pick-up route takes about two hours. • Shells are emptied into a pile on the CCC campus. * Skip Kemp and CCC student Andrew Bunting extract eggs and sperm from oysters for breeding. 



FIRST STEPS 



In North Carolina, Kemp's vision 

 for such restoration efforts seems to be 

 materializing, thanks to project participants 

 like Heath and Woodard. 



Woodard's regular route takes about two hours. He starts in 

 Morehead City and works his way toward Swansboro. 



The pay and the schedule aren't bad, he says. And he's used to 

 the smell. But as with any job, Woodard has a couple of pet peeves: 

 restaurants that put shells in non-designated cans or mix shells with trash 

 in the recycling cans. 



"We just want the oyster shells and the oyster shells only," he says. 



Besides the obvious stench, trash becomes a nuisance when it comes 

 time for Woodard to empty the truck. 



Back on campus, Woodard dumps the new recyclables at the far end 

 of an enormous pile of shells behind the aquaculture building. He picks 

 out any visible trash and reloads the empty cans onto the truck. 



The shell pile serves an important purpose in the recycling process, 

 explains Kemp. Before they can be seeded in the lab, shells must sit for a 

 year so any leftover meat or muscle can decompose. 



"If there is too much organic material, it makes the water foul, so the 

 oyster larvae don't do well," he says, referring to the setting tanks used to 

 seed the shells. 



At the back of the pile are the oldest oysters, which are about ready 

 for seeding. Soon, Kemp and his students will load these shells into crates 

 and stack them in setting tanks. 



"After the shells are put into the setting tanks, then we will put the 

 eyed-larvae oysters — which we will be growing in the hatchery — into 

 the water," says Kemp. "Then they swim around and attach to the shells, 

 and they are ready to go back into the environment." 



The newly seeded shells will be planted in two new DMF 

 sanctuaries: one along the south shore of the Neuse River, near its 

 mouth, and the other southeast of Swan Quarter Bay, says Hardy. The 

 seeded oyster shells will be placed on top of large, individual mounds of 

 limestone, known as "rip-rap." 



These mounds help jump start the physical formation of the 

 constructed reef. Under natural conditions, reefs form when oysters settle 

 on top of each other and old shell. But oyster shells are a limited resource, 

 says Hardy, and the rip-rap maximizes that resource by providing the 

 constructed reef much needed elevation. Studies have shown that oysters 



These sanctuaries and enhancement efforts provide 

 great opportunities for oyster research in North Carolina 

 that hopefully researchers will take advantage of. " 

 — Craig Hardy 



higher in the water column survive and 

 grow better because they are above the 

 low-oxygen water mass. 



FUTURE EFFORTS 

 Funding for CCC's shell collection project will last through March 

 2006. Afterward, Kemp and Hardy hope to turn the effort over to 

 volunteer groups. 



"Carteret County has shown that a few people can adopt a 

 restaurant, collect oyster shells and make them available for recycling," 

 says Hardy. 



He hopes the DMF will add an oyster shell recycling position to 

 help coordinate future volunteers. Funding is scarce, but a bill proposed 

 in the N.C. General Assembly this year would provide state support for 

 such a position. 



Hardy and Kemp believe the restaurant project and the state's shell 

 recycling program are helping people view oyster shells as a resource for 

 habitat restoration. 



"The oyster needs oyster shell to start its life," says Kemp. "Even 

 the legislature has picked up on the idea and introduced a bill to ban 

 oyster shells from landfills," he adds. 



But even if shells are kept out of landfills, set with disease-resistant 

 juvenile oysters and placed in sanctuaries, the Eastern oyster's plight is 

 far from over. To truly restore habitat, the juveniles must not only survive 

 but also reproduce and spread their offspring to adjacent reefs. 



The DMF plans to monitor the sanctuaries planted with recycled, 

 seeded shell by sampling for oyster growth, survival and structural 

 stability, says Hardy. To monitor enhancement, DMF will sample and 

 compare rip-rap mounds containing either seeded shells or regular shells. 

 Hardy also hopes to engage other researchers from around the state. 



'These sanctuaries and enhancement efforts provide great 

 opportunities for oyster research in North Carolina that hopefully 

 researchers will take advantage of," he says. 



In the meantime, Hardy, Kemp and Woodard continue to promote 

 citizen awareness about oyster shell recycling and the restaurant project. 



Woodard cites himself as an example of how even the slightest shift 

 in perspective — and thus practice — can make a difference: "I've never 

 been much for recycling, but now I feel like I am doing my part." n 



For a complete list of DMF' s oyster shell recycling drop-off sites, 

 visit: www.ncfisheries.net/shellfish/recycle4.htm. 



COASTWATCH 17 



