipulation of the physical, chemical or biological characteristics of a site with the goal of returning self-sustaining natural or historic structure and functions to former or degraded habitat.
Beyond the plenary presentations and thematic sessions in the program, conference participants will also have the opportunity to partake in field sessions, special evening events, explore and network with the more than 140 exhibitors in the Restoration Expo, and review more than 120 poster presentations in the Poster Hall.
If you have questions about registering, exhibiting, and/or sponsoring the 4th National Conference, please visit the RAE web site or contact Harvey Potts by email or (206) 624-9100.
11th International Conference on Shellfish Restoration
The meeting will provide an opportunity for resource managers, shellfish farmers, community activists, historians, and anthropologists to exchange ideas and information which will help us restore molluscan shellfish populations while improving water quality and the environmental health of our estuarine and coastal systems.
Charleston, South Carolina, USA. November 19-22, 2008. http://www.scseagrant.org/Content/?cid=297