A Nature Conservancy program repurposes oyster shells for reef and marsh restoration .
In early 2020 , the Nature Conservancy ’ s Oysters Gone Wild
restoration program was cracking wide open . At the time , volunteers for the nonprofit were collecting discarded oyster shells by the bucketful from four local restaurants : Matunuck Oyster Bar , Midtown Oyster Bar , The Mooring and 22 Bowen ’ s . Volunteers would bring the shells to a centralized location in South County , where they ’ d cure for about a year before they were repurposed in habitat restoration projects .
“ We were just making headway ,” says Tim Mooney of the Nature Conservancy ( TNC ), “ and talking about how to get from four to ten and all the restaurants were shut down .”
They ’ d been doing the work , on and off , for about a decade . In 2017 , and with funding from the federal Sport Fish Restoration Program , TNC partnered with the Department of Environmental Management to use the shells to build nine small reefs out of mesh bags filled with oyster shells — “ bigger than a car , but not huge ,” Mooney says — in Quonochontaug Pond in Charlestown . They wanted to know how quickly life would appear : algae , juvenile sport fish like tautaug , and native oysters .
“ Almost immediately , sea life or marine life began to colonize the reefs ,” he says . “ The practice is brand new so we really don ’ t have anything to compare it to . But we are learning as we go .”
Buy Nothing and Love Thy Neighbor
The Buy Nothing Project groups on Facebook encourage gift economies in communities across Rhode Island .
In December , a neighbor in a locked-down senior living facility had an “ Ask ” in her local Buy Nothing Facebook group : Would anyone be willing to drop off some comfort food for her at the front desk ? A pick-me-up would do her a world of good . “ Hard candy ?” commented one neighbor , offering up a bag of sweets she didn ’ t want . “ Ooo I ’ ma bake you something !” wrote another . A few weeks later , an expectant mother new to the neighborhood posted her gratitude for the baby and apartment items she ’ d claimed from other members . All the while , participants offered myriad “ Gives ” ( gently used home goods , kitchen items , clothing ) for contactless porch pickup , plus “ Asks ” ranging from a bike lock to houseplant cuttings . The groups — of which there are forty in Rhode Island — are a tonic in these times . Find one near you at buynothingproject . org / find-a-group .
One thing they learned : If they wanted a world of oysters , they ’ d have to seed it themselves . The coastal ponds — which , at one time , would only flush with seawater during big storms — are permanently breached . The salinity of the ponds has changed and , Mooney estimates , is now outside the reproduction range of native oysters .
So TNC is setting its sights on the upper reaches of the Narrow River , where salinity is lower and native oyster populations are small but self-sustained . Mooney is hopeful the experiment — which requires controversial aquaculture permitting , despite not being an aquaculture operation — will demonstrate recruitment of natural oysters . More is better : An adult oyster , he says , can filter up to fifty gallons of water a day . Upper Narragansett Bay , where water quality is impaired but improving , is another area that would benefit from reef restoration and oyster recruitment .
“ The upper bay and other estuaries are undoubtedly affected by removing those reefs from the natural system ,” he says , pointing to overfishing , water pollution , shellfish disease and loss of habitat due to the filling in of Providence ’ s Great Salt Cove and the armoring of the Providence River . Those factors , combined with the permanent breaching of the coastal ponds , have led to the loss of 95 percent of Rhode Island ’ s wild oyster population .
But , Mooney adds , “ In order to do any of these experiments , we need the raw shell . Once we get past the pandemic , talk to your favorite raw bar about recycling oyster shells . There ’ s much more shell going into landfill than into the water and we need to turn that around .” nature . org – C . N .
GETTY IMAGES / MUSTAFAHACALAKI WOLF MATTHEWSON
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l MARCH 2021 41