![]() The scientists also will use data from the acoustic telemetry tags to see whether sturgeon are in the area, and check whether sediment around the reefs holds large numbers of animals that sturgeon might nose out to eat. One goal is to find whether adding extra limestone at the start, middle or end of oyster spawning season helps increase numbers of oysters. ![]() Safra Altman, a research ecologist with ERDC’s Environmental Laboratory and the agency's technical lead for the project. Andres’ lab, along with ERDC researchers and collaborators from the University of Kentucky sampled sediments and potential Gulf sturgeon prey species in Mississippi Sound during August to gather preliminary data for these regions,” said Dr. Mike Andres, assistant research professor at USM, graduate students from his lab and Corps researchers are tagging juvenile and subadult Gulf sturgeon in the Pearl and Pascagoula rivers for the study. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, and the universities of Southern Mississippi and Kentucky have chosen two sites that they want to use.ĭr. “I didn’t realize oysters had a big impact on the environment,” he said.Scientists from the department, the U.S. Stanislaus garden, collect data and supervise other students - not for pay but for a credit on their transcripts - said he was excited by the hands-on aspect. Waters, an Auburn University extension associate professor who oversees Alabama’s oyster gardening at Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant.Ĭolin Wood, one of two student interns who maintain the St. In Mobile Bay and in Mississippi, it may take only four to five months to have oysters ready to transplant, said P.J. It can take oysters three to four years to reach adulthood in the Chesapeake, and a year to 18 months in raised cages. Oyster gardens get pulled from the water every week to 10 days to clear out critters, keep oysters from growing through the cage mesh, and dry out and clean off algae and seaweed growing on the wire. The project does not call them “oyster gardens” because the harbor's oysters are unsafe to eat and the goal is not food but restoration, she said. “Wish us luck, that’s gonna be tough,” Spain wrote in an email.ĭozens of schools and community groups around New York Harbor have similar projects as part of the Billion Oyster Project, spokeswoman Helene Hetrick said in an email. Tidewater hasn’t been able to collect data on reef contributions, but president emeritus Vic Spain thinks it’s probably at least 500,000 a year.Īn umbrella group called the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance has set a goal of 10 billion added oysters by 2025. Virginia’s Tidewater Oyster Gardeners Association members grow oysters to eat as well as to plant. ![]() Gardeners in the foundation and its member groups have added at least 15 million oysters in Maryland and 1 million in Virginia, Moore said. Declines in the second half of the 1900s followed an even more drastic crash in the 1920s from rampant overharvesting, said Chris Moore, senior ecosystem scientist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. The Chesapeake Bay oysters were beset by two highly lethal parasitic diseases, in addition to other problems. MASGC has supported work to identify compounds in oysters that cause larvae to set (1970s), determine the seasonal distribution and location of oyster spat in Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound (1970s), understand the optimal size of spat for planting (1990s), and pioneer development of breeding programs for hypoxia-resistant oysters (2000s).
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