Oyster Shells Used To Create More Than 2 Miles Of Reefs In Tampa Bay

PINELLAS COUNTY, FL — The shucked oyster shells left over from tasty dishes at Tampa Bay seafood restaurants are helping to restore the shoreline ecosystem and protect shorelines from coastal erosion throughout Tampa Bay, Florida's largest open-water estuary.

For the past 30 years, the nonprofit organization Tampa Bay Watch has used oyster shells to create more than 2 miles of oyster shell reefs at 30 sites along the shores of Hillsborough, Pinellas and Manatee counties.

Prior to the 1940s, the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) was abundant in Tampa Bay with estimates as high as 2,000 acres of oyster reefs throughout the estuary. Over-harvesting, disease and environmental impacts, like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, have resulted in an 85 percent loss of oyster reefs along shorelines, according to Tampa Bay Watch.

An estimated 171 acres of oyster habitat is all that remains of the 2,000 acres along the shorelines in Pinellas, Hillsborough and Manatee counties.

To help restore Tampa Bay's lost oyster habitat, Tampa Bay Watch developed the Community Oyster Reef Enhancement (CORE) program in the early 2000s. Through CORE, Tampa Bay Watch has used more than 2,500 tons of oyster shells to restore reefs.

Along the Gulf Coast, oyster reefs form when young oysters attach to the left-behind shells of other oysters, so using discarded shells for reefs is an ideal way to encourage new oysters to make their homes along the shorelines.

A single adult oyster can filter up to 2 gallons of water each hour and up to 50 gallons a day. Multiply that by tens or hundreds of thousands, and oysters become a powerful tool to reverse decades of damage caused by pollution and habitat loss.

Like coral reefs in tropical waters, oyster communities also attract fish and other marine life that breed and mature in Tampa Bay's waters.

Tampa Bay Watch's successful model that uses an army of community volunteers has been now been adopted by other organizations around the country. Most notably among them is New York's Billion Oyster Project launched in 2014 to encourage oysters to return to New York Harbor.

Tampa Bay Watch's oldest restoration project is at MacDill Air Force Base where the installation is so significant it can be seen from Google Earth. This ongoing project currently consists of 9,700 oyster reef balls and 450 tons of oyster shell reef, built with the help of 2,830 volunteers over 18 years.

The partnership between Tampa Bay Watch and MacDill Air Force Base began in 2004. MacDill AFB was looking for a way to address the impact of the huge wakes caused by transport ships entering and leaving Tampa Bay without having to resort to costly option of building sea walls or using demolition materials to create riprap shoreline structures.

Tampa Bay Watch offered a way to trip waves offshore using oyster reef balls while stabilizing the nearshore environment with oyster shell reefs and re-establishing shoreline habitats.

Oyster reef balls are created using marine-friendly concrete combined with silica and several other components. Weighing about 200 pounds each, the oyster reef balls are installed in areas with high wave activity to stop erosion along natural shorelines.

With their abundant nooks and crannies, oyster reef balls attract oyster larvae, which attach onto and inside the balls to create a productive habitat and prevent erosion farther up the shoreline.

“Investing in oysters to restore an ecosystem is playing the long game,” said Richard Radigan, Tampa Bay Watch oyster biologist. “It can take decades of careful planning and diligent work to establish populations and make sure they’re successful, and Tampa Bay Watch has had that success many times over the past 30 years.”

Over the years, Tampa Bay Watch, which was founded in 1993, has coordinated habitat restoration projects with the help of more than 250,000 volunteers, including planting more than 1,000,000 salt marsh grasses to help restore 250 acres of coastal tidal ponds to Tampa Bay.

Tampa Bay Watch works with local municipalities, government agencies and other environmental organizations to identify priority sites around Tampa Bay. Once a site has been identified, Tampa Bay Watch designs the best project, secures the necessary local, state and federal permits, and coordinates and implements the hands-on community-based habitat restoration projects.

About 2,000 corporate groups, students, environmental groups, families and other volunteers help with Tamp Bay Watch habitat restoration projects each year. The majority of the habitat restoration projects are open to volunteers of all ages except for oyster reef ball construction and installation, since it’s heavy work.

For details on how to get involved, click here.

Volunteers are also needed for Tampa Bay Watch's coastal cleanups and to plant and harvest native grasses. Upcoming events include:

International Coastal Cleanup

In honor of National Estuaries Week and Ocean Conservancy’s International Coastal Cleanup, on Saturday, Sept. 17 from 9 a.m. to noon, Tampa Bay Watch will host cleanups of three sites (Skyway Bridge, Little Bayou Preserve and Shell Key).

Register to volunteer at your preferred site:

• North Skyway Rest Area
• Little Bayou Preserve
• Shell Key

Native Grass Harvesting

Wednesday, September 21 from 9 AM - Noon

at Tampa Bay Watch Marine & Education Center, 3000 Pinellas Bayway South, Tierra Verde, FL 33715

Tampa Bay Watch is recruiting 25 volunteers for a native grass harvest project on Wednesday, Sept. 21, from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will be working in the shade at the Tampa Bay Watch Marine & Education Center, 3000 Pinellas Bayway South, Tierra Verde, harvesting plants from pots by pulling the plants out of the pots and separating them into 4 or 5 different sections. These plants will be put in the ground at the native planting at Robinson Preserve on Saturday, Sept. 24.

Click here to register.

Native Planting At Robinson Preserve

Saturday, September 24 from 9 AM - Noon

at The Robinson Preserve Expansion, 10299 9th Ave NW, Bradenton, FL 34209

In collaboration with Manatee County, Tampa Bay Watch is co-hosting a National Public Lands Day planting event and open house at the Robinson Preserve Expansion, 10299 9th Ave. NW, Bradenton, Saturday, Sept. 24.

Volunteers will plant coastal wetland species to enhance habitat and promote shoreline stabilization in a brackish water pond. Planting will take place from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., or until the project is completed.

Click here to register.