Tiny baby oysters on shells headed into Barnegat Bay (Mary Ann Spoto photo)

“The American Littoral Society held a send-off party in Ocean Gate for 1.5 million oyster spat, or seedlings, which were taken by boat to an artificial reef about a quarter-mile off a section of Berkeley Township called Good Luck Point, ” Bruce Shipkowski writes for the Associated Press.

Several small boats took part in the procession to bring the oyster spat to the reef. Staff and volunteers then dumped the spat into the bay and returned to shore.


The goal of the colony is to help improve water quality in the struggling bay; the shellfish naturally filter out pollutants and impurities. But there’s another benefit as well: hardening the shoreline against devastating storms like Superstorm Sandy. The hard shells and the irregular, raised profile of the oyster beds help blunt the impact of waves and storm surges on the shoreline.

The colonies also serve as important habitat for fish and crabs, which are vital to the recreational fishing and boating industries along the bay.

“We are putting the pieces back in the bay, and we are doing it by pure willpower,” said Tim Dillingham, executive director of the American Littoral Society. “Ultimately, restoration of the bay and fixing its problems will have to be solved by the community but this shows we are on the right path.”

The send-off party comes about three months after the group hired a barge to dump 160 tons of whelk shells onto the bay floor. Oysters, which are naturally attracted to shells, attach themselves and grow.

Because oyster shells are comparatively hard to come by, the group chose the much larger whelk shells as a substitute. But the Littoral Society also has started a shell recycling program in which a restaurant will retain the shells of oysters eaten by customers. The group will then pick up the shells and add them to the reef.

Now that you’ve read the story, watch and listen to Lauren Wanko’s NJTV News report.
 



Wait, wait, there’s more Mary Ann
Spoto also was on dock when the shells were loaded.

She filed These
babies aim to clean up Barnegat Bay  for nj.com. 

To top off a bright summer day for oysters, environmentalists and
the media, Mary Ann’s story was accompanied by an excellent video by Andre Malok.  Watch it  below.
(Be patient, it’s a bit slow-loading).