May 7, 2018

One Small Build for Oyster Kind

by S-FX.com

oyster shell deploy

By Jessica Baez and Christine Thompson

You’ve seen oysters in raw bars at the shore, but you may not have realized they were once part of a bustling ecosystem in the Barnegat Bay!  A combination of years of pollution, development, overfishing, and diseases have reduced oyster populations drastically in the bay. That’s unfortunate, since oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of bay water a day and create three-dimensional habitat for fish and other invertebrates, similar to how coral reef ecosystems increase diversity in the tropics. The growing popularity of oysters at seafood restaurants have led to a surge in awareness of their ecosystem benefits and interest in rebuilding their populations.

Thanks to a grant from the Barnegat Bay Partnership, two oyster reefs are being restored and studied in the Barnegat Bay.  A small-scale project, led by Stockton University and the American Littoral Society, took place over the course of the past two years at two locations: Good Luck Point, in the upper portion of the bay with a lower salinity, and Little Egg Harbor (Tuckerton), in the south at a higher salinity.

The project used two oyster-seeding methods. One method used oysters that were remotely set in shore-based tanks using a selectively bred disease-resistant strain from Rutgers Aquaculture Innovation Center. The pathogen causing the oyster disease, or Dermo, came to New Jersey in the 1990s. Dermo is detrimental to native oyster populations and thrives in higher salinities that oysters may experience in the Barnegat Bay. The second method transplanted oyster seed from natural beds located in the Mullica River to the south of the Barnegat Bay. These natural oysters had no selective disease resistance, but instead were a genetically variable natural stock.

After planting, oysters were assessed as to how they would survive, grow, and support the complex bottom communities that find refuge within an oyster reef’s nooks and crannies. These assessments help researchers understand the most successful methods for restoration and the different communities that can be created with each type of reef in different locations.

Results of the first year of monitoring showed the natural transplants had similar survival and growth when grown side-by-side with the planted disease-resistant strain. By the second year, however, 90-95% of the largest oysters from the transplanted seed showed high levels of Dermo infections, while only 5-10% of the disease-resistant oysters were infected.

Oyster Project. Photo Courtesy Of Stockton University 1024x768
On the right, the reef subsample of a planted disease-resistant seed has significantly more vertical and complex structure compared to a natural population clump that was transplanted (left). Photo courtesy of Stockton University.

Restoring reefs with disease-resistant populations would not only help oysters overcome these diseases, but also enhance the bay through the added ecological and economic benefits they provide. These benefits include water filtration, natural coastline resilience from erosion, protection from storm wave energy, and revenue for our coastal economy. Not only could the oysters be harvested, but coastal managers can grow these three-dimensional reefs to draw in commercially and recreationally important species that are reef-associated.

Dr. Christine Thompson’s Shellfish Ecology and Restoration Lab at Stockton University is continuing to monitor the ecosystem services and community interactions from these reefs. Follow-up studies include recording which types of fish and crabs are using the reef, assessing predation and other harmful interactions caused by the oyster drill snail and boring sponges, looking for signs that oysters are reproducing, and measuring how oysters contribute to water quality and nutrient cycling in the bay. Additionally, community partners such as Jenkinson’s Aquarium and Jetty Rock Foundation have picked up on this trend and are providing support for continued additions of oysters to the reefs.

The hope is to one day expand this small-scale endeavor into a large-scale venture, but that means securing the necessary funding and infrastructure to go big. While both reef-building methods had pros and cons, the disease-resistant oysters had higher maximum growth, showed advanced disease-resistance in the bay, grew vertically in the water column providing complex habitat, harbored more diversity, and had oyster settlement during both study years. The catch for this method?  The disease-resistant line comes with a higher price tag.

Oyster Project 2. Photo Courtesy Of Stockton University 768x1024
Marine communities will experience bottom variability and take in the benefits of being elevated in the water column by the addition of reef structure. This photo shows a variety of sea sponges that have grown among the oysters. Photo courtesy of Stockton University.

Explore More Insights from Barnegat Bay

Dive deeper into the ongoing efforts to protect and restore our environment with more updates and initiatives that you can take part in. Check out our latest blog posts for valuable tips and insights.

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UNKNOWN

There is limited data available to quantify Wetland and Riparian Buffer Preservation, or updated data to quantify Wetland Acreage. The BBP has obtained funding and will begin assessment efforts for both targets, in the next few years.

 

 Hard Clam abundance has not been updated since 2012. Recovery of the stock will be guided by the Fishery Management Plan for Hard Clams, which is under development with the NJDEP, BBP, and other organizations. Reclam the Bay and other partners have continued to plant clams for restoration purposes. Continued plantings in strategic locations which maximize survival and reproduction is one strategy to pursue in the coming years. This work can use a model developed by Rutgers with BBP funding which identified areas where planted clams could have the greatest dispersal of their larvae and thus potentially maximally contribute to the recovery of the stock.

 Water Withdrawals were over the target in the 2021 report; USGS has not yet completed its latest update, so a definitive determination of status is not available. However, additional NJDEP data show that it is likely that we continue to not meet the target. Per capita water use has gone down, demonstrating the effectiveness of water-saving appliances and practices, but that decrease has been offset by population gains. 


