NEWS ARTICLE
Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration: A closer look at the efforts
of The Nature Conservancy to provide COVID-relief for shellfish farmers By: PhD. Boze Hancock *
A few months ago, The Nature Conservancy announced the purchase of 5 million oysters from farmers affected by COVID-19 to use them in reef restoration initiatives in the U.S. Now, in an exclusive follow up news article PhD. Boze Hancock, Senior Marine Habitat Restoration Scientist at The Nature Conservancy, shares with us details of the SOAR project which hopes to restore 27 acres of reef and, based on a reference economic modeling from restoration sites in MD, also produce over US $1.5 million per year in increased fisheries landings alone. Without considering the jobs saved, economic stimulus or the value of the other ecosystem services.
Imagining a COVID-relief fund for shellfish growers Soon after the pandemic hit the US in mid-March, with the massive impacts on restaurants and raw-bars, it was apparent that the shellfish growers had lost the majority of their market, pretty much overnight. In April Pew’s Aaron Kornbluth and I began discussing what COVID-relief for the shellfish growers might look 46 »
like. We have both been involved in restoring oyster reefs for the many benefits they provide. Oyster reefs produce huge amounts of extra fish and crabs for the commercial and recreational fisheries and improve water quality by filtering water and removing a good deal of the excess nitrogen that causes algal blooms and dead zones. Oysters in aquaculture gear have been shown to pro-
vide many of the same benefits, as well as providing thousands of jobs and taking pressure off the restored reefs by supplying the market with high quality oysters. So it was immediately obvious that purchasing the excess farm oysters to go onto reef restoration sites was going to benefit everyone involved. At that point we were not sure where the funding might come from, perhaps relief from Congress, perhaps private funding or a mix of both. We also needed the help of the aquaculture experts, Robert Jones of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), NOAA, the shellfish growers associations and state shellfish managers. The Pacific Coast Shellfish Growers Association and Oyster South, the Shellfish Growers Climate Coalition and particularly Bob Rheault of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association have been very engaged from the start. FEBRUARY - MARCH 2021
