The Nature Conservancy's Pamlico Sound reef restoration project

摘要

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries (NCDMF), with funding from NOAA's community-based restoration program, are collaborating on an oyster reef habitat restoration project in Pamlico Sound. This entails establishing a network of shellfish sanctuaries, constructing artificial reefs within the sanctuaries, experimenting with restoration applications, and monitoring results. Artificial reefs are constructed using limestone marl, a material that provides substantial vertical relief on each reef and minimizes redistribution of material by natural wave action or currents. Another material incorporated is recycled oyster shell, collected from restaurants and community oyster roasts on the Outer Banks. Since the start of the shell-recycling program in autumn 2002, TNC has collected over 2000 bushels. The recycled shell is dried for six months, and then placed in plastic mesh bags by community volunteers. Shell bags are used to recreate reef habitat. TNC intends to use remote-setting of oyster larvae to investigate limitations of survival of natural spat-sets. Remotely set oysters will be grown in a research sanctuary and protected from predation for approximately six months, the estimated age at which oysters can withstand most natural predation stress. They will then be placed on artificial reefs and monitored for growth and mortality as well as the success of subsequent recruitment events. The results will be compared to those from artificial reefs where remotely set oysters have not been incorporated as a restoration tool. Analysis will help determine factors that may be controlling natural recruitment survival.