SURF CITY – Kerri Allen acknowledged early on what was also obvious to her audience.

“I do not need to tell anyone in here we have a really high density of leases,” the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s coastal management program director said. “In our public trust waters, when you have that many users, there are going to be conflicts.”

Several people sitting inside the Surf City Municipal Complex’s town council chambers that April 14 afternoon nodded in agreement, eager to share their thoughts on the subject.

With either temporary or permanent shellfish leasing moratoriums in North Carolina waters to its north and south, Topsail Island’s waters have become a hot commodity for oyster growers.

There are now nearly 190 shellfish leases in the waters behind the 26-mile-long barrier island from the New River and its adjacent estuarine waters south to Topsail Sound.

That’s a roughly 46% increase from the collective number of leases in 2018 in Onslow and Pender counties.

The squeeze put on the waters around Topsail Island has prompted ongoing calls for a temporary moratorium on new shellfish leases in the area.

The Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission, or TISPC, which is composed of elected officials from each of the island’s three towns – Topsail Beach, Surf City and North Topsail Beach – initiated a request for a temporary pause on leases more than a year ago. Commissioners in Onslow and Pender counties did the same.

Shellfish lease moratoriums in the state may be enacted only by the North Carolina General Assembly.

On April 10, 2025, Rep. Carson Smith, R-Pender, introduced legislation requiring a statewide study on shellfish leasing and the current lease moratorium.

House Bill 841 made it no further than the Senate’s Rules and Operations Committee.

“If there is a temporary moratorium, we don’t feel that’s unreasonable,” Allen said last week.

A pause would give the Coastal Federation and North Carolina Sea Grant more time to talk with those who live along and use the waters around the island and come up with suggestions to help shape future policy that would protect the industry, make it sustainable long term, and ease user conflicts, she said.

Additional focus groups, including one for shellfish growers, will be scheduled this fall.

Meanwhile, a temporary moratorium that has been repeatedly extended since it was first enacted in New Hanover County in 2019 is set to expire in July.

“It’s very reasonable to say if we were able to open up some of these other areas that could help alleviate the pressure that this area is seeing,” Allen said. “A lot of the oyster growers that we work with in this region live in New Hanover County and they would love not to have to drive up here to take care of their farms. We are actively trying to get New Hanover to not extend their moratorium. I do not have a good feel, one way or another, how that’s going to go yet, but we are having those conversations.”

Surf City Mayor Teresa Batts said officials on the island do not intend to wait for a decision before asking for a temporary moratorium.

“I know you’re going to go through the procedural steps, but the TISPC, we’re not going to sit back and wait,” she said. “If we see that New Hanover County is trying to extend their moratorium, then we’re going to try to slide in there on their session and piggyback on their moratorium.”

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, and North Carolina Sea Grant teamed up last year to launch a Geographic Information System, or GIS, database pinpointing areas where leases may or may not be suitable in the waterways behind Topsail Island. The GIS database is anticipated to be published next year.

Recommendations shared with the organizations will help shape the North Carolina Strategic Plan for Shellfish Mariculture, a plan commissioned by the General Assembly in 2017.

This document is effectively the state’s roadmap for a sustainable shellfish industry. It’s not meant to be a fixed document, rather one that evolves as the industry evolves and conditions change, Allen explained, adding, “which they very much have changed since 2017.”

In the years since, the state has seen a shift where shellfish farmers are using floating gear to grow oysters in the water column, a method that allows them to maximize the spaces in which they grow their product.

Unlike cages that are placed on the waterbed, those in water column leases poke up from the water’s surface.

And, as more water column leases have been granted, complaints have mounted about their impacts to the viewsheds of waterfront properties, boating and kayaking access, and infringement on popular fishing spots.

Fishing guide Capt. Ray Brittain offered to take Allen and N.C. Sea Grant Extension Director Frank López on his boat, and on his dime, to show them how the leases affect his business.

“There’s so many PVC pipes out there,” Brittain said. “You don’t need a thousand PVC pipes to mark,” a lease area. “We can’t fish in those. I mean, mark your outer edge to show people where it is, but a lot of it is just unnecessary stuff.”

Brittain was among nearly 30 attendees at the April 14 meeting, where participants were asked to break into two groups to discuss concerns and recommendations that will be documented and shared with local elected officials, legislators, and state agency officials.

Those at the meeting in Surf City last week touched on a host of issues, raising concerns related noise associated with shellfish farming activities, nighttime navigation around shellfish leases, the density of leases around Permuda Island Reserve, and linear placement of leases along estuary island shorelines blocking anglers from following fish.

Some asked for shellfish farmers to be required to carry liability insurance, while others suggested the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries create a more robust public notification system announcing lease applications that would include property owners whose land is within and adjacent to the viewshed of a proposed lease.

Other recommendations included an implementation of buffers by moving leases further from shorelines based on specific locations within a waterbody, potentially increasing lease fees, decreasing the length of time a lease is valid, and the possibility of commissioning studies on the impacts of floating cages on the ecosystem.

The Coastal Federation and Sea Grant are accepting comments online through the Stump Sound shellfish mariculture planning – stakeholder input form through Aug. 1.

Four rotational harvest cultch sites in the Pamlico Sound are to remain open until March 31, unless it’s deemed necessary to close these 10-acre sites sooner, the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries announced Friday.

The sites are part of the N.C. Oyster Fishery Management Plan’s amendment 5, “which balances harvest opportunities with sustainability by allowing harvest on managed cultch planting sites while protecting oyster habitat in other areas of the Pamlico Sound,” the division said. Cultch sites are oyster reefs the planted in places with the right environmental conditions.

The division rotates which cultch sites are open to mechanical harvest to provide continued opportunities later in the season while supporting the division’s “extensive cultch planting program and long-term management goals for the resource.”

The following sites are open from sunrise to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday, in accordance with existing gear, tagging and size limit requirements, and are subject to daily harvest limits of adjacent areas as outlined in a proclamation:

• Up to 15 bushels a day in Turnagain Bay no. 1 in the Neuse River management area.
• Up to 10 bushels a day in Jones Bay No. 1 in the Neuse River management aArea.
• Up to 15 bushels in Crab Hole No. 2 in the Northern Dare management area.
• Up to 15 bushels a day in Swan Quarter No. 2 in the Pamlico River management area.

These sites are marked with buoys and orange flags. Coordinates for the sites are in the press release.

The division reminded commercial fishermen and the public that mechanical oyster harvest seasons were closed:

• Jan 9 in the bays of the Neuse River, Pamlico River and northern Hyde management areas.
• Jan. 16 in the open waters of the Pamlico River and Neuse River areas.
• Jan. 30 in the northern Hyde area.

For more information the state’s oyster management plan, visit the division’s website.

Nature-based coastal shoreline erosion control structures that successfully attract and grow oysters can better defend shores from waves, according to a study led by East Carolina University researchers.

The study, published late last year in the journal Scientific Reports, found that the more oyster-dense a breakwater designed to recruit and grow those shellfish is, the better that structure is at dissipating waves.

“We actually found that wave attenuation increased or improved as the structures recruited oysters,” said Georgette Tso, a doctoral candidate in ECU’s Integrated Coastal Sciences Program and co-author of the study.

As more and more oysters grow on a surface, their shells building layer by layer, those shells alter that structure’s surface, making that surface rougher and less permeable.

After documenting two seasons of oyster recruitment, researchers found that living shorelines constructed with living oyster breakwaters absorbed wave activity by an increase of 10-15%.

Their findings are based on observations of living shorelines at two private properties along Bogue Sound in Newport in Carteret County.

The structures were installed between May and June 2022 by Native Shorelines, the coastal resiliency division of Davey Resources Group, using concrete-based breakwater systems called QuickReef.

QuickReef is built from materials primarily of natural calcium carbonate formed into concrete slabs. Those slabs are installed to allow water flow and attract oyster larval, which attach to and grow on the structures.

Living shorelines are becoming increasingly attractive for coastal waterfront property owners seeking ways to curb erosion of their land.

“I think there’s been a lot more awareness within coastal North Carolina about living shoreline options as an alternative to a hardened shoreline, like bulkheads or some other vertical structure, which oftentimes actually costs more over time to repair. And, they’re not as resistant to hurricane damage because of that vertical profile,” Tso said.

The benefits of living shorelines, including their resiliency against the effects of rising sea levels, have been documented through research spanning back more than a decade.

But Tso said that there is little data how smaller-scale living shoreline projects like the ones she and her fellow scientists observed for this study actually change the way waves interact with shorelines.

Their observations proved to be “an exciting finding,” Tso said, because they prove what researchers have suspected for some time.

“Oysters grow vertically and they increase the roughness on the surfaces that they grow on. They also can grow within interstitial spaces and reduce porosity in that way. So, we hypothesized that the amount of wave attenuation a structure could provide would increase with the recruitment of live and healthy oyster populations,” she said. “This additional factor that’s not been explored, of it actually improving the wave attenuation potential and reducing the wave energy that hits the back of your shoreline over time, is something that we should communicate more to homeowners because they’ve actually bought into a solution that has increased benefits over time that they may not have anticipated when they first put in the structure.”

And while it’s fair to say the longer these structures recruit oysters the more protection they may offer to a shoreline, Tso said there is one important caveat.

“This is just a two-year study so we’re not capturing the point in time where the oyster population will eventually plateau. The size of the structure and the amount of food available to the oysters in the water is limited, obviously, so the oyster population will eventually plateau. So, though we’ve observed increases in wave attenuation potential, probably it’s going to cap off at some point,” she said.

It is also important to note that oyster recruitment and growth will not be the same at every shoreline.

Shorelines bend and curve, leaving pockets where water does not circulate to deliver oyster larvae.

“What we found is only relevant if your structure can actually recruit oysters, and that’s not true on all North Carolina shorelines,” Tso said. “If you don’t have baby oysters being delivered to your shoreline, you’re not going to be able to recruit oysters. If you’re in a site where that’s not possible then the wave attenuation potential that you have at construction is what you’re going to have. It’s not going to improve because you’re not recruiting oysters.”

Successful oyster larval recruitment and growth also depends on things like water temperature, salinity, and tidal variation.

Tso is in the process of analyzing data researchers collected last summer at more than a dozen QuickReef living shoreline sites. Scientists during that time also revisited their two original study sites, which continued to recruit oysters, Tso said.

The other researchers on this study include Dr. Siddharth Narayan, assistant professor in ECU’s Integrated Coastal Programs, Megan Geesin, a doctoral candidate at ECU, Dr. Matthew Reidenbach, professor and chair of environmental sciences at the University of Virginia, Dr. Jens Figlus with Texas A&M’s Ocean Engineering Department, and Dr. Rachel Gittman, assistant professor with ECU’s Department of Biology.

The mechanical oyster harvest season has been extended in portions of Pamlico Sound.

The extension, which began Monday, is a result of “adaptive management measures that included collaboration with stakeholders,” according to a North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries release.

“The Division’s annual mid-season sampling of the mechanical oyster harvest areas showed the numbers of legal sized oysters in several management areas of the Pamlico Sound met the management thresholds established in Amendment 5 to extend the season,” the release states.

That amendment in the North Carolina Eastern Oyster Fishery Management Plan includes a provision that links mechanical oyster harvest management in the Pamlico Sound to the state’s cultch planting efforts, where season length is based on pre- and mid-season sampling of oyster resources.

Commercial fishermen helped the division identify sampling sites.

The division is maintaining closures in Deep-Water Oyster Recovery Areas designated to protect sensitive habitat.

Select rotational harvest cultch sites identified in Amendment 5 remain open for the entirety of the mechanical harvest season through March 31, 2026.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation, in partnership with the North Carolina Sea Grant, have received a $529,000 grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to “strengthen and expand” the state’s growing shellfish mariculture industry.

The Coastal Federation said Thursday in a release that the money will help build on more than a decade of collaboration among the organization, state agencies, industry leaders, N.C. Sea Grant, and other partners across the “coast to grow a thriving mariculture sector that supports local oyster growers, clean water, and coastal economies.”

The previous work includes the Coastal Federation’s community-supported efforts to restore oysters and the work being done through the North Carolina Oyster Blueprint, which recommended developing a network of shellfish aquaculture hubs. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

“This support from NOAA is a major step forward for North Carolina’s mariculture industry,” Coastal Federation Executive Director Braxton Davis said in a statement. “It will provide growers with additional stability, infrastructure, and tools they need to build strong businesses while protecting the clean water and healthy habitats our coastal economy depends on.”

The funding is to be used for a handful of purposes, including the management and operations of the Shellfish Mariculture Hub in Carteret County. The first-of-its-kind hub is designed to provide growers with reliable support for water access, storage, logistics, and distribution, filling what the nonprofit calls a critical gap in the industry.

“Ensuring strong and effective management will be essential for the Hub’s long-term success,” recipients said.

The grant also will go to initiating a stakeholder group made up of growers, researchers, state agencies, and industry partners to establish North Carolina’s first commercial shellfish hatchery. The group will evaluate options and determine the best path forward to secure the reliable seed supply needed to sustain and expand shellfish farming across the state, officials said.

In addition, funds will go to expand outreach for the NC Oyster Trail, which highlights the cultural, economic, and environmental importance of shellfish while strengthening tourism and community ties. There are more than 90 sites on the trail, including shellfish farm tours, seafood restaurants and markets, and educational organizations like aquariums and museums.

“The NC Oyster Trail is a critical marketing tool to ensure high demand for our state’s shellfish as well as continued support for coastal protection and restoration. It’s a gateway to understand the full impact of the oyster on our coast,” said North Carolina coastal economics specialist Jane Harrison.

The grant also will go to support growers near Stump Sound, a community in North Topsail Beach where shellfish farming takes place alongside a variety of other coastal uses.

“By fostering dialogue and cooperation, the effort will help ensure that Stump Sound continues to be a place where diverse coastal traditions and industries can thrive together,” the organization said.

A traveling photography exhibit that helps consumers visualize the work that goes into the state’s growing oyster industry will be on display in the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wrightsville Beach office during August.

A collaborative project of North Carolina Sea Grant and the NC Oyster Trail, the exhibit, “Advancing Shellfish Mariculture Literacy in North Carolina,” features the work of Raleigh-based photographer Justin Kase Conder.

An opening reception is scheduled for 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13. Light refreshments and beverages will be provided. Though not required, organizers ask those who plan to attend to RSVP online.

“This inspiring exhibit highlights the hardworking individuals behind North Carolina’s growing oyster industry and honors the ecological, cultural, and economic value of oysters to our coast,” organizers said.

Conder has more than 27 years of experience as a photographer, traveling to more than 40 countries where he honed his skills.

“To be able to go out on the water, experience wild and farmed oyster harvest, and document the process in a way that helps other North Carolinians understand what goes into getting these oysters to their plate—that was not only an incredible experience for me personally, it was deeply rewarding,” Conder said in a release.

During the reception, Conder will share behind-the-scenes stories from his time photographing oyster farmers, harvesters, entrepreneurs and chefs across the state.

Dr. Jane Harrison, coastal economics specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant and coordinator of the NC Oyster Trail, and Mandy Uticone, owner of Carolina Beach Oyster Co. will join Conder at the exhibit opening.

Harrison will discuss the vital role oysters play in North Carolina’s coastal economies and share insights into the NC Oyster Trail’s efforts to promote sustainable seafood tourism and support the state’s shellfish industry.

Uticone will share her firsthand experiences as an oyster grower, talk about the realities of working on the water, and answer oyster-related questions.

Contact Harrison at jane_harrison@ncsu.edu for information or to host the exhibit.

Have questions about the recently adopted amendments to the oyster and hard clam fisheries management plans? There’s a flyer for that.

The commission approved N.C. Oyster Fishery Management Plan 5 and N.C. Hard Clam Fishery Management Amendment 3, which lay out harvesting rules for both species.

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries staff have developed two flyers, one for oysters, the other for hard clams, both embedded below, to explain new management measures the state Marine Fisheries Commission adopted in May.

More information can be found on the Eastern Oyster Management Information and Hard Clam Management Information webpages on the Marine Fisheries website.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries is now accepting applications for the 2025 shellfish lease and aquaculture program.

Individuals, businesses, and partnerships interested in leasing public coastal waters to farm oysters or clams may submit applications through Aug. 1.

Application materials are available at  deq.nc.gov/shellfish-lease#ShellfishLeaseApplications-4100.

Applicants may reach out to the division for guidance and technical support for help in meeting state requirements and developing sound lease operations, according to a release.

