Volunteers Will Shift 12 Tons of Oysters, Shells Aug. 10

GREEN CREEK — On Aug. 10, a group of 25 local volunteers will provide the muscle needed to move 1,600 bags of shell weighing over 15 pounds each off the mud flats in lower Delaware Bay to a transplant site farther up the bay.
The shell bags were constructed by Bayshore area elementary school children as part of Project PORTS (Promoting Oyster Restoration Through Schools) during the course of the 2006/07 school year.
Work will begin at 8 a.m. and continue until the job is done.
The volunteers answered an urgent call for help from the Project PORTS partners – Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory (Rutgers University) and the American Littoral Society – to move the more than 12 tons of shell because mudworms have been found on the shell bags.
The shell and oysters will be cleaned and moved immediately to prevent the young oysters form being smothered by the silty deposits left by the mud worms. Generally, this transplant would take place later in the season.
More than 1,000 students participated in the construction of the mesh bags filled with surf-clam shell, which were arranged on the flats at the Cape Shore facility of Rutgers’ Haskin Shellfish Research Laboratory.
Since then, the bags have provided a surface on which oyster larvae can settle.
On Aug. 10, the volunteers will manually load the 1,600 bags onto a barge at low tide. Once loaded, the barge will be moved offshore where the volunteers will transfer the bags to a larger vessel. They will complete their work by emptying the oysters and shells onto the larger vessel’s deck. The final step in the process will be for the vessel to transport the oysters up bay to the Gandy’s Beach Oyster Restoration and Enhancement Area where they will be blown off deck by a high pressure water pump.
The operation will be led by Lisa Calvo, Visiting Scientist, Haskins Shellfish Research Laboratory and Bill Shadel, Habitat Restoration Director, American Littoral Society.
Project PORTS is a community-based oyster restoration and educational program that focuses on the importance of oyster populations in the Delaware Bay ecosystem. It targets students and educators in New Jersey’s Delaware Bayshore region. The program offers teacher workshops, curriculum materials, and experiential learning opportunities through hands-on, field-based learning. This community project is unique in the Delaware Bay, where oyster management and restoration is normally conducted by government agencies and commercial parties.
This program is supported by grants from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Delaware Estuary Watershed Grants Program, Cumberland County, and the National Partnership between NOAA’s Community-based Restoration Program and Restore Americas Estuaries.