WAKULLA COUNTY, FL — The Wakulla Environmental Institute is working to restore oyster habitats and improve water quality in Oyster Bay through the use of oyster domes — structures designed to help rebuild oyster reefs in local waterways.
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Hope Childree, Director of the Wakulla Environmental Institute, said a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day, and that expanding reef populations could have a significant long-term impact on water quality in the area.
"Oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. A single oyster can do that. So the hopes, one of the hopes, is, over time, that as the reef builds out, the water quality will improve in the Oyster Bay area," Childree said.
Childree said oyster reefs also help protect shorelines by reducing erosion. As oysters grow and reproduce, they attach to the inside and outside of the domes, gradually building out a reef over time.
"As the oysters grow and continue the spawn, they attach inside and outside the dome, and over time they start to build their reef," Childree said.
The restoration work also has implications for the local shellfish industry. Paul Fraser of Osceola Oyster Company said that while oysters are capable of filtering water, clean water is critical to producing a quality oyster.
"The oysters filter out that red tide, and they can eat their way through a lot of the issues, but they absorb any of the negative contaminants that are out there in the environment. So that leads to shutdowns for farmers, and we're not able to harvest if the waters have been contaminated," Fraser said.
In the year and a half the institute has been conducting this work, Childree said they have seen growth in oyster populations on the domes.
The institute recently received permission to expand its dome site from 4 acres to 16 acres, which could allow for an additional 3,000 domes in the bay. The institute is now seeking funding to continue the project and grow the number of domes deployed in Oyster Bay.
ABC 27's Serena Davanzo spoke with oystermen in the past who said Wakulla County has some of the best environments for oystering, making protection of those waterways a priority for the industry.
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