Contact the division’s Habitat and Enhancement Section at 252-515-5480 for more information.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission has chosen its preferred management option for this year’s southern flounder allocation: an even split between commercial and recreational fisheries.

Members selected the option detailed in Southern Flounder Fishery Management Plan Amendment 4 last week during the commission’s meeting in Beaufort. Commission documents state that the final vote on Amendment 4 is scheduled for August.

Amendment 4 only addresses moving the 50/50 sector allocation ahead by a year, as set out in Amendment 3. Amendment 3 was approved in 2022 to established a 70% commercial and 30% recreational allocation for 2023 and 2024, 60/40 for 2025, and 50/50 starting in 2026.

Amendment 3 was put in place because the 2019 stock assessment indicated that the species was overfished and overfishing was taking place. Overfishing means the current rate of removal, both harvest and discards, is too high. Overfished is when the population is too small, and is a result of overfishing.

Amendment 4 is being developed at the same time as Amendment 5.

Amendment 5 is intended to address the commission’s August 2024 motion to amend the southern flounder management plan “to allow for more recreational access while maintaining the rebuilding requirements of Amendment 3.”

The two amendments are “to provide long-term, comprehensive approaches to recreational and commercial Southern Flounder management,” according to information from the Division of Marine Fisheries website.

The division is under the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality and carries out the rules and policies adopted by the nine-member commission.

The commission approved amendments to both the eastern oyster and hard clam fishery management plans last week.

Eastern Oyster Fishery Management Plan Amendment 5 provisions include establishing deep-water oyster recovery areas that would not open to mechanical harvesting, linking mechanical oyster harvest management in Pamlico Sound to the division’s cultch-planting effort, and implementing a rotational opening plan for mechanical oyster harvest on 10-acre cultch-planting sites, according to the division.

Hard Clam Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 provisions call for a three-year phaseout of mechanical clam harvest from public bottom, including harvest associated with maintenance dredging.

Both the eastern oyster and hard clam amendments feature a provision to consider looking at estimates for recreational shellfish participation and landings and to communicate necessary shellfish sanitation health and safety information.

Update March 3: North Carolina Coastal Federation has extended the early bird pricing at $125 through March 8 for the 2025 Coastal Summit scheduled for April 8-9 in Raleigh. Starting March 9, price will increase to $150. The original end date for the $25 discount was March 1.

Original post Feb. 11:

Registration is now open for a two-day summit taking place in Raleigh this spring that will highlight the ongoing work to protect and restore the coast.

The summit, “Ripple Effect: Enhancing Oysters, Salt Marsh and Water Quality Together,” is scheduled for April 8-9 in Marbles Kids Museum on Hargett Street in downtown.

Being hosted by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, cost is $125 before March 1. Price will increase to $150 for those registering after.

There will be presentations on coastal policy and threats to coastal habitats, as well as discussions on prioritizing future work.

“This two-day summit will highlight the progress and interconnectivity of work related to the advancing science, restoration, and preservation activities of many important coastal ecosystems,” organizers said.

View the agenda on the nonprofit organization’s website.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries is hosting a public hearing next month on several proposed shellfish leases in Carteret County.

Proposed shellfish lease applications under review include the following:

In Adams Creek:

• Jacob Milchuck, 6.17-acre bottom and water column lease (24-005BL/24-006WC)
• Peerless Oyster, LLC, Frank Milchuck, 5.78-acre bottom and column lease (24-017BL/24-018WC)

In North Bay:

• C.I. Salts Oyster Company, LLC, Ralph W. Brittingham Jr., 4.22-acre bottom and water column lease (24-007BL/24-008WC)
• 35 North Mariculture, LLC, Isaiah Smith, 5.2-acre bottom and water column lease (24-017BL/24-018WC)

Beaufort Shellfish Farms, LLC, Tiffany and Jason Smith, have applied for a 5.01-acre bottom and water column lease in North River below the U.S. Highway 70 bridge (24-030BL/24-031 WC).

Bryan L. Snyder has applied for a 2.98-acre bottom and column lease in White Oak River (24-032BL/24-033WC).

Changing Tide Renovations, LLC, Mason Allen has applied for a 7.69-acre bottom and water column lease in South River (24-036BL/24-037WC) and Thomas Clerkin with the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences has applied for a 0.97-acre bottom and water column demonstration lease in Newport River (24-038BL WC-RD).

Public comments on these applications may be made in-person at the March 13 hearing, which will begin at 6 p.m. at the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries Central District Office in Morehead City, 5285 Arendell St., and by Webex. In-person attendees are asked to sign up between 5-6 p.m. the night of the hearing.

Public comments will also be accepted in writing until 5 p.m. March 14 through an online form or in writing to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Leases, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC  28557.

Information, including the web conference link, call-in telephone number, presentation slides and biological investigation reports are available on the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s website.

For more information, contact Marla Chuffo with the division’s Habitat and Enhancement Section, 252-515-5480 or marla.chuffo@deq.nc.gov.

Work began this week to add 4 acres to an existing oyster and recreational fishing reef in the lower Cape Fear River near the banks of Carolina Beach State Park.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation and the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries are partnering on the project to expand the division’s 1-acre Artificial Reef AR-491, which was installed when the inshore reef site was established eight years ago.

Over the next few weeks, the division will use high-pressure water hoses attached to shallow-draft barges to deploy 2,100 tons of recycled, crushed concrete into the project area. The concrete chunks that are no bigger than a baseball will create a reef base of varying heights and be no thicker than 12 inches.

“The Cape Fear River used to be lined with extensive reefs, but it has experienced a severe decline in oyster population over the last several decades due to pollution, overfishing, deepening of the river, disease, sedimentation, and loss of habitat. The river still has a high volume of floating oyster larvae, and this artificial reef will serve as a base for them to attach to,” according to the release.

In addition to completing the artificial reef site, the project includes restoring 10 acres of wetlands in the park, installing 2,000 feet of living shorelines, and incorporating oyster reef sills and salt marsh habitat along the park’s river boundary, the nonprofit organization announced Wednesday.

“This reef site is somewhat unique in its proximity to shore, making it readily accessible to shore-based anglers or kayakers,” Jordan Byrum, Enhancement Project Manager for the division, said in a statement. “The materials placed at the site in 2017 have withstood several hurricanes and continue to support oyster populations and provide fishing opportunities during high tide. We expect this site will remain productive for anglers visiting Carolina Beach State Park.”

Officials are advising that visitors take caution near the marina where construction materials are stockpiled and moved to the barge with heavy machinery. Access to some boat slips will be limited during the project.

The reef is part the Oyster Pathway, a component of the Coastal Federation’s Lower Cape Fear River Blueprint, which has the goal to improve the river and surrounding watershed’s overall health and water quality.

“The completion of this reef is an important step in the implementation of the Cape Fear River Oyster Pathway,” Ted Wilgis, a coastal scientist with the nonprofit, said in a release.

The Oyster Pathway is to eventually extend downriver to Bald Head Island, connecting the remaining natural reefs with reefs constructed by Audubon North Carolina, University of North Carolina Wilmington and the Bald Head Island Conservancy.

The Division of Marine Fisheries Artificial Reef Program has been operating since the 1970s and has a total of 71 permitted artificial reefs and oyster sanctuaries within the state.

The Coastal Federation, Carolina Beach State Park and the North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation have been working together since 2015 on projects in the park and along the shores of the lower Cape Fear River.

From oyster farm tours to seafood festivals, North Carolina is ready to “shellebrate” Oyster Month.

Oysters are more than just the centerpiece of a get-together, these bivalves improve water quality while filtering saltwater for food, protect and help restore shorelines, offer refuge for marine animals, and are packed with nutrients.

Organized by the North Carolina Sea Grant, North Carolina Coastal Federation, North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and the NC Oyster Trail, a tourism and promotion campaign, this is the fourth year the state has celebrated the ecologically and economically important mollusks.

Jane Harrison, a coastal economist with Sea Grant, told Coastal Review that North Carolina Oyster Month began in 2023. “We had been shellebrating NC Oyster Week in October since 2020, but expanded it last year because folks wanted to host events all month long.”

The purpose of setting aside the entire month to promote awareness of the state’s oysters is to highlight “the wonder of N.C. oysters and raise their profile,” Harrison continued. “We inform folks on where you can eat them, their role in the ecosystem, how we ensure a sustainable seafood supply, and opportunities to protect our treasured coastal environment.”

She said the Oyster Month events are “a blast,” and encourages attending as many “as you can.”

The state has recognized October as North Carolina Oyster Month, as well.

“North Carolina is home to a valuable and productive coastal ecosystem with many champions who work together to protect it and the keystone species that benefit the state’s marine and coastal environments with food provision, water filtering capacity, and fish habitat,” begins the proclamation Gov. Roy Cooper’s office released Tuesday.

North Carolina has taken action to promote and protect the oyster and the industry that depends on it.

The state has been working to restore and protect oysters since 1915, resulting in the creation of thousands of acres of harvestable reefs and nearly 400 acres of oyster sanctuary in the Pamlico Sound. The General Assembly commissioned in 2018 the “North Carolina Strategic Plan for Shellfish Mariculture: A Vision to 2030.” That same year, North Carolina became the first in the Southeast and sixth in the nation to join the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Shellfish Initiative and launch the N.C. Shellfish Initiative, according to the proclamation.

Two years later, the NC Oyster Trail was launched, an effort of the Coastal Federation, Sea Grant and North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association to promote oysters, and the “Oyster Restoration and Protection Plan for North Carolina: A Blueprint for Action” was released, now in its fourth edition.

Coastal Federation Oyster Program Director Erin Fleckenstein leads the blueprint effort.

Fleckenstein explained that the nonprofit plans to participate in many of the events scheduled this month, and expects to launch an outreach campaign. Those following the organization’s social media will be able to catch a video series with different “how-to” topics such as how to recycle shells, create the perfect wine and oyster pairing, and shuck an oyster.

Fleckenstein noted that during the month-long celebration and with the start of wild harvest season, a lot of empty oyster shells will be produced. It’s critical to make sure these shells are properly recycled so they can be used to create more oyster reefs.

The nonprofit has worked with government and community partners to provide a few dozen places coastwide for oyster lovers to drop off shells for recycling. Find the locations are listed on the organization’s website, nccoast.org/shellrecycling.

“We discourage using shells for anything other than building new oyster reefs,” Fleckenstein said. “Shells make a great substrate for new oysters to grow on. Currently, we don’t have enough shells to build all the reefs we want to. Oyster lovers can help ensure more oysters in the future by recycling their shells.”

Join the conversation on social media with #NCOysterMonth, #NCOysters, #GiveAShuck, and #KeepShuckin.

NC Oyster Trail provided the following schedule of events:

• Oyster Roast at Dune Street Raw Bar & Grill in Nags Head 3-11 p.m. Friday. The restaurant is celebrating its one-year anniversary. There will be drink specials throughout the day, and that evening, an oyster roast with Kinnakeet, Little Star and Ocracoke Oyster Co., oysters and live music by The Southern Split.
• North Carolina Seafood Festival in Morehead City Friday through Sunday. The three-day festival features cooking demonstrations, an oyster shucking steam bar, live music, food, vendors, artisans, children’s activities, rides, fireworks and the Blessing of the Fleet, which is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. Sunday at Radio Island, between Morehead City and Beaufort. This ceremony honors the many commercial fishermen who have given their lives to their occupation, and to thank those who continue in the industry.
• Seraphine Oyster Fest in Durham noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Reservations can be made for the noon seating or the 2 p.m. seating when special menu of 12 raw oysters, including oysters from White Oak Oyster Co., Crystal Coast Oysters and Cherry Point Oysters, will be served. Oyster growers will be on hand to discuss their farms.
• 23rd annual Oink & Oyster Roast at Jolly Roger Restaurant in Kill Devil Hills noon to 4 p.m. Saturday. Slow roasted pork, fresh roasted oysters from Lighthouse Shoals Oyster Co. and live music with Phil Watson. Preorder tickets, $50, online. Tickets are $50 the day of the event.
• University of North Carolina Wilmington Science Open House 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. UNCW Center for Marine Science, Wilmington Visit UNC Wilmington’s Center for Marine Science for a fun day of science adventure with hands-on exhibits, tours of the Shellfish Research Hatchery, a visit to their oyster farm and food trucks too.
• A Celebration of the Gilded Oyster at the Empty Nest Studio and Gallery in Frisco from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday. A raffle for oyster-inspired jewelry and a wine tasting with Lee Robinson’s General Store.
• Oysters and Brews with Wrightsville Brewing in Wilmington 5-7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 9. Wrightsville Brewing has committed to donating 11% of proceeds from its Beer of the Month to support the Coastal Federation throughout October.
• Outer Banks Seafood Festival in Nags Head 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 19. The festival that highlights the state’s fishing industry and heritage features local seafood, and live music.
• Oysterberfest 2024 Wrightsville Brewing in Wilmington from noon to 6 p.m. Sunday Oct. 20. The brewery’s annual wild oyster season kickoff party and Oktoberfest celebration plan to have live music by Back Pocket Buddha and Birdwell Beat and steamed and raw oysters for sale.
• Shellebration Sundays at Coquina Fish Bar in Wilmington. Oysters will be offered at $1.50 each all day each Sunday in October. The restaurant will feature special oyster dishes each week.
• Seabird’s NC Oyster Happy Hour $1 oysters from 5-6 p.m. each Monday in October at the Wilmington restaurant.
• Sea Level’s NC Oyster Happy Hour in October at the Charlotte restaurant. Oysters are priced at $1.50 each from 2 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.
• $1 Happy Hour Oysters at Shuckin’ Shack, Surf City from 2 to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday for all of October.
• Seed to Table Oyster Trail Tours with Eco Adventures in Sneads Ferry. Meet working watermen and women at oyster farms near Permuda Island. Contact the company to book a tour.
• Oyster Farm to Fork Kayak Tours with the Coastal Federation Oct. 6, Oct. 23 and Oct. 30. Tours with Wanchese Paddle to the Coastal Federation’s oyster farm leave at 11 a.m. and will be followed with oysters from Dune Street Raw Bar & Grill. Register online.

Editor’s note: Coastal Review regularly features the work of North Carolina historian David Cecelski, who writes about the history, culture and politics of the North Carolina coast. More of his work can be found on his personal website.

I first learned about the Bohemian oyster shuckers who used to work in North Carolina’s oyster canneries almost 40 years ago.

I was living in Swan Quarter that winter, and I still remember how surprised I was when some of the old timers told me how, when they were young, Bohemian immigrants would come from Baltimore and work in a local cannery.

At the time, I wondered how they had come to be there, and what their lives had been like, and where else, besides Swan Quarter, they might have gone.

Many years have passed since those days in Swan Quarter, but I thought maybe it was time to see if I could discover their story.

Here is what I found out.

***

From 1890 until at least 1914, thousands of central and Eastern European immigrants worked in oyster canneries on the North Carolina coast. Typically recruited by “padrones,” or labor agents, in Baltimore, they all came to be known as “Bohemians,” though they had actually immigrated to the United States from many different parts of Europe.

They included men, women and children, all of whom, except for the youngest children, shucked and canned oysters. An unknown number of the men also worked on oyster boats.

Many had actually come from Bohemia, a land of low mountains and plateaus in what is now the Czech Republic. More, however, had left homes in other parts of Europe to come to America.

Among them were especially large numbers of Polish immigrants, but also Serbs, Dalmatians, and other Slavic peoples, Germans, and even Italians. 

For simplicity’s sake, I will also refer to this diverse group of immigrants as “Bohemians,” unless historical sources allow me to identify their nation of origin more precisely. 

By the mid-19th century, Baltimore, Maryland, had become the center of the nation’s oyster industry.

But by the 1880s and 1890s, many of Baltimore’s oyster companies had begun to expand beyond Chesapeake Bay. They began to open canneries both on the North Carolina coast and as far south as Mississippi and Louisiana.

Many of those oyster canneries relied on immigrant laborers who had settled in Fells Point, Camden, and other waterfront neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland. Typically, they transported the Bohemian workers south by train, though some also traveled to the North Carolina coast by steamer.

For a time, the Bohemian immigrants seemed to be in every town and village on the North Carolina coast.

In my survey of coastal newspapers, I found the Bohemians working in oyster canneries in Elizabeth City, Swan Quarter, Belhaven, Washington, Morehead City, Beaufort, Marshallberg, Swansboro and Shallotte.

I suspect that the Bohemians worked in other oyster ports on the North Carolina coast as well, but sources are scant — I cannot be sure.

