According to two new studies, US oyster restoration has been shown to be largely successful, despite the benefits taking, on average, a decade to present themselves.
Benefits of US Oyster Restoration
Oyster reefs are some of the most important natural environments in the world. Beyond providing a cheap and healthy food source, oysters and their reefs are important habitats for large fish and shellfish populations.
However, over the course of the last 400 years, oyster populations have been declining, reaching a historic low in the present day. This has resulted from various anthropogenic causes; overfishing and the utilization of unsustainable harvesting methods, as well as marine pollution, are the main culprits.
However, research shows that US oyster restoration is incredibly successful in a long enough time frame despite not being seen for a while.
Dredges and tong harvesting, which scrape the oysters off the ocean bed, have been some of the most damaging to oyster reefs. The oysters thrive in shallower water, so when the underlying structure is destroyed, it leaves a weak population along the bottom of the seabed.
Marine pollution has been incredibly damaging as well. Specifically, nutrient pollution due to industry and development has significantly damaged oyster populations. However, according to two new studies published in Conservation Biology and Ecological Applications, restoring these key ecosystems is quite possible despite taking a while to see the benefits.
They defined restored oyster reefs as ones with substrate added to benefit them, specifically shells, limestone, and/or concrete. They reported that restored oyster reefs, compared to degraded ones and reference reefs, showed a 21-fold increase in population. It also enhanced the habitat for shellfish and fish by 34-97% and increased nitrogen cycling by 54-95%.
These benefits are difficult to ignore but haven’t been easily seen for a while. On average, these US oyster restoration reefs take about eight years to recover.
See also Distillery and Scientists Team Up to Save Oyster Populations.
Looking forward.
Oysters are incredibly important to marine ecosystems’ biodiversity and provide habitat for other species. This is especially needed now more than ever, considering that the oyster reef population has declined by 85% since the 1800s.
Conservation efforts are just as important, and this sentiment was conveyed by Melanie Bishop, a coastal ecologist at the Macquarie University Marine Research Centre in Sydney, Australia, who was not involved in the research. She said, “Although the studies suggest that considerable environmental benefits can be incurred through US oyster restoration, they also suggest that these take time to accrue and that some components of the ecosystem may not recover, at least within the time frame of studies. This is an important reminder that alongside oyster reef restoration, there is [a] need to conserve remnant oyster reefs.”
