Summerville Saltwater volunteers teamed up with DNR to build an oyster reef on the Ashley River today. It was hard work, but alot of fun, and we learned a great deal about oyster’s contribution to our rivers and environment.
All involved would agree, it was a day well spent.
Volunteering actually helps SCDNR obtain more federal funding for this and other projects while helping our local waters. If you are interested in the oyster SCORE program and how your group might help, info can be found at http://score.dnr.sc.gov/.
Fresh and ready to start the day!
Time to get to work!! We loaded 4.5 tons of shells. Then we unloaded them at the site. That’s 9 tons of work! Many hands lightened the load!
Phase I complete! Oyster shells are ready for their ride to a new home!
Jon boats loaded with oysters headed for the Ashley! Ready for Phase II, more work!
Slinging bags of oysters to build the reef.
Mission accomplished! Job well done!
Its amazing the importance of oysters to our ecosystem. It was a p
Great job and great club. So heartening to see all the youth participating and to see how your club mentors youth. I am so glad I attended your meeting Wednesday night. Yours is a very impressive organization.
“Adapt or perish, now as ever, is nature’s inexorable imperative.” H. G. Wells (1866 - 1946)
Really wanted to go, but was committed to something at that time >:(
What are you doing taking pictures instead of helping???
“In every species of fish I’ve angled for, it is the ones that have got away that thrill me the most, the ones that keep fresh in my memory. So I say it is good to lose fish. If we didn’t, much of the thrill of angling would be gone.” Ray Bergman
Great post and pics Vince. Thanks for having my back on the photos!
Thanks to Michael Hodges and the SCDNR crew for their hard work and commitment, especially on their weekend. Everyone had a great time making a difference for the future generations!
Wish work didn’t have me halfway across the world so I could have helped out. . . I did get to float in the Dead Sea last week though. . . Absolutely mind blowing thing to do. . .
That’s a really cool thing you guys are doing t here Vin. Maybe it will catch on and others will do the same. I can imagine the ecological impact of an oyster bed is far reaching. Keep up the good work!
I have a silly question, what is the purpose of placing dead oyster shells on a bank that appears to already be covered with dead oyster shell?
I thought the EXACT same thing! The shells you see loose along the bank are actually ones that come from the river bed, not shore reefs. They wash UP, not DOWN, with each passing wave.
These shells are “dead” and won’t sustain a new oyster. We found some dead ones with a particular mark that showed where an oyster had attached itself, lived a short while, and then died and detached.
The oysters need something secure (a reef) for them to attach to and stabilize. Then they can grow, live a life of water filtering, and then die to perpetuate the reef. Baby oysters (spat) will then attach to them, and the cycle continues.
Sediment building behind the reef will help build and sustain the marsh, which has slowly eroded with each passing wave.
DF, an interesting fact was that oyster contribution to the environment is second only to the rain forests in their global impact. Each oyster filters up to 50 gallons of water PER DAY! Pretty amazing.