In some other parts of the coastal South, the Bohemians are at least somewhat better remembered. But, on the North Carolina coast, they seem to have been completely forgotten. To my knowledge, no book, article, or museum exhibit — or blog, podcast or anything else — has ever told their story.

Today I hope that I can take at least a small step toward changing that.

By drawing especially on coastal newspapers, and with help from some wonderful librarians, archivists, and museum curators, I will try to sketch the best portrait I can of the Bohemian oyster shuckers and their lives on the North Carolina coast between 1890 and 1914.

At the John Boyle & Co.’s Cannery at Goat Island

One of the best accounts that I found of the Bohemian oyster shuckers here on the North Carolina coast comes from Elizabeth City, a town on the Pasquotank River, just north of Albemarle Sound, that was transformed by the boom in the oyster industry that began in 1890.

In the spring of 1902, an Elizabeth City attorney and newspaper publisher named Walter L. Cohoon wrote an account of his visit to a large group of Bohemian immigrants that were living and working at the John Boyle & Co.’s oyster cannery on Goat Island.

John Boyle & Co. was one of probably half a dozen or more Baltimore companies that had opened oyster canneries in Elizabeth City since 1890. The company had first located in the town’s Riverside neighborhood, then moved to Goat Island, now called Machele Island, which is located just across the Pasquotank from Elizabeth City’s waterfront.

Cohoon and a friend or two crossed the river in a skiff, then tied up at the oyster cannery’s wharf on Goat Island.

Touring the cannery, they discovered a large force of Bohemian oyster shuckers, “four score of them,” as well as many local African Americans, hard at work.

At that time, the John Boyle & Co.’s workers could, at peak capacity, shuck and can 15,000 bushels of oysters a month, which amounted to some 16,000 cans of oysters a day.

In his newspaper, the Tar Heel, Cohoon wrote, “We listened to the songs of the negroes and to the broken English of the foreign element until becoming tired we turned our attention to the Bohemian quarters.”

They then walked next door to the barracks where the Bohemian workers and their families stayed during the oyster season.

“Here,” Cohoon reported, ” … we found one long room with rows of bunks built along the sides of the building.”

Seasonal and migrant labor camps of that kind were not uncommon on the North Carolina coast in that day, but Cohoon does not seem to have visited any of them before.

“The members of a dozen families lay themselves down to sleep with not so much as a thin curtain separating their different births. The sons and daughters of different families cooped up in one small building like so many beasts is a condition of affairs that one can hardly believe, yet such is a fact, and they live peacefully together, never trespassing or intruding upon one another in any other manner.”

‘Two Trainloads of Bohemian Goat Islanders’

The Bohemian oyster shuckers on Goat Island continued to show up in the pages of the Tar Heel for another couple of years.

The very next year, for instance, on April 10, 1903, the Tar Heel referred to the Bohemians while railing against a change in state law that regulated the oyster industry more closely.

In that article, the Tar Heel warned Elizabeth City’s citizens that the new law would have a disastrous impact on the town’s economy.

The headline read:

 “The Oysterman’s Boats are Idle and without Employment. TWO BIG CANNERIES SUSPEND. Several Hundred Bohemians go Home—Colored Laborers are Walking the Streets—and the Oyster Tongers are out of Pocket Money.”

The Tar Heel observed that oyster cannery owners had gone to a great deal of trouble and expense to “send a mass of Bohemian population from Maryland to North Carolina.”

The newspaper then went on to say that local merchants would suffer if the Bohemian oyster shuckers left the North Carolina coast for good:

“In Elizabeth City alone, an entire island colony have migrated to Baltimore this week, whose combined salaries were practically invested here and who might have gone this month into the pockets of our merchants.”

The “entire island colony” was of course a reference to the Bohemian oyster shuckers at Goat Island.

The paper continued:

“The Boyle Oyster Canning Company suspended active business Wednesday the 1^st. Monday April 6^th two train loads of Bohemian Goat Islanders, left Elizabeth City for Baltimore, where they will engage in picking strawberries, or canning sundry goods.”

That was actually typical. When the oyster season ended on the North Carolina coast, usually later in April, the Bohemian immigrants most often returned to Baltimore to work either in canneries there or in the fields of Maryland and Delaware that supplied the city’s canneries with fruits and vegetables.

The Song of the Oyster Shucker

According to newspaper accounts, the first Bohemian immigrants had come to work in Elizabeth City’s oyster industry in the latter part of 1890.

In a December 1890 issue of another Elizabeth City newspaper, the Weekly Economist, I found an article that noted:

“The oyster packing house of Wm. Taylor received 75 Bohemian laborers yesterday from Baltimore with their families…. There are about 25 women and 15 to 20 children.”

At that time, oyster canneries and shucking houses were springing up along the North Carolina coast, but no place more so than in Elizabeth City.

Two years later, the Weekly Economist Oct. 27, 1893, looked back wistfully at the prosperity and excitement that came to Elizabeth City during that first year or two of the state’s oyster boom.

Pondering all of Elizabeth City’s history, the newspaper’s editor declared that he could only compare the impact of the oyster boom on the town to the days after the opening of the Dismal Swamp Canal in 1829.

Referring to the oyster boom, the newspaper observed:

“It was a jolly time—a new revelation. Population and money flowed in a perpetual stream and prosperity was felt in every fibre and pulsation of business.”

On one hand, he seemed anxious about the large influx of immigrants into what had been a relatively quiet southern town.

“New people, new faces, new ways, new manners, almost destroyed the homogeneity of the population,” he wrote.

On the other hand, the newspaper’s editor clearly found something intoxicating in that historical moment.

“The song of the oyster shucker was heard in the land, the refrain of its suggestive melody was joined by Bohemians, Hittites, Hivites, Jebezites, Virginians, Marylandros, and Afro-Americans, in happy harmony and peaceful intercourse.”

“Every Saturday night was a new and upward departure in business,” he exclaimed. “There was money and plenty of it in all hands.”

While the local oyster industry never again reached the heights it did in 1890-91,  Elizabeth City remained home to oyster canneries well into the first decade of the 20^th century, and Bohemian immigrants continued to make the journey from Baltimore to work in the town’s canneries.

The John Boyle & Co. cannery continued to employ Bohemian oyster shuckers at least until 1903. According to the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia, “Bell’s oyster house” in Elizabeth City also employed “a large force of Bohemian oyster workers” in those first years of the 20th century.

Other oyster canneries in Elizabeth City likely employed Bohemian immigrants as well, but I have not found any record of them doing so.

Beaufort, Morehead City and Marshallberg

Another part of the North Carolina coast where “the song of the oyster shucker” could be heard was Beaufort, a small town in Carteret County where local people had always made their livings from the sea.

I found historical references to Bohemians working in Beaufort’s oyster canneries from 1890 to 1914.

In December 1890, for example, The Daily Journal in New Bern reported that a sizable group of Bohemian immigrants had passed through that coastal town on their way to a cannery in Beaufort.

A few weeks later, a second group passed through New Bern. According to The Daily Journal Jan. 15, 1891, they arrived on the steamer, Neuse, then took a train east to Morehead City, where they could board a ferry for Beaufort.

Surveying the Bohemians passing through New Bern, The Daily Journal’s correspondent wrote:

“There were in all about 100 people, about 75 of whom were workers, the remaining 25 being children too small for labor. They were especially Poles and Bohemians, but there were a few Germans among the number. They appear to be quiet, industrious people, who will make desirable citizens.”

Over the years, large numbers of Bohemian shuckers worked in oyster canneries both in Beaufort and in other parts of Carteret County.

For instance, a report in Washington Progress, Feb. 2, 1892, indicated that the North Carolina Packing Co. was employing Bohemians at its oyster cannery in Beaufort.

Six years later, The Daily Journal in New Bern on Dec. 15, 1898, reported that Bohemian oyster shuckers were working at the A.B. Riggin & Co.’s oyster cannery in Marshallberg, a village 8 miles east of Beaufort.

“The steamer Neuse brought in quite a passenger list yesterday, the large number being Bohemians of all ages, from infants in arms to grandmothers. The crowd were from Baltimore…. [and] were engaged by the Oyster Canning Factory at Marshalberg, and will shuck oysters at the factory. There were 48 persons in the party.”

That same month, a Raleigh newspaper, Carolinian, reported Dec. 22, 1898 that “fifty foreigners” were shucking oysters at the Booth Packing Company’s cannery in Morehead City.

Two years later, on Oct. 30, 1900, the New Berne Weekly Journal commented that “about 20 Bohemians” had passed through New Bern on their way to an oyster cannery in Beaufort.

 “They came from Baltimore and were men, women, and children,” the newspaper observed.

Polish Oyster Workers in Swansboro

At least for a time, in 1907 and 1908, Bohemian oyster shuckers were also working and living in Swansboro, an old seaport that is in Onslow County, just across the White Oak River from Carteret County.

In Swansboro, the immigrant laborers worked at a cannery owned by a local merchant named Guy D. Potter.

On Oct. 11, 1907, New Bern’s Daily Journal reported that Potter had gone to Baltimore to recruit “a hundred head of Poles as shuckers.”

Six months later, on March 31, 1908, an article in the New Bern Weekly Journal indicated that Potter employed the Poles not only to shuck oysters, but also to harvest the oysters.

We only know that was the case, unfortunately, because the newspaper reported that one of the Polish immigrants had a tragic accident while returning from the oystering grounds. According to the Weekly Journal, his sail skiff overturned and, unable to swim, he drowned.

The report did not give the Polish oysterman’s name. It did however say that he left a wife and four children in Swansboro.

At Thomas Duncan’s Cannery in Beaufort

The last reference that I found to Bohemian oyster shuckers in Carteret County was in the April 4, 1914, edition of the New Bern Sun Journal.

That article was brief. It indicated only that a Beaufort oyster cannery owner named Thomas Duncan had accompanied a large group of Bohemian immigrants back to Baltimore.

The Bohemians had worked for him that winter and were returning to Baltimore after finishing the oyster season in Beaufort.

The article gave no more details. However, I found it especially interesting because several photographs at the State Archives of North Carolina show interior scenes of Thomas Duncan’s oyster cannery in Beaufort.

One of those photographs, above, shows a group of women wearing dark hats and shawls in the oyster factory’s canning room.

Another photograph, at the top of the post, shows a long view of the cannery’s shucking room.

I cannot say for sure, but I strongly suspect that at least the first photograph, and probably the second, portray Bohemian immigrants, as well as, in the case of the second photograph, African Americans.

If that is correct, they may be our only surviving images of Bohemian oyster shuckers anywhere on the North Carolina coast.

‘Bohemian Headquarters’

Another, very different account of the Bohemian oyster shuckers on the North Carolina coast, comes from the Washington Gazette, a newspaper published in Washington.

On Nov. 6, 1890, at the height of the oyster boom, one of the Gazette’s writers described his visit to what he called Washington’s “Bohemian Headquarters.”

He was referring to an old school building on Third Street that had been converted into a migrant labor camp for the oyster season.

I do not know what the Gazette’s reporter expected to find at “Bohemian Headquarters.” Evidently it was not this:

“It was discovered that a fiddle and a banjo were employed in dispensing sweet music, while about two dozen gushing Bohemian maidens with pale-faced partners were tripping the regular old fandango in high glee.”

He must have gone there on a Saturday evening, after the oyster shuckers finished their shift at a local cannery.

The Gazette’s correspondent apparently enjoyed his visit. He observed that “both men and women seemed courteous and kind.”

He also mentioned in passing that he found some of the young women quite attractive, and he expressed some surprise at how many of the Bohemians were “conversing well in English.”

He then went on to describe their living quarters:

“There are 63 quartered in the building which crowds it to its uttermost capacity…. The only furniture noticed were trunks or chests with one or two bedsteads. The balance of the sleeping paraphernalia consists of bunks in a continuous row from one end of the room to the other. There were four or five stoves placed about the room….”

Most likely, that group of Bohemian immigrants was employed at the J.S. Farren & Co.’s oyster cannery that was located on the town’s waterfront, near what is now the Children’s Park.

Based in Baltimore, J.S. Farren & Co. had opened the cannery earlier that fall.

Another Baltimore firm, the H.J. McGrath Canning Co., also opened an oyster cannery in Washington that winter. However, its workers had not yet arrived from Baltimore at the time that the Gazette’s correspondent wrote his story.

According to another local newspaper, the Washington Progress on Jan. 13, 1891, 100 Bohemian oyster shuckers arrived in Washington a week or two after New Year’s to begin work at the McGrath cannery.

I do not know how many more years the Bohemians came to Washington. The last reference that I found to them in the town’s oyster industry was from the Washington Gazette on Feb 18, 1892.

Anti-immigrant Views

When he visited the “Bohemian Headquarters,” the Washington Gazette’s correspondent seemed to have been rather charmed by the oyster shuckers from Baltimore.

However, I found a much different sentiment expressed in the Gazette the next year.

At that time, an uncredited article on the Gazette’s front page had this to say about the Bohemian immigrants:

“The Bohemians are rapidly developing the innate cussedness of their true nature. They are a nuisance in the sections where they are located and the sooner Washington is rid of this very undesirable acquisition to her population the better pleased many of her citizens will be.”

Where that hostility was born, and why the Gazette’s view of the Bohemian oyster shuckers had changed so profoundly, is far from clear.

Had some incident occurred that colored town leaders’ attitudes toward the immigrants?

Or perhaps that comment reflected anti-immigrant or even anti-Catholic bias, both of which were on the rise in the U.S. at that time? Most of the Bohemians came from predominantly Catholic homelands.

Or had cannery owners courted trouble by employing immigrant laborers instead of hiring local workers?

Those are all possibilities, but I do not have anywhere near enough evidence to say more.

‘Now she now sleeps in quietude’

In that same year, 70 miles away, an even darker view of Washington’s Bohemian immigrants was expressed in the Perquimans Record, a newspaper published in the coastal town of Hertford.

 On March 18, 1891, the Record noted that a train carrying Washington’s Bohemian shuckers back to Baltimore at the end of the oyster season had passed through Hertford.

Referring to Washington, the newspaper’s correspondent wrote, “Our sister town has at last gotten clear of the dirty, ugly tribe, and now she sleeps in quietude.”

I do not know what stirred the Perquimans Record to that level of maliciousness, but clearly some local people greeted the Bohemian oyster shuckers warmly and others did not.

At the Pungo River and Swan Quarter

Bohemian immigrants also worked in oyster canneries in the more remote coastal communities east of Washington.

On Oct. 23, 1903, for instance, the Elizabeth City Tar Heel reported that  “two (train) carloads of Bohemians” were en route to Belhaven, 25 miles east of Washington.

Beginning in the late 19th century, hundreds of oyster shuckers — one government report said as many as a thousand — left their usual homes and created what amounted to a here-today, gone-tomorrow boom town of oystering people there on the banks of the Pungo River.

Another 25 miles east, Bohemians were also shucking oysters in Swan Quarter, a village bordered by seemingly endless plains of salt marsh on the edge of the Pamlico Sound.

I lived in Swan Quarter for a time when I was young, and I remember old-timers then telling stories about the Bohemian immigrants who used to come and shuck oysters there.

However, the only newspaper account I found that mentioned those immigrant laborers concerned a brawl that broke out between them and local oystermen in February 1902.

That story ran in several North Carolina newspapers, including the Kinston Free Press of Feb. 11, 1902:

“Some Bohemians, who are employed at the oyster canneries there, were having a dance, when the crews of several [oyster] dredges came ashore and attempted to take charge of the dance.”

The story continued:

“A general fight ensued, and when the smoke of the battle cleared away it was found that 13 people were wounded, seven of them seriously, four badly cut and three shot.”

Whether that incident was rooted in tensions between locals and immigrants or was just a run-of-the-mill dance hall fight — fights were almost a Saturday night ritual in some coastal villages — I do not know.

All I can say for sure is that if the fight had not made the news, I would not have found any written evidence of Bohemian oyster shuckers ever living and working in Swan Quarter.

By the Calabash River

The last incident involving Bohemian oyster shuckers that I want to mention comes from the quiet salt marsh creeks located below Shallotte, 50 miles southwest of Wilmington.

The exact location of the oyster cannery where the Bohemians worked there is somewhat uncertain, but as best I can tell it was 12 or 13 miles below Shallotte, in the vicinity of the Calabash River.

