 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
          |
In November 2006, 60,000 oysters raised by Mobile Bay NEP volunteers and 100,000 raised by AUMERC were placed on Boykin Reef off Dauphin Island and Shellfish Reef in Bon Secour Bay. Thank you to AUMERC and to all our volunteers! Now in its sixth year of operation! The Mobile Bay Oyster Gardening Program is a cooperative effort, which includes the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center, and the Mississippi Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. Other partners have included the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Marine Resources Division, Alabama Department of Public Health and Volunteers! The original support was provided through a generous grant from the Gulf of Mexico Program. The program brings together scientists and citizens to help enhance Mobile Bay’s oyster populations. We are pleased this year to have received a generous grant from the Gulf of Mexico Foundation's Gulf of Mexico Community-Based Restoration Partnership. Other granting agencies have included the Gulf of Mexico Program, the Environmental Protection Agency who will soon be granting a 5-Star Restoration Grant to the Mobile Bay NEP. Based on a successful program from Chesapeake Bay, this project was modeled for Mobile Bay through the cooperation of the above partners. Several things were to be accomplished:
1)
Research on oysters; This is the first project of this type on the Gulf Coast and it is now in its sixth year of operation. Basic data collection on oyster growth and water quality parameters (temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen) will take place when spat are delivered to volunteer gardeners and in the first week of every month until they are collected for reef distribution. The oysters are NOT grown for consumption. You will need to install the Adobe Acrobat Reader before you can view PDF documents
Hurricane Katrina Update 2005 The oysters have faced another challenging year with one tropical storm and two hurricanes causing significant damage in the Mobile Bay area. Tropical Storm Cindy hit the Mississippi coastline on July 6, 2005. Since Mobile was on the eastern side of the storm there was significant damage to piers, especially those on Ft. Morgan Road. Three volunteers lost their oysters to Tropical Storm Cindy. Four days after TS Cindy, Hurricane Dennis hit the western panhandle of Florida as a category 3 storm. Even though the storm diminished significantly before landfall it still packed a punch to the panhandle of Florida and caused minor damage in coastal Alabama. However, the next storm would dwarf these two significantly. Hurricane Katrina hit the Louisiana and Mississippi border on August 29, 2005 as a category 4. The storm surge on parts of the Alabama coast reached in excess of 15 feet. A preliminary assessment of the oysters was made the week of September 12, 2005. Through that assessment it was determined that about 97% of the piers were destroyed and about 75% of the oysters were lost to Katrina. A complete final count of the oysters will take place the first week of November before the oysters are placed on the reef. However, we choose to see the glass half full and not half empty! We are happy to still have 25% of the oysters to place on the reef in November! Our thoughts and prayers go out to our volunteers whose homes were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina. Other than hurricanes, what happened in 2005? With renewed determination,
the Oyster Gardening Program rebuilt to 47 volunteers for 2005.
With so many water properties in reconstruction, we felt this was a great
return after Hurricane Ivan. If you would like to be involved in
2006, contact the program coordinator. 2004 News We are happy to announce the 2004 Oyster Gardening season was a success despite Hurricane Ivan. About 80% of the oysters meant for reef restoration were lost due to this large storm. But, thanks to our gardeners efforts to save their oysters we have 20% that survived the storm. We would like to thank our volunteers for their tremendous efforts to secure their oysters for the storm. Way to go Gardeners! Unfortunately, the wild oysters were also hit hard by Ivan's blow to the Alabama coast. It is estimated that 80% of the wild oysters were damaged by Ivan. Our restoration efforts will help in rebuilding the wild oyster population in Mobile Bay. To learn of other oyster restoration activities visit the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center website - Oyster Research. Approximately 26,000 oysters
from 1.5 to 2 inches in height were placed on Denton Reef for restoration
on November 12, 2004. 2004 oyster
gardening for the Mobile Bay area was extremely successful, thanks to all
the dedicated gardeners on Co. Rd. 1, Fort Morgan Road, Dauphin Island
Parkway, Coden, Dauphin Island, and Point aux Pines!
Glenn Chaplin (AUMERC), Blan
Page (AUMERC), Scott Rikard (AUMERC) and Kara Lankford (MBNEP) releasing
oysters on Denton Reef on November 12, 2004.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
This site best view at
800X600 with Netscape 6.0 or Explorer 5.5 or higher |
|||||||||||||||||||||
