Earlier this year, the Manchester Harbor Boat Club (MHBC) partnered with the Massachusetts Oyster Project to install an oyster upweller as an experiment to grow oysters in local waters to stem environmental encroachments.
Since then, the program has been growing oysters seed from sand-sized, 1-2mm nursery-sized oyters to quarter-sized "baby" oysters over the course of the summer. The oysters had amazing growth this year, reports Kerri Bisner of the MHBC who has been overseeing the oyster project, had resulted in 25 lbs. of baby oysters.
While these oysters were growing, she said, they have been busy filtering and clarifying the harbor. ("An adult oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day!"). That's true. Oysters on the ocean floor are super-filterers are an important keystone species and beneficial to the entire marine environment while also providing important habitat. They remove excess nitrogen and other harmful nutrients that lead to algal blooms and poor water quality. This filtration process helps improve clarity and overall water health, making it more habitable for other marine species, such as seagrass and fish populations, which rely on cleaner waters for survival.
In addition, oysters can help mitigate storm surge and coastal erosion and combat ocean acidification.
Oyster beds also provide essential habitat for a variety of marine life, including crabs, fish, and shrimp, thus increasing biodiversity in coastal areas. Additionally, oyster reefs act as natural breakwaters, absorbing wave energy and reducing coastal erosion, which is becoming increasingly important as sea levels rise due to climate change .
Ongoing oyster restoration projects have shown tremendous success in areas such as Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, where ecological health and fishery yields have significantly improved.
Bisner said the MHBC is proud to contribute to the health and continued enjoyment of Manchester Harbor. This year’s oysters have been success-fully transferred to the ocean and in the near future, we hope to have an approved pilot location in Manchester so we can help re-store our natural population of oysters.
Information on the program is available at www.massoyster.org.