According to several articles that ran in the Wilmington Morning Star in December 1907, 60 Bohemians — actually Poles, by all accounts — were recruited in Baltimore and transported to the A. B. Riggin & Co.’s oyster cannery on that part of the North Carolina coast. Copies of the articles are in the Brunswick County Historical Society’s newsletter of April 2007.

Things must have been bad at the cannery. Only a few days after arriving there, half of the Polish workers gathered whatever possessions they had and left. According to a Dec. 1, 1907, account, they had found “the pay and conditions” at A.B. Riggin & Co. intolerable.

They did not have an easy time getting back to Baltimore. Some walked all the way to Wilmington. Others somehow got passage to Wilmington aboard a steamer called the Atlantic.

 According to the Wilmington Morning Star, the Poles spoke little or no English, and they seem to have been penniless. When they reached Wilmington, they had no place to stay, so town leaders let them bed down for a few nights first at the police station, then at City Hall.

Many stayed in Wilmington for a time and took temporary jobs at a local lumber mill. Others did farm work. A few chopped wood and did other odd jobs around the seaport.

As best I can tell, they probably worked just long enough to earn passage home to Baltimore.

Four or five other Poles got home by taking passage aboard “the leaking schooner Grace Seymour in exchange for manning the pumps on the voyage North,” a grueling job if ever there was one.

Remembering the Bohemian oyster shuckers

The history of these Bohemians immigrants — these Czechs, these Poles, these Slavs, Italians and others —  is remembered at least somewhat better in other parts of the American South.

To an important degree, that is because of a child labor investigation more than a century ago.

Between 1909 and 1916, a social reformer named Lewis Hine documented “Bohemian” and local children, both Black and white, in oyster and shrimp canneries in Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina.

Working for the National Child Labor Committee, Hine used his photographs and reports to advocate for stricter child labor laws across the U.S.

His photographs are powerful, and many, particularly those of the youngest workers, are unforgettable. They stunned many people when they first appeared in newspapers, magazines, and books.

Now preserved at the Library of Congress, Hine’s photographs and investigative reports highlighted child labor in the South’s oyster industry.

But they also brought public attention to the low wages, long hours, and often atrocious working conditions that shuckers of all ages, races, and backgrounds experienced in oyster factories at that time.

In the parts of the coastal South that he visited, Hine’s work assured that the Bohemian oyster shuckers, and really all who worked in oyster canneries, would be remembered.

Lewis Hine never visited the North Carolina coast, however.

Without his work to remind us of them, all memory of the Bohemian oyster shuckers — and really all those who worked in North Carolina’s oyster canneries — gradually faded away here, then was lost.

What I hope is that what I have written here today, however incomplete it is, might be the beginning of remembering them.

 *  *  *

For their help with the research for this story, I want to express my deep gratitude to Stephen Farrell at the George H. and Laura E. Brown Library in Washington, N.C.; Ray Midgett of the Historic Port of Washington Project; David Bennett at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort (especially for his work on A.B. Riggin & Co.); and to my old friend Amelia Dees-Killette at the Swansboro Area Heritage Center Museum. 

I also want to extend a special shoutout to my dear friend Bland Simpson for his lyrical evocation of Machele Island in “The Inner Islands: A Carolinian’s Sound Country Chronicle,” one of my favorite books. 

If you want to learn more about the history of the state’s oyster industry, my essay “The Oyster Shucker’s Song.” might be helpful. And if you’d like to read more about the Bohemian immigrants in the South as a whole, I wrote a piece called “Shuckers and Peelers”  for Southern Exposure magazine many years ago that you might find interesting. 

I dedicate this story to the memory of one of my ancestors on the Polish side of my family, my great-uncle Peter, a lobsterman who lost his life at sea. 

A public hearing is scheduled for the end of August on six proposed shellfish leases in Onslow County.

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Marine Fisheries is hosting the in-person hearing at 6 p.m. Aug. 28 at the Holly Ridge Community Room, 404 Sound Road, Holly Ridge, and by the online program, WebEx.

The following applied for leases:

• Michael J. Linz Jr. has applied for a 2.36-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in Bogue Inlet.
• Thomas A. Cannon has applied for a 3.78-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in the mainland areas of Topsail Sound.
• White Oak Oyster Co. has applied for a 0.71-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in Bogue Inlet.
• Thomas A. Cannon has applied for a 3.95-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in the Mainland Areas of Topsail Sound.
• Shawn P. Burns has applied for a 3.85-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in the mainland areas of Topsail Sound.
• James Hammock and Sarah Zajovits have applied for a 3.04-acre shellfish bottom and water column lease in the New River below the N.C. Highway 172 bridge.

Those who wish to comment in-person can sign up an hour before the meeting starts. To provide comments while participating through WebEx register online by 4 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 27.

Public hearing information, including the web conference link, call-in telephone number, presentation slides, and biological investigation reports can be found on the NCD

Written comments can be submitted until 6 p.m. Aug. 29 using the online form or mailed to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, Shellfish Leases, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557.

For more information, contact Marla Chuffo, with the division’s Habitat and Enhancement Section, at 252-515-5480 or Marla.Chuffo@deq.nc.gov.

The North Carolina Marine Fisheries Commission is set to give final approval of 20 proposed rules when it meets later this month in Beaufort.

The rules pertain to data collection and harassment prevention for the conservation of marine and estuarine resources, oyster sanctuary changes and conforming changes for the shellfish relay program, shellfish leases and franchises, and shellfish sanitation.

The in-person meeting is scheduled for May 22-24 in the Beaufort Hotel at 2440 Lennoxville Road. The meeting is also to be livestreamed on YouTube. The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, and at 9 a.m. on both Thursday, May 23, and Friday, May 24.

That commission had received public comments during its November meeting and gave
final approval to 83 of 103 rules related to shellfish plants and inspections to meet
readoption deadlines. Another 80 rules became effective April 1. Three rules were automatically subject to legislative review and are available for review during the current legislative session. The remaining 20 are on the agenda for final approval this month.

The commission is to hold public comment sessions at 6 p.m. May 22 and at 9 a.m. May 23.

In-person attendees who wish to speak may sign up at the hotel before the public comment period in which they wish to speak. To accommodate as many speakers as possible, the chair will limit each speaker to 3 minutes.

Those making comments will be asked to speak only once, either Wednesday night or Thursday morning, but not during both public comment periods. Those who wish to submit handouts to the commission during a public comment period should bring at least 12 copies to the meeting.

The public may also submit written comments via an online form accessible through the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage; by mail to May 2024 Marine Fisheries Commission Meeting Comments, P.O. Box 769, Morehead City, NC 28557; or dropped off at the Division of Marine Fisheries’ Morehead City Headquarters Office at 3441 Arendell St.

The deadline to submit written comments for the May meeting is 4 p.m. Monday, May 20.

The YouTube link is posted on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage. After the meeting, a recording will be posted online.

In addition to the above-mentioned rules, agenda items include the following:

• Final adoption of the Striped Mullet Fishery Management Plan Amendment 2.
• A presentation on the authority for shellfish cultivation in North Carolina and the administration of shellfish leases and franchises.
• A presentation on the 2023 Blue Crab Stock Assessment Update and available adaptive management measures under the Blue Crab Fishery Management Plan Amendment 3 to be developed later this year for implementation in 2025.
• Endorsement of a management option and associated proposed language for future rulemaking to comply with the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, a reciprocal program between states that promotes compliance with wildlife and fisheries regulations.

The full agenda and briefing book are posted on the Marine Fisheries Commission Meetings webpage.

HARKERS ISLAND — The North Carolina Coastal Federation on Friday hosted staff from Sens. Thom Tillis’ and Ted Budd’s offices along with federal and state officials on a tour of federally funded coastal projects.

The projects include removing abandoned and derelict vessels and marine debris, and the construction of oyster sanctuaries in the Pamlico Sound. The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

Joe Huie is a commercial fisherman from Sneads Ferry. He has worked as Coastal Federation contractor, supervising marine debris crews, for about five years. His crew members are all fishermen, and their work began just after Hurricane Florence in 2018.

“Hurricane Florence devastated our area,” Huie said. “We got almost 4 feet of rain; the river was closed for four or five months. So they hired us on to help put together crews pick up marine debris. And from the very first day that we started, even in waters that we were intimately familiar with, we realized that there was way more marine debris than anybody could ever imagine.”

He said the crews, working between Sneads Ferry and the South Carolina state line, collected an average 1 ton of marine debris every day by hand.

“Even in places that we’ve been to and we returned to, we still average a ton of material a day,” Huie said. “And that’s four guys carrying it on their backs in and out of the marsh. So we make very small impacts to the environment, and it’s providing a lot of work for a lot of fishermen in our area.”

He said the crews truly appreciate the work.

“We don’t take it for granted because it helps us clean up the places that we grew up in, that we work in, that we we get food from,” Huie said. “And it also provides us with a job so we feel like we’re giving back to the areas that made us all who we are.”

The work is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration via the nearly $6 billion total funding under the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Tillis and Budd, along with all other Republicans in both chambers, voted against the 2022 climate change and healthcare measure. Tillis voted in favor of the 2021 infrastructure act, while Budd, who was a House member at the time, was opposed.

The senators’ regional representatives, Grayson Overholt for Tillis, and Sam Shumate, for Budd, declined to comment but offered to connect Coastal Review with staff who were authorized to speak. Tillis’ communications director responded, but no comment was received in time for publication.

The Coastal Federation said the work is part of a larger effort to rid the coast of storm-related debris, lost fishing gear and derelict vessels. The effort also includes broad public outreach and education efforts aimed at reducing marine debris at the source.

Coastal Federation scientist and Marine Debris Program Director Ted Wilgis explained how the federal and state funding the nonprofit receives to protect and restore coastal waters and habitats, provides jobs and economic support for coastal communities.

“The vast majority of funding is going to pay contractors, suppliers, fishermen like these,” Wilgis said.

Building oyster habitat

The tour included a visit to the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries stockpile and boatyard at South River. The NOAA Fisheries Office of Habitat Conservation is supporting construction of 120 acres of oyster habitat in Pamlico Sound. This project is to complete the 500-acre Sen. Jean Preston Memorial Oyster Sanctuary, which began with 15 acres in 2017 and was named for the longtime legislator who represented Carteret County in the North Carolina General Assembly. Preston died in 2013.

Oyster sanctuaries provide direct benefits for key recreational and commercial species, the Coastal Federation noted, citing as examples striped bass and wild oysters.

Another part of the project involves a collaboration of the Coastal Federation, North Carolina Central University and North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, to provide hands-on opportunities for underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students studying marine sciences.

These NOAA-supported projects are helping the Coastal Federation advance its goal of protecting and restoring the North Carolina coast for future generations, the nonprofit said.

“We are incredibly grateful for the funds provided through the Inflation Reduction Act, which have allowed us to enhance our capacity to address the issue of marine debris,” said NOAA Marine Debris Program Director Nancy Wallace in a statement. “The strides made by our partners at the North Carolina Coastal Federation have been pivotal in protecting the North Carolina coast and waterways, and we are excited to see the effects of their continued efforts with the implementation of these projects.”

News from our publisher

“Stories From the Coast” is a video series produced by the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s communications team, which operates independently from the Coastal Review editorial staff.

Every year in October, the state celebrates North Carolina Oyster Month. The oyster industry in North Carolina has been steadily growing in recent years to make the industry worth $100 million by 2030. To help reach that goal, local oyster growers are trying new ways to expand their farms.

Oysters are a fundamental species in estuaries, providing significant benefits to the ecosystem.

“Oysters are great for everybody, they are great for the economy, they are great for water quality and habitat, and they are great for the palate. So, the more, the better,” says Ana Živanović-Nenadović, chief program director with the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

It was with that idea that the North Carolina Coastal Federation and partner groups came together to devise a plan to expand the oyster industry.

“This plan set a very ambitious goal for the state to grow the market value of its shellfish mariculture to $100 million by 2030.”

To reach that lofty goal within the next seven years, it takes oyster growers like Katherine McGlade of Slash Creek Oysters. But growing oysters is a labor-intensive process, which McGlade says means it can be tough to expand your business.

“I was at a very frustrating point I had a lot of demand, and I worked hard to develop a good network of customers that wanted more oysters, but I was having difficulty scaling up,” says McGlade.

Now McGlade is testing out a new system called FlipFarm, which she hopes will help her keep up with that demand.

“It seemed like it solved so many of the issues I was having on my farm.”

The FlipFarm is designed to not let the oyster cages get tangled up or flipped over by the wind, which can happen with traditional cages, and McGlade says this system takes away some of the more strenuous work involved with oyster farming.

“With the attachments for filling and emptying, the oysters come up out of the water in the baskets and then it comes to waist high, you never have to lift them, you never have to bend down to put them in the water, everything happens where your body is in a good strong neutral position.”

While she is just using this equipment on part of her farm, McGlade says she’s excited at how well it’s working and what this could mean for growing her business.

“I think it could make a huge difference in terms of the small farmer producing more oysters with less labor ’cause that’s the name of the game.”

Oyster farmers in another region of the state will also be getting a helping hand soon in the form of a facility that could provide growth opportunities as well.

“A shellfish aquaculture hub, this hub is a facility that once built will provide the growers with critical logistical infrastructure like state-of-the-art refrigeration and storage room for the product, a place to work, a place to store their gear, and equally important a place to work together and collaborate.”

These days it may seem like every month of the year celebrates some concept or ideal to which we should all aspire. In the case of countless coastal residents and visitors, not to mention those who wish they could be here, October is a green light to pursue the lofty goal of eating more oysters.

Oysters in North Carolina waters may be harvested wild starting in October each year, but cultivated or farmed oysters can be enjoyed year-round. Nevertheless, October is a perfect time to honor the humble oyster. It’s North Carolina Oyster Month, a “shellabration” of what scientists call a keystone species, one that’s crucial to North Carolina’s marine and coastal environments.

“Our eastern oyster is a coastal treasure: They help to keep our waters clean and clear by filtering them, providing habitat (or homes) for up to 300 different coastal species, and being a tasty treat for humans and other animals alike,” North Carolina Coastal Federation Oyster Program Director Erin Fleckenstein told Coastal Review.

Fleckenstein, who was the longtime coastal scientist with the Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office, coordinates the statewide Oyster Blueprint, a guide for oyster restoration and protection measures in North Carolina. Its focus is on protecting water quality, creating and restoring oyster habitat, nurturing the burgeoning shellfish mariculture industry, sustaining the wild harvest of oysters and then engaging the public in this work.

Oysters are beneficial in all kinds of ways. Nutritionists at the Cleveland Clinic say there are reasons to love oysters, “even if you hate them.” They’re a low-calorie, high-protein food loaded with nutrients that are deficient in a significant portion of people, especially as they age – nutrients such as copper, iron, selenium and zinc, and vitamins B-12 and D.

More than a nutritious culinary treasure, oysters also serve important functions in the marine environment, and oyster cultivation is a sustainable way of producing seafood. Advocates tout the need for no added food, chemicals or antibiotics, and their harvests relieve pressure on wild oyster populations.

And both wild and farmed oysters are filter feeders, improving water clarity and quality. Advocates, including the Coastal Federation, often point out that a single oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. The improved clarity benefits the entire ecosystem.

“They really are to be celebrated and I’m excited that we’ve been able to partner with North Carolina Sea Grant, the Department of Cultural and Natural Resources, North Carolina Shellfish Growers and the North Carolina Oyster Trail to honor them in a monthlong celebration,” said Fleckenstein.

The Coastal Federation has partnered with Sea Grant and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in organizing Oyster Month festivities under the umbrella of the NC Oyster Trail. The NC Oyster Trail provides experiences intended to help sustain oysters and oyster growers, “resulting in economic, environmental and social benefits to the state’s seafood industry and coastal communities,” according to its website.

Sea Grant Coastal Economist Jane Harrison recently said that North Carolina Oyster Month events “highlight the ecology, culture, economy, and history related to this vital resource.”

The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources has published a calendar of events for Oyster Month.

The Coastal Federation is hosting the following Oyster Month events:

• Oct. 9 Volunteer event at Morris Landing.
• Oct. 12 Oysters Uncovered: Kayak tours.
• Oct. 12 Green Drinks: Oyster Month Focus.
• Oct. 19 Oysters Uncovered: Kayak tours.
• Oct. 24 Ambassador’s Program: Oyster Month focus.
• Oct. 26 Oysters Uncovered: Kayak tours.
• Oct. 27 Tide to Table: evening event with Coastal Studies Institute.

Also in October, look for messaging on the importance of oyster shell recycling and how you can do your part.

And importantly, eat lots of delicious oysters.

JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville Stormwater Manager Pat Donovan-Brandenburg vividly recalls the naysayers.

“I had scientists look me right in the face and tell me I’d lost my mind,” she said.

More than 20 years have passed since the city shuttered its downtown wastewater treatment plant in a move to cut off the predominant source of what had sickened the New River to the point that the state had closed its waters to the public nearly two decades earlier. At the urging of city officials, Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune also stopped its wastewater facility from discharging into the river.

By then, every inch of hard habitat along the riverbed between Wilson Bay and Stones Bay was covered by soft organics like ammonia and phosphates, which in excessive amounts choke out aquatic life.

To put into perspective just how dire things were in the river, consider this: No fish kills were recorded after 25 million gallons of waste flowed from a breached hog lagoon into the river in 1995.

The river needed not only to be cleaned, but the habitat within it restored.

Donovan-Brandenburg thought that, perhaps, oysters might do the trick.

Trying to clean and revive a river some argued had too much freshwater coming down from the upper and mid part of the estuary to sustain oysters was a gamble.

“But that’s science,” Donovan-Brandenburg said. “Science is taking a chance.”

The state in 2001 reopened New River, where more than 10 million oysters have been planted over the course of 10 years in Wilson Bay alone.

Another 15 million have been added to a series of strategically-placed, human-made oyster reefs through a plan dubbed the Oyster Highway Project, one that has aided in ushering marine life back into the river, Donovan-Brandenburg said.

In the seven years since the project began, fishermen have been reporting catches of red drum, flounder, spot and croaker that hadn’t been coming out of the river for decades, she said.

“I kind of thought they would come,” Donovan-Brandenburg said. “I just didn’t realize it would be that fast. You hope and you pray that that’s what happens, but there’s no guarantee it will happen.”

It’s not just fishermen who have returned to the river’s waters. Last May, dozens of people competed in the fifth annual New River Splash Triathlon.

The $1.6 million Oyster Highway Project has been funded through multiple sources, including private donations and grants from the North Carolina Land and Water Fund, Duke Energy Water Resources Fund and N.C. Attorney General’s Environmental Enhancement Grant program.

This year marks the project’s third and final phase, which entails the expansion of most of the 12 artificial reefs from a half-acre to an acre. City officials, representatives of nongovernment organizations and volunteers in 2019 began constructing the reefs on either side of the river between Wilson Bay and Stones Bay.

Three reefs will not be expanded to one full acre because of their proximity to areas where military officials suspect unexploded ordnance – bombs, shells, grenades and bullets – may be in shallow waters near the river banks.

On a sweltering August mid-morning, Donovan-Brandenburg waded through waters just off the shore of Marine Corps Air Station New River, where massive aircraft hangers and multi-storied barracks rose up from the horizon overlooking the glass smooth-like river.

She pointed out rows of reef teeming with oysters growing on two different types of foundations.

One set of foundations is called Oyster Catcher, a co-invention of University of North Carolina Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences Professor Niels Lindquist and commercial fisherman David Cessna, who died in 2021.

“I was a little unsure about what would happen all the way up in Jacksonville and Wilson Bay where Pat had been putting oysters for quite a while,” Lindquist said. “It’s amazing how well the oysters have done all the way up Wilson Bay and back despite having some big freshwater pulses come through. I think the success of those site over the last two, three years certainly validate Pat’s contention that it is appropriate habitat.”

The other reef builder used in the river is an Oyster Castle, interlocking blocks made of shell, limestone and concrete.

The idea behind using the different substrate was to see which type would work best in the river.

“What we have found is that both are equally beneficial,” Donovan-Brandenburg said.

Oyster Catchers are designed to attract and offer oyster larvae drifting with the currents a hard substrate on which to grow.

Oyster Castles allow juvenile oysters to grow and the blocks also help combat shoreline erosion. Lindquist said the bigger, more important component of the project is now going to be stocking the reefs, particularly the Oyster Castle reefs, which not only have a lot of structure, but help the Oyster Catcher reefs stay in place.

The long road to restoring the river did not come without its challenges, Donovan-Brandenburg said.

“It was not easy, I can tell you that,” she said.

City staff and volunteers will install the remaining reef expansions sometime between October and December. Oysters will be added in the late spring of next year.

Donovan-Brandenbug said she’d like to continue adding oysters to the river to help ensure the river’s waters stay healthy, an effort, she said, that also entails protecting perimeter wetlands and residents educating themselves and taking responsibility by doing little things like picking up pet waste.

“As long as I’m here I don’t know that we’ll ever be done,” she said.

That’s good news for the river, one already being affected by sea level rise.

Professor Joel Fodrie with the UNC Institute of Marine Sciences has been monitoring the Oyster Highway project since 2019.

He said the project, overall, has been a success and notes that the reefs now support hundreds and hundreds of mussels, which filter out harmful algae and bacteria.

There are things to celebrate and some realization that a few things could be done better, Fodrie said.

“Some (reefs) are doing better than others and that’s because we worked across this environmental gradient that is the estuary. Not only have we benefited the system and the footprint of these areas, but as we share the data and as papers come out, the next people get to do this better because this was an experiment.”

And, there will always be work to be done in the river.

“It’s not the final story,” Fodrie said. “Restoration is not do it one time and then you get to walk away. We’re not really restoring these systems, we’re trying to maintain these systems. I don’t think we’re ever going to arrive at a finish line. I think we have to maintain these systems just like you maintain your car or your lawn or your house or any other thing you care about so I hate there to be the illusion that we somehow finished. I think the New River Highway is neat and it deserves a little spotlight and then Pat, yeah, not crazy, but certainly the core, the emotional, ethical core of making this happen. It’s kind of remarkable what she has leveraged to do this.”

This report was updated to include the swim advisory.

Water quality conditions along the North Carolina coast appear to be one of the most quickly identified problems resulting from rainfall associated with Tropical Storm Idalia. Officials on Thursday put in place immediate temporary closures of shellfish areas in much of the state’s coastal waters and advised against swimming.

State recreational water quality officials on Thursday advised the public to avoid swimming in North Carolina coastal waters from Wright Memorial Bridge in Kitty Hawk south to the South Carolina state line.

Division of Marine Fisheries Director Kathy Rawls, upon the recommendation of State Health Director Dr. Betsey Tilson with the Department of Health and Human Services, announced the closures early Thursday morning in a proclamation.

“These temporary closures are due to heavy rainfall and resultant runoff associated with Tropical Storm Idalia,” according to the proclamation.

Areas in the northeastern part of the state are permanently closed to shellfishing.

It is unlawful for any person to take or attempt to take any oysters, clams or mussels or possess, sell or offer for sale any oysters, clams or mussels taken from the following polluted areas:

• All those waters bordered on the northeast by a line beginning at the Cedar Island Ferry Terminal, running southeasterly along the shore of Cedar Island to Camp Point; thence running southeasterly near Wainwright Island to a point on Core Banks at 34° 59.0185′ N – 76° 09.9344′ W; and bordered on the southwest by the South Carolina state line, to include all waters in Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender, and Onslow counties, as well as Bogue Sound, Newport River, North River, Ward Creek, Straits, Back Sound, Whitehurst Creek, Sleepy Creek, Jarrett Bay, Oyster Creek, Brett Bay, Nelson Bay, Thorofare Bay, Cedar Island Bay, and a portion of Core Sound.
• All those waters bordered in the east by a line beginning at Long Shoal Point, running southwesterly to the southern tip of Hog Island; thence running southwesterly to Bluff Point; thence running westerly to the southern tip of Great Island Marsh; thence running southwesterly to Maw Point, thence running southeasterly to Flashing Beacon “NR”, thence running southerly to Point of Marsh, thence running southeasterly to Point of Grass, thence following the shoreline of Cedar Island to the Cedar Island Ferry Terminal, to include Long Bay, West Bay, Turnagain Bay, Neuse River, South River, Adams Creek, Bay River, Jones Bay Pamlico River, Pungo River, Spencer Bay, Rose Bay, Swanquarter Bay, Juniper Bay, Wysocking Bay, and Long Shoal River.
• All those waters bordered on the north and west by a line beginning at a point 35° 28.2328′ N – 75° 29.0549′ W on the Outer Banks, running westerly to a point 35° 28.2938′ N – 75° 31.2790′ W on Gull Island; thence running southwesterly to Brooks Point.
• All those waters bordered on the north and west by a line beginning at Brooks Point, running southwesterly to the southern tip of DOT Island near Hatteras Inlet at 35° 12.1796′ N – 75° 45.6698′ W; thence running southwesterly to Channel Marker “6” off Ocracoke Village; thence running southwesterly to the northern tip of Beacon Island at 35° 05.9383′ N – 76° 02.8513′ W; thence running southeasterly to the southern tip of Ocracoke Island.

Shellfish Sanitation maintains an online temporary closure public viewer to help the public interpret written shellfish closure proclamations.

Swimming advisory

The storm caused flooding of streets, yards and housing that have resulted in some municipalities having to pump floodwaters into the ocean, state recreational water quality officials said. Avoid swimming near ocean outfalls, including the wet sand where the floodwater is pumped, even if no sign is posted.

“Severe weather events like tropical storms and hurricanes bring excessive amounts of rain, storm surge and cause extreme flooding. These conditions increase levels of harmful bacteria in our coastal waters that can cause illness,” said Erin Bryan-Millush, manager of the N.C. Recreational Water Quality Program. “The sources of bacteria can vary and include failing septic systems, sewer line breaks and overflowing manholes.”

While state officials do not have immediate laboratory confirmation that disease-causing organisms are in the water, storm impacts increase the chance that contamination is present thus increasing the risk of adverse health effects from swimming in these waters.

Residents and visitors should avoid swimming in these waters until bacteriological testing indicates sample results within the state’s and Environmental Protection Agency’s standards. Testing will begin as soon as conditions are safe and areas are accessible. The advisory will be lifted in part or in whole as test results become available.

Since the impacts are widespread, it is not possible to post signs in all areas.  

Recreational water quality officials sample 215 sites throughout the coastal region, most of them on a weekly basis, from April to October. Testing continues on a reduced schedule during the rest of the year, when fewer people are in the water.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is moving forward with its plans to expand an existing Pamlico Sound oyster sanctuary network and create a partnership to encourage underrepresented university students to study marine sciences.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration notified the nonprofit Thursday that the $14.9 million grant had been finalized.

NOAA first announced the award recommendation in late April for the nearly $15 million project titled, “Completing the Pamlico Sound Oyster Sanctuary and Training the Next Generation of Restoration Professionals,” through the Biden administration’s Climate Ready Coasts initiative, funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. 

This project is expected to complete the 500-acre goal of oyster sanctuaries in the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network, which is named in memory of the late state senator who represented Carteret County, and to facilitate an innovative program with N.C. State University and N.C. Central University to offer hands-on opportunities for underrepresented undergraduate and graduate students studying marine sciences.

Coastal Federation Oyster Program Director Erin Fleckenstein said that there are a handful of immediate next steps ahead for the oyster sanctuary work, including finalizing locations of  future sanctuary construction.

“The grant will allow us to build out several existing sanctuaries that are already permitted, but we also need to finalize locations and permit the additional sanctuary locations,” she said. Organization staff will be able to work with material suppliers to secure enough in the quantities and types needed to build out the sanctuary acres, and ensure that the stockpile locations are prepped and ready.

Lastly, Fleckenstien said that for this portion of the project, the Coastal Federation will open up bids for a construction contractor who will be responsible for constructing the sanctuaries that are planned.

For the partnership with the two universities, Fleckenstein said the researchers have advertised and made motions to hire a cohort of graduate students who will work toward their master’s or doctorate’s during the course of the grant.

“We’ve developed a list of potential research questions that the students will address during their research,” she added.

N.C. State Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST, Director David Eggleston explained to Coastal Review that research on restoring oyster reefs and creating tools to help guide future restoration sites has been conducted for the past 15 years. The research group first teamed up with the Coastal Federation in 2010 in response to funding through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act.

“This initial effort focused on assessing the ecological performance of restored, subtidal oyster reefs in Pamlico Sound that are a part of the Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network,” he said. This current project with the Coastal Federation, and other partners including N.C. Central, the state Division of Marine Fisheries and the North Carolina Aquariums system, will assess the ecological performance of restored subtidal oyster reefs.

“A novel and key component of the current project is to diversify and train the next generation of coastal habitat restoration practitioners. There is increasing recognition of the valuable ecosystem services provided by coastal habitats such as oyster reefs, seagrasses, salt marshes and mangroves. Given limited resources for habitat restoration, it is critical to locate restoration projects in areas that have the greatest chance of success,” Eggleston explained.

During this project, they will focus on training underrepresented graduate and undergraduate students in Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, computer-based machine learning, population dynamics, statistics and a broad suite of field and laboratory techniques including scientific diving, boat handling, and communication skills.

The N.C. State component is to assess the ecological performance of the restored oyster reefs relative to either unstructured estuarine bottom, or adjacent oyster reefs. Examples of ecological performance include tracking oyster settlement, growth and survival on restored oyster reefs, characterizing fish use of the reefs, the footprint of the reefs and any changes in their structural complexity over time, and refining GIS-based tools used to guide where to locate new restoration sites, he explained.

“Most of the budget for this project component is devoted to supporting graduate and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM,” he said.

N.C. State University is partnering with Dr. Carresse Gerald, assistant professor in Environmental, Earth and Geospatial Sciences at N.C. Central University, to recruit undergraduate and graduate students to participate in this project, serve as a formal co-mentor and graduate committee member for students, and facilitate approaches for student success, Eggleston said.

For undergraduates, this includes successful scholarship or fellowship applications, employment post-graduation in STEM, or acceptance to graduate programs. For graduate students, this is earning a degree in a timely manner, which is two to three years for a master’s or four to five years for a doctorate, as well as enhancing skills in critical thinking, communication, interdisciplinarity and quantitative tools.

“These achievements should lead to increased workforce development of underrepresented groups as restoration practitioners, as well as building research capacity at an Historically Black College or University,” he said.

Gerald and Dr. Del Bohnenstiehl, professor in the Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences department at N.C. State, introduced the project during the Coastal Federation’s Oyster Summit, a two-day workshop held earlier this year in Raleigh.

Bohnenstiehl said there are three pillars to the program, with the first being a cohort of eight graduate students from underrepresented groups. The students will have an opportunity to begin or finish their master’s program or begin their doctorate program in marine science, data science or geospatial analytics.

“Our focus is going to be on recruiting from HBCUs such as North Carolina Central and other universities,” he said. HBCUs are historically Black colleges and universities.

The students will be working collaboratively and be involved in all aspects of the project. They will be able to carve out some piece of the project that they can focus on for their thesis, gain more expertise and work with advisers, Bohnenstiehl continued.

Gerald, during the summit, said that over the past few years, she has taken undergraduate students to the coast to work with the Coastal Federation.

“They really enjoy being out there, looking at the living shorelines, looking at the oysters and learning about the ecological impacts of those types of things on the environment,” Gerald said, adding that the program advisers intend to travel to the coast with more undergraduate students to encourage their exploration of this type of science and to develop an interest in restoration ecology.

Gerald said there will be opportunities for undergraduates in her science classes to visit the coast for field work, as well.

“I had an environmental education and outreach course that has come down to the coast before and so we’ll have some of those students as well participate in this effort to learn more about living shorelines, the ecology in the marine data science that is happening down in the Pamlico Sound,” she said.

Bohnenstiehl said that one of the opportunities that Central’s undergraduate students are encouraged to take advantage of in the short term is the summer fellowship at CMAST, “an existing program that has been very successful. It’s up to about 40% minority participation already.”

There is funding through this project to support four students from underrepresented groups every summer for the next three years, Bohnenstiehl said.

“We think there’s going to be a huge opportunity to bring these students in, and all the research shows if you start off hands-on, kind of long summer experiences are really critical for getting students engaged in and engaging them in the STEM fields,” he said. STEM means science, technology, engineering and math.

The students will train and take courses but at the heart of the project is an ecological study, trying to understand the benefits of building the sanctuary reefs, their function and their ecosystem services, Bohnenstiehl explained.

“And that’s what the students will be working on, trying to quantify and understand together with partners from DMF and elsewhere,” he continued. Components of the project include field sampling, oyster demographics, mercury within the oyster samples, and “We’ll be looking at maps of the seafloor, trying to quantify and find ways to describe the habitat that’s created by these reefs.”

Bohnenstiehl said they anticipate bringing the graduate students into this project in all aspects as well as the undergraduate students at these different levels.

