Saving Seafood

NORTH CAROLINA: 50 Million Oyster Initiative now supports 140 million oysters

January 14, 2021 — Good news for oysters! The North Carolina Coastal Federation and partners set out to restore 50 million oysters to coastal waters through their 50 Million Oyster Initiative. In the end, they nearly tripled the that goal with 140 million oysters living on 43 acres of newly created oyster reefs.

The initiative launched in Pamlico Sound, where the federation, state Division of Marine Fisheries and partners created 40 acres of new oyster sanctuary between 2017-2019. Monitoring of the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary by the Division of Marine Fisheries in 2020 indicated oyster densities as high as 2,000 oysters per meter squared on this reef. This translates to roughly 136 million oysters on the oyster sanctuary alone, when the reef architecture is taken into consideration.

“We are very pleased with this sanctuary’s ability to grow oysters year after year, and will continue to monitor its performance as a reference for future sanctuary design and construction,” said Cameron Luck, oyster sanctuary biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries.

In addition to the highly successful Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary, an additional 3.5 acres of oyster reef were created as living shorelines and patch reefs throughout the state along private property and in harvestable waters. Monitoring results from these patch reefs indicate they also support high densities of oysters, with each acre supporting more than 1 million oysters.

Read the full story at The Coastland Times

NORTH CAROLINA: Oyster Sanctuary receives funding further expansion

July 18, 2018 — The Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary project has wrapped up its second phase and has received funding for a third phase in their expansion.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) recently announced a recommendation of $950,000 to go towards the third phase of the sanctuary’s restoration, a contribution that will be matched by the state through the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.

According to Erin Fleckenstein, coastal scientist and regional manager for the North Carolina Coastal Foundation, the project leaders requested $1.5 million from NOAA and thus $1.5 from the state, as NOAA had stipulated that the state must match its own contribution.

“It’s slightly less but it’s still a great contribution towards our goals,” Fleckenstein said.

Swan Island is home to the largest oyster restoration project in the state, according to Fleckenstein. North Carolina is home to 10-to-50 percent of the historic population of the vulnerable eastern oyster, compared to the one-to-10 percent of historic population present in Chesapeake Bay. But this is still low, a problem the sanctuary creators are hoping to change.

Read the full story at The Daily News

Could N.C. become the ‘Napa Valley of oysters?’

May 29, 2018 — MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — Steve Murphey pointed at an oyster shell resting atop the hill of granite stones.

“See, it worked,” quipped Murphey, the director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.

The pile of granite Murphey was standing beside last week was one of several at the Port of Morehead City, days away from being spread across the Pamlico Sound near South River where it will become part of the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary. The project — a joint endeavor of the N.C. Coastal Federation, N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Restoration Center — is slated to reach 25 acres by the end of the summer, with as many as 15 more acres planned for next year depending on funding.

An acre of restored reef can support conservatively, a million oysters, biologists said. Some studies have recorded as many as five or six million on an acre, living on top of each other.

Oysters growing on the sanctuary cannot be harvested, giving them a chance to reproduce safely before moving on to other nearby reef sites where they can be captured.

“We’re giving them a good chunk of area to be able to stay and not be harvested and just give them time,” said Kaitlin DeAeth, a Division of Marine Fisheries biologist.

In recent years, shellfish have emerged as a topic on which environmental groups and the legislature can find common ground.

 

North Carolina: Oyster Restoration Partners Detail Progress

May 22, 2018 — MOREHEAD CITY, N.C. — A little more than 30 visited the state port here Monday for a glimpse of the construction of a large-scale oyster restoration project.

Representatives from the North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, North Carolina Sea Grant, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other partners were joined by the media and citizens for the behind-the-scenes tour of the port.

The port is the staging area for year two of the three-year Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary project that’s part of the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network, a system of oyster sanctuaries. In March, 25,000 tons of granite were delivered to the port for the project.

The Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary in Pamlico Sound near the mouth of the Neuse River is the largest project of the federation’s 50 Million Oyster Initiative, which aims to restore 50 acres of oyster reef by 2020. In the first year of the project, 15 acres were built. Ten more acres are expected to be added this year.

Read the full story at Coastal Review Online