In the ocean, some habitats get more of the limelight then others. People love colourful coral reefs and beautiful white-sand beaches but might pay less attention to the less picturesque ecosystems. Oyster reefs, it’s fairly safe to say, are one of the underdogs.
Although they might not look as striking, oyster reefs are just as important as their coral counterparts. When oysters spawn, they release millions of sperm and eggs into the water column. The tiny larvae drift through the sea until they find a place to settle – once they’ve taken root, they are cemented there for life.
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The larvae can settle on a range of hard surfaces, such as rocks or shipwrecks, but they often attach to another oyster shell. Over time, more oysters bundle on top of one another until they’re piled up like stacks of dirty dishes. The nooks and crannies in between the shells make a great home for other marine life and give them plenty of places to hide from predators.
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As well as providing a home and food for other animals, oysters are filter-feeders so they clean and purify the water as they filter out their food.
In some places, oyster beds were thriving so much that ships had to change course to get around them. But many have been decimated by pollution, disease and habitat loss as well as over-harvesting. In the USA’s Chesapeake Bay, only around 3 percent of the native oyster population is left.
But people are fighting back with restoration efforts. The world’s largest oyster restoration project to date is in the Chesapeake Bay. Organisations from different states worked together to restore the habitat, construct reefs and planting young oysters. Around 7.5 billion oysters were planted and, at 3.75 square miles, this habitat is larger than the City of London.
Restoration experts chose 10 tributaries across Maryland and Virginia and picked the best spot for their restoration attempts.
Restaurants and food businesses can also recycle used shells, making sure this valuable resource is put back into the sea rather than being thrown into landfill. This helps boost restoration efforts because oyster shells are the best material for little oysters to attach onto but they can be hard to come by.
Some people are even helping by volunteering to grow oysters at their dock or pier.
Conservation experts are excited by the benefits this restoration site could have. The water will be cleaner because the oysters filter out excess nutrients. It will boost the numbers of other marine animals by providing them with somewhere to live and food to eat. And this, in turn, will help local fisheries. According to NOAA Fisheries, when the oyster beds are mature, they could lead to a 150 percent increase in blue crabs.
Despite making massive progress so far, this isn’t the end for the Chesapeake Bay oyster reef restoration. Scientists are continuing to find ways of improving the project, including looking at how the restoration of different habitats can help each other.
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