March 5, 2026 — Horseradish, cocktail sauce, or straight up? However you take your oyster, their near extinction may be difficult to swallow.
A little over 100 years ago, U.S. fishermen landed roughly 1.5 billion pounds of the craggy bivalve per year, compared to just 29.7 million pounds in 2022.
Oysters’ disappearance means more than just an increase in the price of your happy hour. Without them, water quality dips, sea grass beds recede, and salt marshes erode.
For these reasons and more, The Nature Conservancy is hoping to bring back critical oyster reefs in Massachusetts, beginning with restoration projects in Westport, Fairhaven, Mashpee, and Bourne. If successful, the wild oyster colonies will improve water quality in New England’s estuaries and help form the foundation for more erosion- and flood-resistant “living shorelines.”
But first, residents will have to resist eating them.
In 2025, The Nature Conservancy partnered with the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF), the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Cape Cod Conservation District to develop a program to restore the region’s coastal habitat, including its historic oyster reefs.
The Nature Conservancy identified several communities on the Cape and the South Coast best primed for oyster restoration with the goal of rebuilding 10% to 20% of the shellfish’s original habitat.
Now, Nature Conservancy Coastal Project Manager Dan Goulart travels town to town hoping to convince residents that oysters are worth keeping around — and not just on the half-shell. In January, Goulart led a talk for members of the Westport River Watershed Alliance, ahead of his presentation to the Westport Select Board this spring.
In his talk, Goulart connected the healthy oyster population to historic pastimes like bay scallop fishing, which depend on a healthy eel grass system supported by oysters.
“To me, engaging in this restoration, bringing these oysters back … that is like preserving our historic heritage and who we are as New Englanders,” Goulart said.