易胜博官网

, a laboratory research supervisor at the , navigates a small skiff from the pier at 易胜博官网鈥檚 , heading southward in 易胜博官网鈥檚 expansive Great Bay Estuary. Piloting the boat across choppy, dark water and beneath a gray sky, she talks about working in oyster reef restoration in Great Bay 鈥� supporting the efforts of 易胜博官网 Professor of Biological Sciences 鈥� and the beginnings of her own oyster farm, , in 2011. She discusses the long-term collaborative effort to restore the bay鈥檚 oyster reefs, . Based on aerial surveying conducted in 2020, live natural oyster reefs now cover approximately 80 acres of .

鈥淲hen I began at 易胜博官网 in 2005, Ray had already been doing oyster reef restoration in the bay for five years,鈥� Ward says. 鈥淚n 2009, we partnered with some major organizations, including the (NRCS/USDA) and (TNC), to really grow these efforts and to use a barge every summer to deposit several tons of oyster and clam shells on or near depleted beds, building them up so that oyster larvae will set and grow upon them.鈥�

On this day, Ward and her sister (and fellow oyster farmer), Laura Brown, are checking on efforts by to deposit about 450 cubic yards of shells that have been stored and dried for at least 6 months to remove any remaining tissue near Nannie Island, situated just off the in Newington, 易胜博官网. The , which is being funded by the NRCS/USDA, has been ongoing since the 15-acre reef was closed to shellfish harvesting in 2021. From 2016 to 2021, Ward and Grizzle observed a nearly 90 percent reduction in the natural oyster reef at Nannie Island. However, by adding new beds and farmed oysters to the site, they鈥檙e hoping the effort will jumpstart the area鈥檚 native oyster population.

More Than Two Decades of Great Bay Oyster Restoration Efforts

鈥淥ur goal here, at Nannie Island, and at our restoration site at the mouth of the Squamscott River, is ultimately to get more oyster larvae into the water column and provide new substrate for the larvae to set upon,鈥� Ward says. 鈥淲e deposit the shell in early summer so that when the oysters begin breeding as the water warms 鈥� usually about July-August 鈥� the larvae they produce will have new area to set upon.鈥�

Once the shells are added to the Nannie Island reef, another 50 cubic yards will be deposited at a restoration site near the mouth of the Squamscott River. In previous years, Ward and Grizzle led restoration efforts at the mouth of the Lamprey River, where they were able to grow the existing natural reef further up into the river.

鈥淏y working in these same areas, we can concentrate the shell substrate in a smaller region, creating deeper beds, instead of just fanning thinner layers of shell out over several acres,鈥� says Ward. 鈥淪edimentation can be a problem, but by putting the shell about a half foot from the floor, we can establish a good layer and make a big difference.鈥�

And they鈥檙e already seeing that difference 鈥� both from large-scale deposits like the one at the Nannie Island reef and from smaller deployments of farmed oysters from farms in Great Bay Estuary鈥檚 Little Bay. Using underwater cameras, Ward and Grizzle monitor both the reef growth and the addition of new spat and juvenile oysters. The cameras allow them to know when an area has a good, solid substrate in place, and when the oysters in the area begin reproducing and growing the reef naturally by attaching and settling upon one another.

鈥淔or the Nannie Island reef, we鈥檙e beginning to see more spat settling on the living oysters, indicating that they鈥檙e growing the reef naturally,鈥� Ward says. 鈥淚f this trend continues, we鈥檙e hopeful that the oyster population may rebound and some of this area will be open to recreational harvest again.鈥�

鈥淎 major step forward came as result of COVID when we were able to secure funding to purchase live oysters that couldn鈥檛 be sold by the local farmers because restaurants were largely closed,鈥� explains Grizzle. 鈥淲e have added those live oysters to reef sites and the results so far have been encouraging, mainly because the farmed oysters have higher survival rates and we鈥檝e found greater concentration of spat in the areas where they鈥檝e been deployed.鈥�

鈥淪o partnering with local oyster farmers in the restoration of Great Bay鈥檚 wild oyster populations has been a critical step forward in these efforts,鈥� he added.

How Oyster Farming Encourages Great Bay Restoration

Laura Brown, who鈥檚 owned and operated in Great Bay Estuary鈥檚 Little Bay since 2012, says that farming oysters and helping conserve oysters in Great Bay are two concepts closely connected, and one can鈥檛 really be done without the other.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think you can be an oyster farmer in this area without being an environmentalist to some degree too,鈥� says Brown. 鈥淏eing involved in the restoration effort has been a goal of mine over the years and one that I鈥檓 excited to pursue more now.鈥�

Just the influx in oyster farms in Great Bay over the past decade have contributed to restoration efforts and increased biodiversity, says Ward.

鈥淚f you鈥檙e putting shell on the bottom, that鈥檚 creating a natural reef and building habitat for fish and other invertebrates 鈥� so you鈥檒l see a lot more biodiversity in a reef structure than you would on a mudflat,鈥� she adds. 鈥淭hrough research, we鈥檝e found that even the oyster farms in Little Bay are acting like reefs and supporting greater diversity. It鈥檚 really neat to think about the impacts of local oyster farms toward supporting the overall health of Great Bay and its many tributaries.鈥�

Current funding for oyster restoration led by Ray Grizzle and Krystin Ward comes from the USDA鈥檚 Natural Resources Conservation Service, The Nature Conservancy鈥檚 (Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration) program, the (NOAA), the City of Rochester and the .