Contact Jim Oppenborn at 772-462-1713 or email@example.com.
ST. LUCIE COUNTY — Over the past several decades, fewer and fewer oysters have been calling St. Lucie waterways home. But thanks to the efforts of the oyster reef restoration program, the number of oysters here is on the rise.
The project was put into motion about seven years ago by Coastal Resources Supervisor Jim Oppenborn and LeRoy Creswell, a Florida Sea Grant Marine Extension Agent for the University of Florida.
"Oysters filter water and provide habitat for juvenile fishes and foraging areas for shorebirds," Oppenborn said.
Consisting of 11 sites in the Indian River Lagoon, these oyster restoration efforts go as far south as Boston Avenue and are planned to stretch as far north as Wildcat Cove on North Hutchinson Island.
Volunteers gather oyster shells into 4-gallon mesh bags and deposit them into the lagoon side-by-side, creating multiple 100-square-foot oyster reefs. These reefs serve as hard surfaces for the oyster larvae to settle on, which is necessary for their survival.
So far, dozens of oyster reefs have been planted at three of the 11 sites: Black Pearl Boat Ramp, Riverside Marina and Boston Avenue. According to Oppenborn, the program plans to concentrate on Wildcat Cove and the area just north of the Municipal Yacht Basin next.
Although the oyster reef restoration program operates partially from money budgeted by the county, via the Artificial Reef Program, the project runs primarily on financial donations and the kindness of volunteers.
There are several possible reasons for the decrease in local oysters. According to James David, director for Mosquito Control and Coastal Management Services, oyster beds were far more populous before the Fort Pierce Inlet was created.
"When the inlet was constructed back in the 1920s, the lagoon started to get more saline, and predators found in the saline water were able to impact the oysters," he said. "So the oysters were partly devastated by rapid changes in salinity, but also partly by predation."
Oppenborn and Creswell think sedimentation could also play a part. A mucky lagoon bottom and suspended solids in the water aren't the best environment for oysters, which have to settle on hard surfaces.
Even though the project is still in the beginning stages, Oppenborn has high hopes for the program.
"In addition to oysters, we are getting seagrass recruitment and 18 species of birds associated with oyster reefs," he said.
David also thinks the program is successful so far. "We believe that it's doing very well, remarkably actually, considering what the early experiments are suggesting."
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