Across South Florida, oysters are being put to work. Vertical oyster gardens are made by stringing recycled shells together and suspending them beneath docks, where oyster larvae can attach and grow. As the oysters mature, they filter excess nutrients, pollutants, and sediment from the water while creating habitat for fish and other marine life. Now, local restoration efforts are enlisting students, residents, and volunteers to help these natural filters take root.
River Restoration
High school senior Bianca Bernhard loves rowing on the St. Lucie River. But when water quality issues prevented her from taking to the water, Bernhard launched MORI (Martin County Oyster Restoration) to improve local water quality through oyster restoration. “Last year, we had these water quality warnings about toxic algae,” says Bernhard. “As a rower, that was really devastating because the substance on which you are sitting is now harmful to you.”
Bernhard collected oyster shells from local restaurants and brought them to South Fork High School to dry in the sun with the help of marine science teacher Jennifer Inostroza and other interested students. “We have a really good pool of volunteers,” says Bernhard. “We call them the oyster crew.”
Bernhard gives the dried oyster shells to another nonprofit organization that stacks them into vertical oyster gardens and hangs them on people’s docks. “The oyster gardens recruit baby oysters,” says Bernhard. “When they grow to one or two years old, they can filter about 50 gallons of water a day and improve water quality.” MORI has restored more than 800 pounds of oysters to date and was recently awarded a grant from the Indian River Council—which Bernhard says will keep this year’s oyster crew even busier.
Dockside Defense
The Village of North Palm Beach is the first municipality in Palm Beach County to launch an oyster restoration project using the natural filtering power of oysters to address declining water quality, nutrient pollution, and the loss of seagrass in local waterways.
Through the village’s Vertical Oyster Garden (VOG) initiative, volunteers string recycled oyster shells together to make the gardens which are then hung on docks in the Earman River. As new oysters grow, they naturally filter excess nutrients, pollutants, and sediment from the water, and promote clean habitats for marine life. “We have tons of water and a lot of docks. One of our missions is to help clean up the waterways,” says Karen Marcus, chairwoman of the village’s environmental committee, which is spearheading the initiative. North Palm Beach homeowners now have 286 VOGs hanging from their docks. Residents with docks can request their own VOG on the village website. “It’s nice to have village residents so committed to clean water and seeing a way to help and wanting to be involved,” says Marcus.
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