Like farmers on land, beginning oyster farmers face steep obstacles shaped by pressures from development and land-use policies that put their access to the ocean at risk.
A string of disasters have decimated oyster populations, with far-reaching impacts on the health of the Mississippi Sound. The state’s yearslong efforts to restore the reefs have fallen short.
One-thousand acres of New Hampshire’s Great Bay were once covered by live oyster reefs. Today, because of pollution, disease, and harvest, 90 percent have disappeared. But the tidal estuary is now the site of a celebrated revival.
In the Chesapeake Bay, the once decimated oyster industry is having a renaissance. But the effects of climate change are a looming threat for farmers and oyster lovers.
More than half a million oysters are to be released into the Humber estuary as part of a £2.5m conservation project. It is hoped introducing the native shellfish, as well as the planting of seagrass meadows, will help restore plant and fish life and reduce CO2.
Several US states are deploying oysters to build natural reefs for flood control, and the trend could help move the energy policy needle on climate action.
