Center of Inland Bays to Build 3 Reefs Out of Shellfish

Rehoboth Beach, De.- Scientists at the Delaware of Inland Bays want to build new reefs to bring back balance to the oyster population by restoring the water.

Three new reefs will be placed on Delmarva with two going in around Rehoboth Beach and one being placed near Assawoman Bay

A program dubbed “don’t chuck your shucks” is continuing to acquire resources made by your appetite for shellfish.

The remains of the shellfish will be “cured” for several months in the sun until they are formed to build living shorelines.

Scientists say the intention is to seed the oyster reefs with juvenile oysters that are produced by volunteers and their oyster gardening program to see how the oysters grow over time.

scientists say that its been a long time since they’ve had reefs in the water and that the role they play in aiding oysters grow has been missing.

“Reefs are an important component for a healthy estuary and at the moment we don’t have any,” Andrew McGowan, an environmental scientist said. “These reefs will be the first we have in over a decade.”

According to the scientists, the oyster population has been decimated over the last ten years with numerous factors playing a role.

But one of the reasons could be due to the water being less clean which is something oysters have a strong impact on.

“People should care that we have a good population of oysters because they have such an amazing impact on water quality,” Marianne Walch, the science and restoration coordinator said. “One adult oyster can filter 40 to 50 gallons of water a day making it much cleaner, they’re like little water quality factories, and the more oysters we have the cleaner the water will be.”

The project is still waiting on permits to be signed, but they expect them to be ready before summer ends.