IN PROGRESS

New maps quantifying Submerged Aquatic Vegetation extent were developed, but poor image clarity resulted in a high degree of uncertainty in the total acreage. NJDEP and Rutgers are working to resolve the uncertainty of these maps, and improve the total acreage estimate. Funding has also been obtained for further research and restoration activities. Several groups are developing potential restoration actions.

The USGS has completed the first phase of its study to identify minimum ecological flows in select Barnegat Bay tributaries. USGS scientists compared streamflow statistics between historical and current time periods to better understand trends in watershed flow conditions. This work provides a foundation for developing ecological flow targets in the Barnegat Bay watershed.  Similar to SAV extent, funding (approximately $450K) has been obtained by the BBP to complete the remaining phases necessary for threshold determination.

 

TARGETS ACHIEVED

No targets can be considered “Achieved” at this time.

 

NOT ACHIEVING

Several Public Swimming Beaches exceeded their safe swimming standards more frequently than during their baseline time period (2016-2018).

While most beaches are routinely safe for swimming, several problematic areas such as Beachwood, Hancock, Windward, and several lake beaches need track-down studies and restoration to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

Acres of Approved Shellfish Waters decreased from the last report. While this decrease was small, it represents a loss of previously approved waters. Similar to public beaches, track-down studies and restoration work are needed to pinpoint and address sources of bacteria.

 

One Small Build for Oyster Kind

By Jessica Baez and Christine Thompson

You’ve seen oysters in raw bars at the shore, but you may not have realized they were once part of a bustling ecosystem in the Barnegat Bay!  A combination of years of pollution, development, overfishing, and diseases have reduced oyster populations drastically in the bay. That’s unfortunate, since oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of bay water a day and create three-dimensional habitat for fish and other invertebrates, similar to how coral reef ecosystems increase diversity in the tropics. The growing popularity of oysters at seafood restaurants have led to a surge in awareness of their ecosystem benefits and interest in rebuilding their populations.

Thanks to a grant from the Barnegat Bay Partnership, two oyster reefs are being restored and studied in the Barnegat Bay.  A small-scale project, led by Stockton University and the American Littoral Society, took place over the course of the past two years at two locations: Good Luck Point, in the upper portion of the bay with a lower salinity, and Little Egg Harbor (Tuckerton), in the south at a higher salinity.

The project used two oyster-seeding methods. One method used oysters that were remotely set in shore-based tanks using a selectively bred disease-resistant strain from Rutgers Aquaculture Innovation Center. The pathogen causing the oyster disease, or Dermo, came to New Jersey in the 1990s. Dermo is detrimental to native oyster populations and thrives in higher salinities that oysters may experience in the Barnegat Bay. The second method transplanted oyster seed from natural beds located in the Mullica River to the south of the Barnegat Bay. These natural oysters had no selective disease resistance, but instead were a genetically variable natural stock.

After planting, oysters were assessed as to how they would survive, grow, and support the complex bottom communities that find refuge within an oyster reef’s nooks and crannies. These assessments help researchers understand the most successful methods for restoration and the different communities that can be created with each type of reef in different locations.

Results of the first year of monitoring showed the natural transplants had similar survival and growth when grown side-by-side with the planted disease-resistant strain. By the second year, however, 90-95% of the largest oysters from the transplanted seed showed high levels of Dermo infections, while only 5-10% of the disease-resistant oysters were infected.

Oyster Project. Photo Courtesy Of Stockton University 1024x768
On the right, the reef subsample of a planted disease-resistant seed has significantly more vertical and complex structure compared to a natural population clump that was transplanted (left). Photo courtesy of Stockton University.

Restoring reefs with disease-resistant populations would not only help oysters overcome these diseases, but also enhance the bay through the added ecological and economic benefits they provide. These benefits include water filtration, natural coastline resilience from erosion, protection from storm wave energy, and revenue for our coastal economy. Not only could the oysters be harvested, but coastal managers can grow these three-dimensional reefs to draw in commercially and recreationally important species that are reef-associated.

Dr. Christine Thompson’s Shellfish Ecology and Restoration Lab at Stockton University is continuing to monitor the ecosystem services and community interactions from these reefs. Follow-up studies include recording which types of fish and crabs are using the reef, assessing predation and other harmful interactions caused by the oyster drill snail and boring sponges, looking for signs that oysters are reproducing, and measuring how oysters contribute to water quality and nutrient cycling in the bay. Additionally, community partners such as Jenkinson’s Aquarium and Jetty Rock Foundation have picked up on this trend and are providing support for continued additions of oysters to the reefs.

The hope is to one day expand this small-scale endeavor into a large-scale venture, but that means securing the necessary funding and infrastructure to go big. While both reef-building methods had pros and cons, the disease-resistant oysters had higher maximum growth, showed advanced disease-resistance in the bay, grew vertically in the water column providing complex habitat, harbored more diversity, and had oyster settlement during both study years. The catch for this method?  The disease-resistant line comes with a higher price tag.

Oyster Project 2. Photo Courtesy Of Stockton University 768x1024
Marine communities will experience bottom variability and take in the benefits of being elevated in the water column by the addition of reef structure. This photo shows a variety of sea sponges that have grown among the oysters. Photo courtesy of Stockton University.
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Photo credit: Stockton University