Articles

• Adapting to shifting sands
• 5 Questions on Engagement
• MASGC shares in Gulf Guardian Award
• Program to certify nature-tour operators
• Bruening recognized for outstanding service
• Symposium to feature adaptive management
• Waterfront-access committee nears end of mission
• Volunteers grow 45,000 oysters for restoration
• Potential end-users test tool for sea-level rise planning
• Fink joins Office of Coast Survey in Mobile
• Featured Publication
• From the Director

Sea Briefs is a report on the results of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

Editor: Melissa Schneider

Frontpage graphics: Matthew Capps

This newsletter is available in PDF format from:
masgc.org/seabriefs

MASGC supports applied, interdisciplinary marine science research, education and outreach efforts to foster the sustainable development and management of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico

Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Consortium
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
Phone: 228-818-8838
E-mail: seabriefs@masgc.org
MASGP 09-011-04

Volunteers grow 45,000 oysters for restoration
Adopt-a-Garden Program to support science in schools

Mobile Bay Oyster Gardening volunteers helped grow over 45,000 oysters planted on reefs in Mobile Bay in November, according to Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant and Auburn University Maine Extension and Research Center Extension Specialist Phillip “P.J.” Waters, who helps lead the program.

Volunteers grew the oysters at 44 gardening sites. They maintain juvenile oysters (spat) in submerged cages by cleaning the cages about once a week during the summer months and removing any predators, such as blue crabs and oyster drills, from the cage.

“Even though Tropical Storm Ida took 17 cages as she went by, we had a successful season,” Waters said.
This year’s average was 1,027 oysters per gardener, which is in line with the 1,000-oysters-per-gardener average, he said.

The new Adopt-A-Garden Program allows people who do not own waterfront property to participate in oyster gardening. For $25 a year, participants will receive a monthly newsletter and be able to follow their oysters as they grow. Proceeds support science research programs in area schools.

Contact Waters at 251-438-5690 or waterph@auburn.edu for details.

The oyster gardening program is sponsored by Mobile Bay National Estuary Program in cooperation with Auburn University and the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. It teaches students and adults about the ecological and economical roles oysters play in Mobile Bay.