Oyster Gardening
CONTRIBUTING WRITER: Zachary Eichholz, Sustainability Analyst, City of Cape Canaveral
Oysters may seem like ugly, weird blobs of goop that are only good for eating, but strange looks aside, they are in fact one of the many important solutions in the restoration of the 156-mile-long Indian River Lagoon (IRL). Acting as a keystone species – or a species that helps hold an ecosystem together – oysters have the incredible ability to clean the water around them. One adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day (1500 times their body volume), removing both organic and inorganic particles from the water column, including algae and muck.
After using these particles to obtain nutrients and minerals, oysters spit the water they have consumed back out into the environment. This results in improved water quality and a healthier ecosystem. When multiplied by tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands, the filtering power of oysters becomes even more apparent. Unfortunately, oyster populations in the IRL in recent years have significantly declined due to overharvesting, coastal construction, an overall decrease in water quality and even boat wakes, which can dislodge oysters and wash them ashore where they dry out and die.
However, thanks in part to the Brevard Zoo, oysters are beginning to make a comeback. The Brevard Zoo’s Restore Our Shores program empowers residents to become active members in the restoration of the lagoon’s ecosystem, providing them one of the easiest and most cost effective ways in which to improve water quality – oyster gardening.
The Brevard Zoo, in partnership with the Brevard County Natural Resources Management Department, provides annual workshops to county residents that teach attendees how to manage and maintain an oyster garden should they have a suitable dock for placement. This voluntary program allows the public to learn about oysters, how to raise them in freely provided cages (two per household) and showcases how the oysters are used after they are collected in the restoration of the lagoon.
Each year, oyster shells are donated from local restaurants through the zoo’s Shuck and Share program. Gardeners then receive bags of oyster shell halves that are covered in oyster larvae, called spat. Gardeners then place the shells in the cages provided to them by the zoo and string them up under their dock one foot below the water’s surface and left to grow for 6 to 9 months. Once the growing season has ended the mature oysters are harvested by zoo staff and used in oyster reef restoration projects. To date, over 500,000 live oysters have been harvested.
Starting in November, the City will begin its first oyster garden underneath the Banana River Park dock in order to help save our Indian River Lagoon with the hope that other residents will be inspired to follow suit and begin their own oyster gardens through the zoo’s free program.
For more info on how to become an oyster gardener please visit this link restoreourshores.org/living-shoreline/oyster-mats-gardening/#oystergardeningtab
