PARTNERSHIPFORTHEDELAWARE ESTUARYANDUNIVERSITYOFDELAWARE DOINGGOOD DEEDSWITHOYSTERSTUDY

Picture this: You’re in a restaurant, and a platter full of oysters on the half shell arrives at your table. When served on a bed of ice with lemon slices, fresh herbs, and cocktail sauce, these shellfish are a delicious part of your meal. Sounds great, right? What’s even better? Knowing your culinary choice plays a role in environmental restoration.

If you eat oysters in Philadelphia or Wilmington, Delaware, chances are the shells you leave behind are recycled and reused. From your plate, the shells travel to sites along the Delaware Bay to keep shorelines from eroding, to create habitat for new oysters, and to improve our waterways.

For years, Partnership for the Delaware Estuary (PDE) has recycled oyster shells to restore shorelines along the Delaware Bay and rivers that drain to this large body of water. However, PDE is bringing this expertise to the table with a new partnership with the University of Delaware on a Lewes, Delaware, project called Developing Engineering practices using Ecosystem Design Solutions (DEEDS).

DEEDS is a University of Delawareled project. PDE’s role is to study how oysters can survive along the Delaware Coast and how shellfish-based shorelines work in unique environments. Although the project is in its conceptual stages, landscape architects and oceanographers, will be involved in planning shoreline restoration activities for future installation.

“This project is aimed at researching the potential for shellfish-based living shorelines as a tool to protect and enhance Delaware’s coastline,” PDE’s Senior Science Manager Kurt Cheng said. Living shorelines are erosion control methods that use natural elements such as mud, native grasses, and rocks as an alternative to traditional methods such as concrete sea walls. Incorporating shellfish into living shorelines helps shoreline stabilization, enhances fish and wildlife habitat, and improves water quality.

Although the work PDE is doing with DEEDS isn’t new, it does advance the organization’s shell recycling and shoreline restoration work. PDE is interested in understanding how oysters grow in different areas and what factors influence their growth and numbers. Further, PDE scientists hope to understand why oysters thrive in certain areas but not others.

Another objective of the project that is particularly exciting to PDE is working alongside the University of Delaware’s researchers to study the growth trends and patterns of farmed and wild oysters over a year.

“Shellfish are generally seen as a good addition to environmental projects,” Cheng said. “The assumption is that filter-feeding shellfish are currently less plentiful in our waterways than what is possible. For that reason, building up these local shellfish populations will result in good things for the environment. Whatever the project, PDE always strives to incorporate nature-based solutions like this.”

So the next time you order oysters, remember that the shells you leave on your plate will soon be on a journey back into the water, where they’ll go to good use. If you’d like to support the restaurants in our shell recycling program, visit PDE’s website.

CLEAN WATERS / W3.2 – CONDUCT RESEARCH AND MONITORING ON WATER QUALITY AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTS OF ESTUARY-DEPENDENT SPECIES

HEALTHY HABITATS / H1.3 STRATEGY H1.3: DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT NATURAL AND NATURE-BASED TECHNIQUES TO STABILIZE AND RESTORE ERODING SHORELINES AND TO BUILD AND PROTECT WETLANDS, INFRASTRUCTURE, AND OTHER KEY RESOURCES

GOAL 3, INCREASE AND IMPROVE FISH AND SHELLFISH HABITAT

H3.2 – RESTORE OYSTER BEDS AND PRODUCTIVITY IN AND AROUND THE DELAWARE BAY