• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Roger Williams University and Volunteers to Seed Narragansett Bay with Oysters

Posted on: Wednesday, 3 December 2008, 07:00 CST

BRISTOL, R.I., Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Saturday, Dec. 6, volunteers will transfer nearly 750,000 adolescent oysters to restoration sites in Bristol Harbor and neighboring areas, culminating the third annual cycle of a joint effort between local community members and marine science researchers at Roger Williams University to bolster Rhode Island's diminished oyster population.

"RWU is committed to reinvigorating Rhode Island's oyster populations," said Timothy Scott, professor of biology and director of the University's Center for Economic and Environmental Development. "Oysters are natural water filters and these growing populations can help improve the overall health of our coastal waters."

Rhode Island's oyster population has suffered intense decline since the early 1900's due to polluted waters, over-harvesting and natural disease. Aquaculture specialists at Roger Williams University, working with the R.I. Aquaculture Initiative and the Island Foundation, initiated the R.I. Oyster Gardening for Restoration and Enhancement program in 2006, asking coastal landowners to raise juvenile oysters in waters along the shores of Narragansett Bay and Rhode Island coastal ponds until they were big enough to move to permanent restoration sites.

Eighteen oyster gardeners signed up to raise baby shellfish in year one and 55 gardeners participated last year. Both of those generations are now thriving on the reefs. This year, the program has grown to 73 volunteer oyster gardeners with the exciting projection of 100 gardeners recruited and 1 million oysters seeded in 2009.

Researchers are now in the process of collecting these adolescent oysters, and volunteers will come together on Dec. 6 at RWU to count and measure them, compare survival and growth rates and replant the oysters on Prudence Island, at Town Pond in Portsmouth and at an experimental oyster site in Bristol Harbor.

"This program is helping to rebuild the decimated oyster populations in Rhode Island," said Steve Patterson, coordinator for the program. "We all benefit from this restoration as these small creatures can provide cleaner water, a boost to the state's shellfish industry and an overall improvement to Rhode Island's coastal beauty."

Roger Williams University is ranked by U.S. News & World Report as eighth among comprehensive colleges in the north. Roger Williams offers undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts and sciences, architecture, business, construction management, education, engineering, historic preservation, justice studies, legal studies, visual arts studies and law.

SOURCE Roger Williams University

Source: PR Newswire

More News in this Category