“Over the next three years, we should have 70 or 80 different students participate in these programs and contribute to the science that goes into all of this and hopefully they’ll be prepared then to be this next generation of practitioners when it comes to understanding oyster reefs and restoration in general,” he said.

Gerald explained to Coastal Review that she was brought in by the Federation’s Coastal Education Coordinator, Rachel Bisesi, “who asked if I would be interested in working on the grant. After a meeting with other partners from NC State we were forging ahead.”

Gerald said they plan to select well-rounded students – four from N.C. State and four from N.C. Central – by evaluating their academic progress, personal statement along with other metrics.

Some of the work students will delve into includes analyzing habitat restoration response variables in the oyster populations and evaluating contaminants such as mercury in the oyster species, she explained.

Gerald said the goal for N.C. Central’s portion of the project is to increase students, more specifically underrepresented and underserved individuals, to engage in ecological studies and more specifically restoration ecology by engaging them in the large-scale oyster restoration project in the Pamlico Sound.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

There are three new places to take your oyster shells to be recycled in Carteret County.

County officials have teamed up with the North Carolina Coastal Federation to host three oyster shell drop-off sites and Coastal Environmental Partnership and GFL Environmental will haul the dumpsters from the locations once full.

The Coastal Federation’s Recycling for Reefs Program collects recycled oyster shells and uses them to build oyster reefs and living shorelines, an effort to protect and restore oyster populations.

The three new oyster drop-off sites are located at Hibbs Road Convenience Site, 800 Hibbs Road, Newport; Otway Convenience Site, 485 Harkers Island Road; and N.C. Highway 58 Convenience Site, 1250 West Firetower Road, Swansboro. For a complete list of coastwide recycling sites visit the Coastal Federation’s website. 

Havelock High School students painted oyster scenes on the dumpsters into which the shell is to be deposited.

The students were brought in because getting them involved in efforts like this is important to help foster the next generation of coastal stewards, Coastal Federation Coastal Educator Rachel Bisesi explained.

“It was really special to have students from Havelock High School involved. Through generous support from the Bosch Community Fund, we were able to provide students with lessons on the importance of oysters and were also able to engage them in the shell recycling process by painting the dumpsters, linking art and science,” said Bisessi. “ I always like to say that these are the most beautiful dumpsters in North Carolina!”

Oysters provide important habitats for fish, crabs, shrimp, and other species. They also help clean and filter the water. Oyster populations have decreased by 90% along our coast over the last 100 years.

It is illegal to throw away oyster shells in North Carolina. Oyster shells must be taken to official recycling drop-off locations so the shell can properly and strategically be put back in the water, where they will support the new growth of oysters.

Oyster shells are a valuable resource costing up to $3 per bushel when purchased for coastal restoration. Whether from an oyster roast, restaurant, or backyard cookout, every shell collected can help protect and restore our coast, according to the Coastal Federation.

In past years, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries operated a state-funded oyster shell recycling program but ended in 2018 due to budget cuts and staff reductions. The Coastal Federation is working to fill that gap by providing a way for the public and businesses to recycle shells and keep them out of the landfill.

The expansion of the Recycling for Reefs program in Carteret County is funded by the Bosch Community Fund.

The Coastal Federation publishes Coastal Review.

North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries officials are reminding potential shellfish lease applicants that the 2023 application period ends next month.

The applications must be either postmarked or dropped off at the Division Headquarters Office at 3441 Arendell St., Morehead City, by 5 p.m. Aug. 1.

The shellfish bottom lease and water column application period began March 1.

Download a lease application at the division’s Shellfish Lease and Franchise Program webpage.

For more information, contact Owen Mulvey-McFerron, Shellfish Lease and Aquaculture Program coordinator, at Owen.Mulvey-McFerron@deq.nc.gov or 252-269-3082.

Construction began this spring on an interactive exhibit to educate the public on the importance of oysters at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island.

Aquarium Director Larry Warner told Coastal Review that if a grant through the Institute of Museum and Library Services, or IMLS, comes through, the plan is to open the exhibit they’re calling “Fish Filter Food: The Human Oyster Connection,” in early summer 2025. 

Warner said they’ll know if they received the grant in September.

The grant is a two-year proposal that includes funds to support formal evaluation, Warner explained. “This said, our hope would be to open the exhibit by early summer of 2025, with evaluation occurring over that summer and closure of the grant process in September of 2025.”

Seed money to get the project started came through the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which has partnered with the aquarium on the exhibit, through two National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration grants. 

“We are requesting an IMLS grant that would be a combination of federal funding with a 100% match provided by the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island,” he said. “We will continue to seek additional funding from other resources as well to round out what we need.” 

During the 2023 Oyster Summit in Raleigh, Warner told the crowd of about 200 that Coastal Federation staff, after receiving the federal grant funds, approached the aquarium in 2020 to look at the possibility of creating an oyster exhibit. 

The Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, hosted the two-day symposium in May.

Coastal Federation Oyster Program Director Erin Fleckenstein said that the partnership offers a way for people to learn about oyster habitats and the importance of oyster sanctuary work through interactive, hands-on engagement.

The aquarium has roughly 330,000 annual visitors, and “is a great venue to get messaging out,” Warner explained. 

The aquarium is already committed to promoting oysters as part of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, and as part of the N.C. Oyster Trail, which lists the Roanoke aquarium as an educational stop.

Because of this, the North Carolina Aquarium Society is acting as a liaison through an agreement with Coastal Federation “to help us make this (exhibit) happen.”

Though the pandemic shutdown caused some delays, Warner said the project was not derailed. In 2020, aquarium staff, coastal federation staff and a stakeholder group began working together.

After several brainstorming sessions – and lots of ideas – Warner said the ideas were distilled down to a “very simple message to get this out to people who come through the aquarium on a single-day basis.”

The exhibit, which will start in the aquarium’s Wild Wetlands area and wind through to the Ocean’s Edge area.

The exhibit focuses on four main topics, with each of the following represented in a specific area: “Fish,” or how oysters interconnect in the aquatic and terrestrial food chain; “Filter,” featuring oysters and the benefits they provide to the marine environment; “Food,” or oysters and the benefits they provide to humans; and “Guest Actions”, or how you can help.

In the aquarium’s Croatan exhibit, Warner said the plan is to add a replica inside that habitat of the process of oyster reef restoration, where there will be information defining oysters and oyster reefs.

The exhibit will contain tanks filled with the animals found underwater around oyster reefs accompanied by an activity to identify the different types of creatures.

One area Warner said they’re especially excited about is the filter section.

“Because we can’t actually put an oyster display to show the oysters actually filtering the water, we’re going to use digital technology,” Warner said. There will be a reef projected on the wall that simulates how oysters filter water. 

Plans also include a hands-on display of a mural with an oyster reef and audio samples of underwater sounds, a section on how microplastics and other marine debris can affect oyster reefs, and videos with messages from area scientists and professionals about oysters.

Warner said in a recent interview that since the Oyster Summit took place there have been more detailed discussions “regarding many of the wonderfully planned, hands-on interactives with outside vendors who can make them the best they can be. As with everything, it seems, post-pandemic pricing for this type of design work has increased significantly.”

As a result, the new challenge will be seeking additional funding to round out the exhibit, “but with the tremendous excitement shared by many who have seen the designs, I’m quite hopeful we’ll be able to secure the additional funding,” he said.

Warner explained that the process to create the exhibit has “been amazing. There are so many dedicated individuals involved who are passionate about oysters and their role with the coastal ecosystem, environment, and economy.”

The process started with stakeholder meetings to determine key educational points. 

“Designing an exhibit from concept to completion is never a fast process, particularly if you want to make sure you’re hitting the right educational points without overwhelming the audience, all the while making it fun, interactive and engaging. COVID was a definite impact in this process, as it did slow the process down considerably,” he said. “The silver lining with COVID, however, was that it gave us more time to examine how we approach the messaging – not to mention it has allowed time for additional programs and support to develop in the overall oyster arena.”

If the Institute of Museum and Library Services funding comes through, Warner said he plans to propose presenting the exhibit during the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, or AZA, annual conferences in 2024 and 2025, and he hopes to write an article about the exhibit for varying state and regional publications, as well as AZA’s publication. 

“I have also already been approached by the National Aquarium in Baltimore about our exhibit with interest in potential educational collaboration. One of the nice qualities about exhibits is that if they prove successful, there is always the opportunity to create a scaled-back traveling edition or duplicate the exhibit at other facilities,” Warner said. “And finally, we want to make sure that our commitment to the N.C. Oyster Trail’s education component supports the importance of informing the public on the importance of oysters.”

Because of potential contamination by norovirus, two seafood companies based in Korea have voluntarily recalled certain frozen, raw oysters that were harvested in early 2022 and distributed in North Carolina and 18 other states.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration alerted consumers and restaurants Friday not to eat or sell the frozen raw half-shell oysters, individual quick-freezing oysters, and block-form oysters harvested by Dai One Food Co., Ltd., between Feb. 10 and Feb. 24, 2022, and between April 6 and April 21, 2022, as well as individual quick-freeze oysters harvested by Central Fisheries Co., Ltd. between April 6 and April 21, 2022.

Both companies harvested the potentially contaminated shellfish from the same area.

While food contaminated with norovirus may look, smell, and taste normal, raw oysters and other filter-feeding shellfish can contain viruses and bacteria that can cause illness or particularly in people with compromised immune systems, according to the FDA.

The FDA was notified of 10 illnesses in Hawaii and in Minnesota.

For the five cases in Hawaii, the raw oysters were consumed May 10 and came from a shipment by Dai One Food Co., Ltd. harvested April 13-14, 2022, from Designated Area No. II.

In Minnesota, the five ill from norovirus consumed raw oysters at a restaurant in the state June 3 and June 4. These implicated oysters were from a Dai One Food Co., Ltd., shipment harvested Feb. 17, 2022, in Designated Area No. II.

In addition to North Carolina, Hawaii and Minnesota, the possibly contaminated oysters also were distributed in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Virginia.

The FDA notified state shellfish authorities and the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference of the import and harvest details.

Consumers, especially those who are or could become pregnant, the elderly, and persons with weakened immune systems, who consumed raw oysters in these states and suspect they have food poisoning should seek medical care immediately.

The most common symptoms of norovirus are diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, and stomach pain. Other symptoms include fever, headache, and body ache. Most people infected with norovirus begin to develop symptoms 12 to 48 hours after infection. Symptoms usually last one to four days.

To avoid food poisoning, The FDA suggests not eating raw or undercooked fish or shellfish, or food containing raw or undercooked seafood, such as sashimi, some sushi, and ceviche.

Researchers, managers, growers, harvesters, restaurateurs, restoration practitioners, state legislators, educators and others invested in protecting and restoring the state’s oyster resources will meet in Raleigh to share recent accomplishments and encourage future work.

The two-day workshop, “N.C. Oyster Summit: Resilient Coasts for Future Roasts,” and a legislative reception are to take place May 9-10 in the Marbles Kids Museum, 201 E. Hargett St., Raleigh. The North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, is coordinating the event.

“The focus of the summit is on major issues and opportunities that maintain and accelerate momentum to achieve healthy and sustainable populations of oysters all along our coast that support a huge diversity of jobs that depend on a clean and productive coast,” Coastal Federation Executive Director Todd Miller told Coastal Review. “It celebrates and advances the vital stakeholder partnerships that are now receiving national attention for putting North Carolina on a charted course to rebuild and successfully steward our state’s oyster resources and economy that depends upon those oysters.”

Participants during the summit will explore various strategies that support and build resilience in oyster habitats and oyster farms, touch on topics that impact how oysters are grown and managed for harvest, and discuss maximizing engagement with the public through the North Carolina Oyster Trail, an online map that shows where to eat oysters, tour a shellfish farm, and learn about education programs and volunteer opportunities.

Attendees also will discuss the “Oyster Restoration and Protection Plan for North Carolina: A Blueprint for Action 2021-2025.” A Coastal Federation-led initiative, the oyster blueprint for two decades has brought together “a diverse group of people involved in growing, harvesting, studying, managing and eating oysters have worked together to protect and restore N.C.’s oyster habitats and fishery,” according to the website.

Register through the website to attend the summit. Cost is $179 and includes breakfast on both days, lunch on the first day, and the legislative reception 5:30-7:30 p.m. May 9.

The legislative reception will feature North Carolina oysters, appetizers from Caffe Luna and a legislative oyster shucking competition where coastal legislators will be pitted against the national oyster shucking champion, Jay Gallant of New Orleans, to see who can shuck the most oysters.

Register online to attend the legislative reception only. Cost is $49.

State officials announced Monday the immediate temporary closure of shellfish waters. The temporary closures are due to rainfall and resultant runoff.

Division of Marine Fisheries Director Kathy B. Rawls, upon the recommendation of State Health Director Dr. Betsey Tilson, Department of Health and Human Services, announced the temporary closures.

It is unlawful for any person to take or attempt to take any oysters, clams or mussels or possess, sell or offer for sale any oysters, clams or mussels taken from the following polluted areas:  

• Carteret County — All waters in Newport River upstream of a line beginning at a point 34° 45.6960′ N- 76° 43.5180′ W on the south shore near Penn Point; running northeasterly to a point 34° 46.5733′ N – 76° 42.6350′ W on the north shore near the Hardesty Farms subdivision (near the Newport River DMF Shrimp Line). 
• All waters in Core Creek upstream of a line beginning at a point 34° 46.3210′ N – 76° 41.2515′ W on the west shore, running easterly near IWW Marker “25” to a point 34° 46.2251′ N – 76° 40.5919′ W on the east shore near the mouth of Ware Creek. 

The following waters in Brunswick, Pender, Onslow and Carteret counties also remain closed: 

• All those waters bordered on the east by a line beginning at a point 33° 54.2904’ N – 78° 23.6416’ W on the mainland near the Bricklanding Road Public Boat Ramp and IWW Beacon “84”; running southerly to a point 33° 54.1932’ N – 78° 23.6426’ W on Ocean Isle Beach near Ferry Landing Park; and bordered on the west by the South Carolina State Line, to include Tubbs Inlet. 
• Shallotte River – All those waters in Shallotte River upstream of a line beginning at a point 33° 54.8302’ N – 78° 22.3626’ W near Bowen Point; running southeasterly to a point 33° 54.6139’ N – 78° 21.7667’ W on Long Point. All those waters bordered on the east by IWW Beacon “48A” (33° 55.2179’ N – 78° 14.5628’ W) and bordered on the west by a line beginning at a point 33° 54.6855’ N – 78° 21.3550’ W on the mainland; running southerly through IWW Marker “71” to a point 33° 54.4311’ N – 78° 21.2898’ W on Holden Beach near the end of Sea View Drive. 
• Lockwoods Folly River – All those waters north of a line beginning at a point 33° 55.5678’ N – 78° 13.8043’ W on the south shore of Spring Creek near the mouth; running easterly to a point 33° 55.4621’N – 78° 13.1714’ W near the northern tip of Sheep Island; thence running southeasterly to a point 33° 55.2284’N – 78° 12.7791’ W near the northwest point of Horse Island, to include a portion of the Intracoastal Waterway north of Horse and Sheep Islands.  All those waters bordered on the north by a line beginning at a point 34° 31.1227’ N – 77° 22.3142’ W on the mainland, running southerly near Beacon “15” to a point 34° 31.0527’ N – 77° 22.2654’ W on North Topsail Beach, near Galleon Bay; and bordered on the south by the Surf City Bridge, to include the Intracoastal Waterway, Stump Sound, Alligator Bay, and Chadwick Bay.
• Salliers Bay – All those waters in Salliers Bay upstream of a straight line across the mouth, beginning at a point 34° 33.1889’ N – 77° 18.4769’ W on the west shore; running northeasterly to a point 34° 33.3700’ N – 77° 18.1223’ W on the east shore. 
• White Oak River – All those waters in White Oak River upstream of a line beginning at a point 34° 41.9497′ N  -77° 06.9846′ W on the west shore; running easterly near the northern tip of Jones Island to a point 34° 41.9395′ N  -77° 05.6599′ W on the east shore. 
• North River – All those waters in North River upstream of a line beginning at a point on the west shore at 34° 46.0460′ N – 76° 37.0517′ W, running easterly to a point on the east shore at 34° 46.2731′ N – 76° 35.4724′ W (near the DMF Shrimp Line). 
• Ward Creek – All those waters in Ward Creek upstream of a line beginning at a point on the north shore at 34° 46.2731′ N – 76° 35.4724′ W, running southerly to a point on the south shore at 34° 45.4556′ N – 76° 35.1587′ W (near the Ward Creek DMF Shrimp Line). 
• Whitehurst Creek – All those waters in Whitehurst Creek upstream of a straight line across the mouth, beginning at a point 34° 43.5146′ N – 76° 33.3428′ W on the west shore; running easterly to a point 34° 43.5511′ N – 76° 33.1664′ W on the east shore. 
• Sleepy Creek – All those waters in Sleepy Creek upstream of a straight line across the mouth, beginning at a point 34° 43.2745′ N – 76° 31.4600′ W on the west shore; running easterly to a point 34° 43.2672′ N – 76° 31.2792′ W on the east shore.
• Oyster Creek – All those waters in Oyster Creek upstream of a straight line across the mouth, beginning at a point 34° 48.8185′ N – 76° 26.9761′ W on the west shore; running northeasterly to a point 34° 48.9768′ N – 76° 26.6340′ W on the east shore.

