Conservation
RESTORE OUR SHORES
W e’re ramping up Shuck and Share in Brevard
County by bringing the program in house! The Restore
Our Shores (ROS) team has been working with local
restaurants to decrease the amount of shell being taken
to the landfill. After a quarantine period, the shell is
bagged and used to construct oyster reefs in the Indian
River Lagoon (IRL). We are currently looking to add
restaurants to our schedule and would love to discuss
details with anyone who is interested. To get involved,
contact us at [email protected] or visit
shuckandshare.org.
Success Story
After two positive monitoring events this year, we are
optimistic about the future of oyster restoration in the
IRL. This spring, monitored bags at our Geiger Point reef
yielded a 98.5% net survival rate, the best results of any
ROS-built reef to date. In July, we monitored a portion of
the reef at Eastminster in Indialantic, which consists of
eight modules, each about 20 feet long with four layers of
bags in each module. When the reef was built in August of
last year, each of the live bags started with about 25 live
oysters placed on top of blank
shell. All the bags we looked at
showed an increase in numbers
with the smallest being close
to 50 and the highest count in
one individual bag totaling
716 oysters!
If you’d like to join us for
a reef build, visit
restoreourshores.org/volunteer.
A Reef of Your Own
Adding a living shoreline
or oyster reef to your
property helps prevent erosion,
cleans the water and provides
habitat for numerous species.
Thanks to the half-cent lagoon
sales tax passed in November
2016, we can provide this
service free of charge to lagoon-
side homeowners throughout
Brevard County. To learn more,
contact us at [email protected].
Saving Wildlife
Around the World
Thanks to your support of Quarters for
Conservation, we’ve contributed $45,000 to
international conservation projects so far this
year! Here’s where we are right now:
Borneo Nature Foundation: $7,650 for orangutan habitat restoration in Indonesia
Madagascar Wildlife Foundation: $7,425 for Alaotran gentle lemur advocacy
Wildtracks: $7,425 for monkey-themed education in Belize
Dominica Sperm Whale Project: $6,525 for research in the Caribbean
Endangered Wildlife Trust: $9,675 for dugong protection in Mozambique
Oceanic Society: $6,300 for dolphin and whale conservation in Mexico
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