Outside the Eulonia Piggly Wiggly, a man approached me. Spying the University of Georgia (UGA) truck I had just parked, he asked what I did at UGA. I told him that I restored oyster reefs, which started a long conversation about oysters, blue crabs and changing rain patterns. In so many ways, ten years later I am still having the same conversation. A conversation about the importance of healthy oysters, why they need our help, and how my work as a Georgia Sea Grant State Fellow at The Nature Conservancy may help.
Why Oysters?
The spark that started our conversation was the oyster. Oysters are a keystone species and provide many ecosystem services that are beneficial to humans such as bank stabilization, habitat, and water filtration. Oysters form dense reefs with a lot of structure which mitigate bank erosion, ultimately protecting upland property. Reef structure also provides habitat for many commercial and recreationally important fish and shellfish species. Oysters as filter feeders, remove particles from the water, improving water quality in the process. Unfortunately, in the mid 1800s to early 1900s, Georgia’s oysters were over harvested, and their habitat was degraded by shell removal, a key surface for larval oysters to attach to.
Oyster Resilience and Management Plan
Over the last two decades efforts have been made to restore oyster reefs in the state, to develop sustainable oyster fisheries and to use oysters along with native vegetation to protect upland property through living shorelines, an alternative to traditional hardened shorelines such as bulkheads and rip rap. However, a lot of work remains to be done. As a Georgia Sea Grant State Fellow, I’m working at the The Nature Conservancy with Coast and Marine Conservation Director Christi Lambert to develop an oyster resilience and management plan for the state of Georgia. To advise and help build the process, Lambert and I have set up a steering committee made up of oyster experts from Marine Extension and Georgia Sea Grant, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources and The Nature Conservancy. I have created a database of oyster projects and relevant research to help identify what we do know and what data would be helpful to know as we develop the management plan. This is a great start, but ultimately, we want the plan to represent and address the needs of all oyster stakeholders. To achieve this, over the next year, we plan to engage stakeholders through interviews, workshops and other forms of engagement so we can develop strategies to address stakeholder needs. While this is an ambitious and challenging project, oysters may actually help facilitate the process.
Coastal Habitat Ambassadors
I have yet to meet a person that is not excited about oysters. They captivate the imagination and are a great conversation starter. From recreational fishers to estuarine shoreline property owners to seafood consumers to random strangers at the Piggly Wiggly, oysters are amazing little coastal habitat ambassadors. I am confident that as this oyster management plan is developed, connections, participation and active stakeholder engagement will be enhanced and facilitated by the simple truth – people love to talk about oysters, myself included!