Visit the Shellfish Sanitation and Recreational Water Quality website to see active shellfish closures and swimming advisories.

The Shellfish Sanitation Temporary Closure Public Viewer shows both the permanently closed shellfish harvest areas and those temporarily closed due to rainfall, stormwater runoff or other causes of short-term contamination such as wastewater spills.

Featured Image

Low tide exposes clusters of oysters clinging to the piles supporting the Morehead City-Beaufort high-rise bridge over the Newport River and near the Radio Island Fishing Pier. Photo: Dylan Ray

Qualified shellfish growers in all North Carolina coastal counties now can apply for loans of up to $50,000 for business-related expenses such as payroll or equipment.

With more than 1.4 million acres of coastal waters biologically and physically suited for shellfish growing, the new Shellfish Growers Loan Program announced Wednesday was designed to foster the state’s shellfish aquaculture industry.

Thread Capital, a subsidiary of the North Carolina Rural Center, and the Beaufort-based Array Community Development Corp., which specializes in innovative programs and strategies that support individuals, small businesses and organizations, worked with the North Carolina Coastal Federation to create the program. The federation publishes Coastal Review.

“We are excited to be able to offer this new loan product specifically to shellfish growers in North Carolina,” Thread Capital Executive Director Jonathan Brereton said in a statement. “The economic and environmental impact of this program will be invaluable and ensure that the shellfish industry will continue to grow and thrive in North Carolina, and we are grateful for all the partners involved in making this program a reality.”

The working capital and/or equipment loans of up to $50,000 are available to new and existing shellfish growers who already have a lease from the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality as well as United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency Noninsured Disaster Assistance Program coverage. Terms will be from 12 to 60 months, depending on the use of loan funds.

“Communities thrive when small businesses are able to access resources and supportive services. Locally driven solutions combined with strong community partnerships often spark sustainable job growth and we are honored to participate in this initiative to assist shellfish growers,” Lavonda Daniels, vice president of Array Community Development Corp. said in a statement.

Array Community Development Corp. notes on its website that they “have a specific focus on small businesses that are owned by people of color, women, low-income individuals, and rural-based individuals.”

Establishing a loan program was a recommendation in the “North Carolina Strategic Plan For Shellfish Mariculture: A Vision To 2030,” a larger strategy that aims to grow the industry to $100 million in market value and create 1,000 new jobs by 2030.

Funds for this program were earmarked in the state budget passed in November 2021.

The federation was instrumental in getting the project off the ground with an eye on revitalization for the region, economic development, and environmental protection, officials said.

Federation Assistant Director of Policy Ana Zivanovic-Nenadovic said that this is an important step in growing the shellfish farming industry in the state. She represented the federation as a chairperson on the advisory committee that developed the strategic plan.

“The program will allow the growers to reach their full potential which in turn will strengthen the coastal economy. By scaling up their businesses and putting more oysters in the water the growers will add to the Federation’s overall efforts of enhancing and preserving the quality of coastal waters and its natural habitat,” she said.

North Carolina is “shellebrating” Oyster Week Monday through Sunday

Coinciding with the start of the wild-caught oyster season, the shellebration includes engaging with oyster growers and harvesters, seafood restaurants and retail markets, recreational outfitters, coastal conservation and education organizations, and seafood festivals.

North Carolina Sea Grant, the North Carolina Coastal Federation, and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources are partnering with the NC Oyster Trail on the week of activities.

North Carolina Oyster Week events include cultivated and wild-caught oysters alike from new and returning participating organizations and businesses.

A full list of events is posted on the websites of the NC Oyster Trail and NCDNCR.

Crucial to North Carolina’s marine and coastal environments, oysters provide food and shelter for a variety of other animals, reduce shoreline erosion by buffering waves, filter water, and bolster a thriving shellfish industry, according to Sea Grant. Additionally, the state’s shellfish industry provided in 2019 over $27 million in economic impact and 532 jobs in the state, supporting the livelihoods of those who work the waters and sustaining traditional working waterfront communities.

“Oysters benefit our state in myriad ways. North Carolina Oyster Week events will highlight the ecology, culture, economy, and history related to this vital resource,” ” Jane Harrison, Sea Grant’s coastal economist, said in a statement. “From N.C. oyster happy hours to volunteer events on the coast to maintain living shorelines, there is something for everyone during NC Oyster Week.”

While some activities have already taken place, there are plenty of ways to celebrate the oyster across the state this month.

Oyster specials all month long Coquina Fish Bar, Wilmington. The chef will create specials during NC Oyster Week to highlight the bivalve. Every Sunday this month, the restaurant will offer $1.50 select oysters by the half or full dozen.

Tackle Box Lures: Local N.C. oysters this month at Catch Restaurant, Wilmington. “Tackle Box Lures” are North Carolina oysters prepared specially by award-winning Chef Keith Rhodes. Oysters are $2 each Tuesday through Saturday during regular business hours.

Oysters Uncovered 2-3:30 p.m. Oct. 13, Oct. 20 and Oct. 27 with the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s Wanchese office and Blue Water Grill & Raw Bar in Manteo. Ticketholders will be able to tour the federation’s demonstration oyster farm, learning about oysters and how a typical farm works, then head to to Blue Water for a half-dozen North Carolina oysters and Blue Water’s signature oyster shooter. Additional food and beverages are available for purchase, but are not included in the $50 event ticket. Tickets are on Blue Water Grill’s website.

Oyster special at Locals Seafood 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 14, Oct. 21 and Oct. 28 at Locals Seafood, Durham Food Hall. Locals Seafood will have $2 oysters on the half shell at its Durham restaurant every Wednesday of this month.

Oyster specials all week long at Wrightsville Beach Brewery. The brewery will offer a half-dozen oysters on the half shell from Middlesound Mariculture and N. Sea Oyster Co. for $15 all week long. There will be live music 6-9 p.m. Thursday with David Dixon and Mac & Juice Duo 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday.

Oyster happy hour at Seabird 5-6 p.m. Monday, Thursday and Sunday at Seabird in Wilmington. $1 shucked oysters from North Carolina.

Oyster happy hour 2-6 p.m. Monday through Friday at Sea Level NC, Charlotte. There will be $1.50 Sea Level Salts oysters from Morris Family Shellfish Farm in Sea Level, NC. No minimums, no limits, dine in only.

N.C. Buck-a-Shuck happy hour 4-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday at Blue Water Grill & Raw Bar, Manteo. A member of the North Carolina Oyster Trail, the restaurant is having $1 select N.C. oysters during happy hour.

Half-price oysters 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday at three10, downtown Wilmington. Half-price raw and broiled oysters. No limits, dine-in only.

Grits with NC oyster gravy at Saltbox 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday – Saturday at Saltbox Seafood Joint, Durham. Chef Ricky Moore is offering his grits and oyster gravy during shellfish week.

New River Oyster Highway open house 1-5 p.m. Thursday at Sturgeon City Education Center, Sturgeon City. Visit Sturgeon City Education Center to go on a self-paced walking tour and check out the oyster reefs from the observation deck. Educational displays and oyster experts will be on hand as well as a food truck.

Outer Banks Seafood Festival 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday in Nags Head. The Outer Banks Seafood Festival provides a fun educational experience promoting, honoring, and celebrating coastal seafood heritage and community.

Locals Seafood pop-up 5-8 p.m. Oct. 21 in Raleigh Wine Shop. Locals Seafood is hosting a dinner pop-up at Raleigh Wine Shop.

Oysters on the Mountain noon-4 p.m. Oct. 23 Native Prime Provisions, Cashiers. Live jazz with Tyler Kittle and a parking lot party with fresh shucked and grilled oysters. Enjoy special paired oyster & wine tastings as well as local mountain craft beers.

Fourth annual oyster roast noon-5 p.m. Oct. 30, Blue Water Grill & Raw Bar, Manteo on the docks at Mimi’s Tiki Hut. All-you-can-eat event with North Carolina oysters served raw or fire-roasted, drink specials and full menu will be available. Tickets are $45 in advance and $50 at the door.

For more information on North Carolina Oyster Week and the NC Oyster Trail visit https://ncoystertrail.org/nc-oyster-week/ or read the current issue of North Carolina Sea Grant’s Coastwatch magazine.

Daniel Bowling, a doctoral student in Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences at North Carolina State University, will study oyster habitat over the next two years at the North Carolina Coastal Reserve & National Estuarine Research Reserve as a Margaret A. Davidson Fellow recipient.

Bowling, who holds a bachelor’s in environmental science and marine biology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington, will assess the effectiveness of using remote sensing to monitor intertidal oyster habitat during the fellowship. This work is to advance his dissertation research to develop methods for a fishery-independent survey program for oysters in the state.

The Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship provides funding to graduate students to conduct estuarine research within one of the 30 reserves in National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration’s National Estuarine Research Reserve System.

Recent estimates find that North Carolina has nearly 5,000 acres of intertidal oyster reef habitat, but reefs are often hard to access, and mapping is very labor intensive, according to the Coastal Reserve.

Bowling is to help develop an approach that uses remote sensing to map the distribution of intertidal oyster reefs with unoccupied aircraft systems, or drones, and high-resolution satellite imagery. He will pair on-the-ground sampling with high resolution drone images to verify the efficacy of employing remote sensing to measure the distribution and health of intertidal oyster habitat at the Rachel Carson Reserve.

His research will provide the information and analytical tools to facilitate the development of new population assessment techniques for the Reserve’s resource managers and beyond.

He has worked with a stakeholder committee of representatives from North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, North Carolina Coastal Federation, The Nature Conservancy, commercial fishermen, and academic partners.

Through this partnership, he will ensure that mapping protocols and proposed sampling design also meet the needs of the Division of Marine Fisheries to sustainably manage the North Carolina’s oyster fishery.

He also plans to provide hands-on research experiences for undergraduates during the summer through the N.C. State’s Bob Simpson Minority Scholars program, which provides opportunities for North Carolina undergraduate students who identify as belonging to groups that are typically underrepresented in marine science.

Co-published with the Carteret County News-Times

Carteret County commissioners Monday night agreed to support the concept – but not yet the details – of a Carteret County Mariculture Hub at the county-owned and operated boat ramp at Straits in North River off Harkers Island Road.

Todd Miller, founder and executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, pitched the idea to commissioners during their monthly meeting in their chambers in the administration building on Courthouse Square.

Basically, Miller told the board, the idea is to use an unused acre at the boat ramp to build a dock and a 50-by-50-foot building with refrigerated storage so shellfish farmers, mostly oyster growers, can bring their products to shore and store them until they can be picked up for distribution elsewhere.

The Coastal Federation is seeking grants to build the facilities. Miller said it would not be a retail operation and agreed that his organization would try to site the facility in such a way as to help county commissioners find a way to still put in two additional boat ramps at the facility.

Commissioner Chris Chadwick, who represents the Down East communities, said that was an important consideration, as the existing ramp is overcrowded and chaotic at peak usage times.

The Coastal Federation for many years has been engaged in a long-term effort to increase oyster production in coastal North Carolina, in part to buoy the economy but also to protect and improve water quality.

Oysters filter pollutants as they feed.

Miller told commissioners the North Carolina General Assembly is strongly supportive of growing the oyster farming industry and believes growth would be a public benefit. The legislature has set a goal of increasing production from an economic benefit to the state of $6 million in 2018 to $100 million by 2030.

Carteret County, he said, leads the state in oysters grown in leases approved by the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, and many of those are in North River, making the Straits site a good choice for a hub. The Division of Marine Fisheries is also supportive, he said.

In 2010, statewide, there were 10,000 bushels of farm-raised oysters, and by 2021, there were 60,000 bushels, so the industry is already growing. After a dip following Hurricane Florence in 2018 and during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of applications for leases is also growing.

A recent study, Miller said, identified training, water access and refrigerated storage as hurdles to growth of the industry.

But, he said, the aquaculture program at Carteret Community College is already doing a great job with training, so with improvements in those other two areas, there is a lot of room for expansion of the industry.

He said he believes there is room on the Straits site, with re-permitting from the state, for the proposed facility and additional boat ramps.

Commissioner Jimmy Farrington of Emerald Isle, who represents a portion of western Carteret County, noted that the county, through its Shore Protection Office, had worked successfully with the Coastal Federation on several projects, including dredging and a living shoreline with a rock sill and planting of wetlands vegetation, at Atlantic Harbor in Down East.

The main thing, he said to Miller, is for the growers to work together with the federation and the county to make the idea feasible and successful.

Chris Matteo, president of the North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association, also spoke at the meeting Monday and said he believes that will happen.

“I’m committed,” he said.

As a result of the discussion, Carteret County Manager Tommy Burns is to write a letter in support of the concept, at the direction of the commissioners.

Miller is to return to the commission at some point with more details. He noted that there is a long way to go, as permits must be obtained for the building and for the dock.

Researchers and shellfish growers say that this season has been rife with mass oyster die-offs.

Exact triggers for these oyster mortality events are highly variable and are the subject of ongoing research.

Bob Rheault, executive director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, told Coastal Review these die-offs have been a longstanding issue in parts of the mid-Atlantic, with “lots of confounding clues” but no clear answers.

“Summer mortality,” the seasonal loss of oysters during the summer months, is a familiar phenomenon, but this year’s mortality events appear to be especially severe and widespread.

Mark Ciesielski, a doctoral candidate in the Noble Lab in the University of North Carolina Institute of Marine Sciences in Morehead City, is part of a team of researchers from multiple universities investigating the complex factors behind oyster mortality events. He said this season had been brutal for farmed oysters, with big losses across the board at his North Carolina study sites. 

Ciesielski’s oyster mortality research with Dr. Rachel Noble is supported by the state Commercial Fishing Resource Fund and with new state funding effective in July, the North Carolina Policy Collaboratory.

The team is looking for causes, and not just for this year’s problem, but it’s likely a complex confluence of factors. 

Dr. Tal Ben-Horin is an aquatic pathologist and head of the North Carolina State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology’s Shellfish Pathology Laboratory, one of the partners involved in the project. His lab in Morehead City studies pathogen and disease impacts on shellfish aquaculture and has been working to understand the root causes behind these mortality events, wherein seemingly healthy oysters suddenly die.

“Sometimes the oysters are fine one day and dead the next,” Ben-Horin said.

He has observed that one common characteristic of summer mortality is an effect on the oyster’s ability to regenerate cells in its gastrointestinal tract.

“Typically, oysters regenerate these cells,” Ben-Horin said. “What we see associated with these events is no regeneration.”

The result is that the oysters then starve to death. Not all of them show visible symptoms, but some of them are quite obviously affected.

“There’s just nothing left,” Ben-Horin said. “The animals are withered away.”

Also involved in the project are Ami Wilbur at UNC Wilmington and Jess Small and Corinne Audemard at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science.

Widespread, similar timing

What was unique about this year, said Ben-Horin, is the geographic scope — and that across a large area, mortality events within individual estuaries all seemed to happen at the same time.

On May 23, several farm sites reported shellfish mortalities of varying severity, from as far south as Stump Sound in Onslow County to as far north as Nelson Bay in Carteret County, about 115 miles of coastline. Several of these events were extreme, with an industry partner’s site in Stump Sound losing up to 90% of its oysters.

When so many events happen at the same time, it suggests an environmental trigger. Ben-Horin suspects that the combination of hot temperatures and increased salinity might be the driving force behind these mortalities. At the same time, oysters are highly adaptable.

Instead of the environmental factors being a trigger for the oysters, Ben-Horin is investigating whether the environmental factors are actually stressing out microbial communities in the water column, which are in turn infecting oyster hosts. Researchers are cataloging microbial communities before, during and after mortality events — not just accounting for what species are present, but what genes they have.

