Thankfully, the humidity of the past week had dissipated by the Saturday I showed up to my first session of community oyster gardening. Gloves in hand, I and 11 other volunteers were ready to start this new adventure. Martha, the program manager, described what we’d be doing over the next hour or so. Sunlight lit the dock and sparkled over the marina’s waters as eight cages were hauled up, each teeming with hundreds of muddy shells.
What is Community Oyster Gardening?
As the name implies, the program is a marine restoration effort that invites community members to participate in the conservation of local waters by caring for and raising oysters that will eventually be released at summer’s end into the harbor. Here, they’ll continue maturing and do their job filtering the water as they feed on algae, bacteria, and other particles. Pumping water through their bodies, oysters essentially clean the surrounding water and help provide a beneficial habitat for other marine species. As the oysters mature and begin reproducing, the overall water quality improves.
First, A Shower
Naturally, after a week of sitting in the harbor, the oysters were mud coated and decorated with bits of seaweed. The cages were emptied into several large buckets and the next process was two-fold. While some of us hosed out and scrubbed the cages of accumulated marine material, others directed streams of water into the buckets to rinse off as much mud as possible. Generally, two washings got the oysters clean enough that you could now see these tiny organisms housed on old oyster shells. Having spawned at a hatchery, the immature oysters are known as “spat” when they’re delivered to their growing “gardens.” Only a few millimeters at the beginning of the program, each week finds them bigger and eventually developing their own shells.
See How They Grow
Now, for the fun part—measuring the oysters’ latest growth spurt utilizing a random sampling of 20. Working with another volunteer, I used calipers to measure the length of 10 specimens, while my partner recorded the results in centimeters. Then we switched tasks until our sample of 20 was measured. It’s amazing to see the beginnings of these marine creatures, how minuscule (.9 centimeters) some of the spat was, given that most of us are used to seeing only fully grown oysters.
I was impressed seeing how “gigantic” other oysters already were, measuring up to 2 centimeters by this second week. The nonprofit organization overseeing the program then uses this data to determine the growth and health of the oysters at this spot and the three other locations chosen this year.
Measurements completed, the oysters were ready to return to their secured cages. Lowered back into the harbor, they’ll keeping growing until the next set of volunteers arrives the following weekend to repeat the process and check progress. I’m looking forward to my next turn in a couple of weeks. For the price of two hours of my time, I gained a new experience and met new people. I’m inspired, as always, seeing how the natural world works, I go to spend time by the water—one of my favorite places—and overall feel good about giving nature a helping hand. Stay tuned to see how this adventure wraps up in a few weeks!