As far as this year goes, Ben-Horin is optimistic that the worst has passed. While the losses this season were monumental, the oysters that survived tend to be just fine.

“The remaining oysters do really well once you get past the event,” Ben-Horin said. During this past week’s visit to his most heavily impacted study site in Core Sound, he observed no new mortality.

Anecdotally, it seems as though these mortality events affect cultured oysters more than natural reefs. As Ben-Horin continues to investigate the microbial communities associated with these events, it may reveal helpful information for growers in the future.

The ultimate goal is to increase the understanding of why these events happen so that growers can have insight into how to make their oysters more resilient to mass mortality incidents.

“We really want to piece this story together,” Ben-Horin said.

NEWPORT — The Coastal Environmental Partnership is working with the North Carolina Coastal Federation to help ramp up oyster shell recycling throughout Craven and Pamlico counties.

It’s illegal to dispose of oyster shell in North Carolina landfills. The Coastal Federation’s Recycling for Reefs program collects recycled oyster shells and uses them to build oyster reefs and living shorelines. Oysters provide important habitats for fish, crabs, shrimp and other species. They also help clean and filter the water.

The Coastal Federation announced Friday that new shell recycling drop-off sites are open in Craven and Pamlico counties for public use. The Coastal Environmental Partnership has partnered with the federation to host the shell drop-off sites at two of its facilities. Craven County is collecting shell at a county convenience site.

Drop off oyster shell at the following locations:

• The CEP Grantsboro Transfer Station at 3291 N.C. 306 North, Grantsboro. 
• The CEP Tuscarora Landfill at 7400 Old U.S. 70 West, New Bern.
• The Craven County Convenience Center at 7240 U.S. 70 East, New Bern.

Students from Swansboro and Havelock high schools adorned dumpsters for oyster shell recycling with oyster-themed murals.

Oyster populations have decreased 90% along the coast over the last 100 years. The Coastal Federation said it is vital to take every step possible to protect and restore oyster populations, which in turn supports better water quality.

One way you can help oysters is to recycle oyster shells.

When dropped off at official recycling locations your shells can be used properly and strategically to support the new growth of oysters.

“Whether from an oyster roast, restaurant, or backyard cookout, every shell collected can help protect and restore our coast,” the federation said. Oyster shells are a valuable resource costing up to $3 per bushel when purchased for coastal restoration.

From 2003 to 2018, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries operated a state-funded oyster shell recycling program that provided 6-15% of the shell needed for restoration projects. The state- run oyster shell recycling program ended in 2018 due to budget cuts and staff reductions.

The Coastal Federation is working to fill that gap by providing a way for the public and businesses to support a healthy coastal environment and keep shells out of the trash. The Recycling for Reefs program in Craven and Pamlico counties is funded by the Bosch Foundation. For a complete list of coastwide recycling sites visit nccoast.org.

Last year was a banner year for farmed oyster production in North Carolina, with a 111% increase compared to the previous year.

The state’s shellfish industry had $27 million in economic impact and supported 532 jobs in 2019, according to the latest available economic totals, and various groups are working together to double the number of jobs by the end of the decade.

Legislation introduced last week would fund numerous projects to protect coastal water quality to the tune of $8.5 million. Of that, $1 million is to match a federal grant for oyster sanctuary development, which is seen as key to growing oyster populations, improving water quality and supporting the shellfish industry.

On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, filed House Bill 1151, which would provide money for living shorelines, oyster sanctuaries, marine debris cleanup and other water quality projects and for promoting the North Carolina Oyster Trail, a collaborative effort to promote oyster-based tourism experiences aimed at culinary travelers. The measure passed a first reading Tuesday and was referred to the House appropriations committee.

Hanig introduced the measure after a meeting Tuesday of the Marine Resources and Aquaculture Committee, which he chairs. The meeting included presentations by various groups seeking to advance the oyster farming industry and wild oyster restoration efforts, including seafood purveyors and the nonprofit North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, North Carolina Sea Grant and the North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association.

“This bill provides policy guidance and more financial resources to enhance water quality and the resiliency of our coastal communities while increasing the productivity of our coast’s fishery habitats,” said Coastal Federation Executive Director Todd Miller.

Demand for NC oysters outpacing supply

Ryan Speckman and Lin Peterson launched Locals Seafood out of the back of a truck in Raleigh in 2010, specializing in North Carolina seafood. They told the House committee that back then, the product was all wild oysters.

Now, Speckman said, they’re probably the largest distributor of different varieties of North Carolina farmed oysters. The seafood company trucks in oysters from all along the state’s coastline to distribute to restaurants, markets and stores in the Triangle. The company also operates two oyster bars, one in downtown Raleigh and the other in downtown Durham. 

Speckman said the oyster industry is “definitely an area that we can see more growth, and there’s a lot more potential.”

Peterson added that even though the company is built on connecting North Carolina consumers with North Carolina products, demand is greater than supply and the company must bring in oysters from out of state.

But, there’s evidence that the state’s oyster industry is growing to meet the demand.

Jane Harrison, North Carolina Sea Grant coastal economics specialist, told the committee that the goal of a $100 million shellfish industry in North Carolina that supports 1,000 jobs by 2030 was possible, “looking at our trajectory over the last few years.”

The goals had been set as part of the 2019 North Carolina Strategic Plan for Shellfish Mariculture that the legislature had mandated two years earlier.

Harrison said that 2019 was the first year that farmed oysters contributed more than wild oysters in total economic value. Although there were over the past decade declining production values for wild oysters and clams, market growth for farmed oysters is “really bringing the value to our shellfish industry these days,” she told the committee.

Evidence of that growth can be seen in the number of shellfish farming leases. From 2020 to 2021, Harrison said there was a 10% increase in the number of leases. She added that North Carolina is seeing mostly water column leases, which allow floating cages, and bottom leases where oysters are grown below the surface. “We see higher productivity, really a better investment,” with water column leases, she said.

During the period, there was a 22% increase in water column lease acreage.

“Why does that matter? Again, because these (water column leases) are more productive. So because we have more productive farms coming online, we’re going to hopefully have much higher production numbers, shellfish landings and economic value,” Harrison said.

Although hurricanes and the coronavirus pandemic had slowed interest somewhat, the trend is improving again.

“We are seeing a pickup just from last year,” Harrison said, “a 16% increase in the number of applications to establish these kinds of farms.”

Along with the growth in oyster farming, Harrison said the decline in wild oyster harvests could be reversed.

“We can bring those back if we improve water quality, if we invest in oyster sanctuaries, in the habitat that supports them. The farmed oysters are making up some of the some of the losses,” she said.

Closed to shellfishing

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries has an interactive map on its website that shows where waters are temporarily or permanently closed to shellfishing because of pollution. Other waters are off-limits to shellfishing because of moratoriums on shellfish leasing. 

Sanctuaries not only create oyster habitat, they also lead to improved water quality.

Erin Fleckenstein, coastal specialist with the North Carolina Coastal Federation and a presenter during the committee meeting, told members that much progress had been made in the year since the most recent update on the North Carolina Oyster Blueprint, a plan for restoring and protecting oyster habitat. More than 50 stakeholders across the state worked on the blueprint.

“We’ve made a lot of progress in the last year since that blueprint has come out,” Fleckenstein told the committee, adding that the successes have been because of the state’s investment in the oyster industry and improving water quality.

A program to build oyster sanctuaries is on track to reach the Oyster Blueprint goal of building an additional 100 acres of oyster sanctuary in Pamlico Sound by 2025. Fleckenstein said the sanctuary program had a 25-year track record of success and “we’re poised really well to reach that goal of 500 acres of oyster sanctuary by 2025.”

There are currently 15 oyster sanctuaries in Pamlico Sound as part of the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network that together cover about 260 acres. Oyster sanctuaries make up only about 6% of all oyster reefs in Pamlico Sound but contribute nearly 40% of the sound’s oyster population.

Harvesting is prohibited in oyster sanctuaries. They are protected to encourage growth of large, healthy oyster populations. Each year, the oysters produce millions of eggs that are carried by currents and tides to surrounding areas.

Jason Peters, who oversees the sanctuary, artificial reef and cultch planting programs for the North Carolina Division Marine Fisheries, told the committee that oyster sanctuaries are half of a two-prong approach to restoring the oyster population. The other prong is the open-harvest cultch-planting program, which supports the wild-harvest industry. The division builds the open-harvest reefs, and when the oysters reach the right size they can be harvested.

Pamlico Sound is the primary focus of the sanctuary program, Peters said.

Each oyster sanctuary site covers about 80 acres. Work began last year on Cedar Island sanctuary, the current project, which is permitted to be about 75 acres and expected to be complete in 2024.

“Oyster sanctuaries do in fact strengthen and support the oyster population in Pamlico Sound,” Peters said. The sanctuary sites produce lots of oyster larvae, which is dispersed into the water column and then settles on reef sites.

While the sites represent a small fraction of the total oyster habitat in Pamlico Sound, sanctuaries in the sound are producing about 25% of the larvae that are supplied to the ecosystem.

Peters emphasized the sanctuary network’s role in supporting the entire Pamlico Sound oyster population.

“Those larvae spread all throughout the Pamlico Sound and support reefs that are open to harvest. They subsidize commercially harvested reefs with critically important larvae,” he said. “And among other benefits, they are spectacular water filters, filtering dramatic amount of water with a small area so quite a benefit. and they last a long time and then.”

Not only are the oyster sanctuaries providing habitat for fish and oysters, but they’re also creating economic opportunities in coastal communities, said Fleckenstein, who cited Stephens Towing Co. as an example. The company has long worked with the federation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in building reefs in Pamlico Sound.

Will Hollowell, the company’s operations manager, told the committee that the company was equipped to build reefs at the right pace and at the right price. With one barge, more than 1,000 tons of rock or other materials can be placed in a day. And the work also employs others, such as the truck drivers who are moving rock from North Carolina quarries to the barge operators who are coastal residents. 

Along with reefs, demand for living shorelines has continued to grow, Fleckenstein told the committee. She said living shorelines also provide oyster habitat and they gird shorelines from erosion and protect and improve water quality, which is key to supporting the shellfish industry.

“We don’t want to risk the great reputation of North Carolina oysters by having people getting sick (from) eating oysters that are grown in poor water quality,” she said.

Fleckenstein told Coastal Review that Hanig had requested annual updates to the committee on the progress. She said the legislature’s desire to understand the progress being made in North Carolina’s oyster work was encouraging.

Less encouraging, as members of the committee noted, were moratoriums that prevent development of oyster farming operations in certain waters.

One moratorium in Brunswick County dates back to 1967 and another for a portion of Core Sound to 1993. The General Assembly in 2019 enacted shellfish moratoriums in waters from the Wrightsville Beach drawbridge through Masonboro Inlet to the mouth of Snows Cut in New Hanover County and in Bogue Sound in Carteret County that were to expire in 2021 but were extended last year until 2026.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, suggested that the committee consider ways to address the moratoriums. Hanig agreed, saying it was imperative.

“This industry impacts traditionally low-wealth counties, and we do everything we can to build them up,” Hanig said.

Chris Matteo, head of North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association, a trade association representing about 70 growers in the state, and owner of Carteret County-based Chadwick Oysters, explained how much the shellfish industry means economically. North Carolina oysters are being sold out of state and that money is coming back into the state’s economy, he said.

“The impact on the state’s rural economic development is also meaningful and expanding every year. A lot of us grow oysters in areas that are not a great place to make a living, and it’s really impacting the local economies in a positive way,” said Matteo.

He told the committee that investments made in the shellfish industry “are really beginning to pay off.” The fact that the industry continues to grow after storms and during the pandemic, he said, “is really a testament to your support and to the tenacity of the group that grows shellfish in the state.”  

Indigenous peoples in North America and Australia sustainably harvested oysters for thousands of years before colonials moved into coastal areas, according to a newly released archaeological study.

The study, released Tuesday, makes the case that the future of oyster management lies in big part in Indigenous communities of the past.

“One of the takeaways I really hope that biologists and members of the public get from this is that Indigenous peoples in North America and Australia and, really all over the world, have long histories with their local ecosystems and that includes oysters,” Torben Rick, curator of the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History’s North American Archaeology Department of Anthropology and co-author of the study, told Coastal Review. “To effectively steward or manage oysters in the future I think the first thing we need to do is broaden the dialogue, widen the table and involve Indigenous communities in discussions about how to manage oysters in the future.”

The history of the critical decline of North America’s oyster populations after colonists settled in the early 1600s is a well-known, well-documented story.

Overfishing, development, wetland loss and steadily declining water quality are among the culprits that have led to today’s great decline in oyster reefs and oyster populations sitting at historic lows.

Written records tell us the numbers of oysters harvested, where they were harvested and their market value dating back to the early 1700s.

But that information is limited to colonial, capitalist economy oyster fisheries.

“As a group of archaeologists working in these regions, we always thought there’s so much more to this story,” he said. “We knew there were Indigenous peoples in these areas for thousands of years prior to that who were harvesting oysters.”

What do their stories have to offer us? How can they, as archaeologists, paint a more wholistic picture?

They started by picking up on a study published in 2004 that examined the history of oyster fisheries in eastern and western North America and part of Australia after colonists moved into coastal areas on those continents.

“For Indigenous fisheries, we don’t have that kind of information,” Rick said.

For one, Indigenous peoples were engaged in oyster harvesting in a much different fashion than capitalist economies, he said. And there aren’t many written accounts of Indigenous oyster fisheries. What remains is some ethnohistory and historic accounts and Native American oral tradition.

“But really the way we understand past oyster harvest is looking to archaeology,” Rick said. “We often don’t know about it, but literally right underneath our feet are archaeological sites that are a testament to Indigenous peoples’ use of the landscape that persist through communities that are here today.”

All around and along our coasts, written in the landscape, are historical records that span hundreds to thousands of years of indigenous oyster harvests.

They’re called middens, mounds of shellfish, fish and deer bones and plant remains — all the things Indigenous peoples were harvesting from the landscapes around them.

There are literally thousands of middens up and down the Atlantic Coast.

Many are small and ephemeral. Others, such as those in Crystal River, Florida, are massive.

For a long time, archaeologists referred to middens as trash pits, a false characterization, Rick said.

Middens were deeply intertwined with Indigenous peoples’ ceremonial and ritual lives. These sites embody their daily activity.

By pairing historical written data with what they excavated at the sites, archaeologists were able to glean that different indigenous communities used oysters in different ways. In Georgia and South Carolina, for example, Native Americans used oyster shells as a form of engineering to construct shell rings, curved shell middens next to estuaries.

Such massive mounds of oyster shells, also found in the San Francisco Bay, show that Indigenous peoples had practices in place to steward and manage oysters.

“They persisted,” Rick said. “They don’t collapse like we see in the historic period. They don’t get dramatically affected by overharvest and that’s not to say there wasn’t overharvest in the past because there are localized examples, but on a large time scale people were doing and living in a way that they were able to harvest these sustainably over a long period of time.”

North Carolina is not included in the study. That’s not because middens do not exist here, Rick said, but rather because there is not as much published information about the archaeological sites in this state.

Bonnie Newsom, an assistant professor at the University of Maine and a member of the Penobscot Indian Nation, knew before she took part in this study that Indigenous peoples had sophisticated systems of food procurement for millennia.

“What I learned through doing the research to help with this paper is that it wasn’t just a short period of time,” she said. “I think, for me, one of the things that I took away with the work was to realize that it is something that has not faded away or is gone, it’s just changed over time.”

Indigenous peoples in Maine have a strong birch bark tradition, one that harvests bark in a way that doesn’t damage the tree.

“I like to tell people that if indigenous people were not sustainable in their efforts there would have been no birch here,” Newsom said. “In some ways I feel like it’s the same thing for oysters. If they hadn’t practiced these kind of sustainable harvest methods for millennia there wouldn’t have been any here for people when they came here. I think there’s a lesson in that that when we’re thinking about our future generations, we need to make decisions for them, not for our current purposes.”

She cautions that, while it is important to engage Indigenous peoples in that conversation, it needs to be done in a way that benefits Indigenous communities.

“I think what has to happen is there has to be some sort of partnered agreement where everybody benefits from working together on managing oysters better,” she said. “The first thing is building relationships around this topic and all topics and then coming up with a way to make sure that everybody is recognized for their contributions.”

Shellfish growers have access to a free online tool that will help them better predict when their lease will be closed temporarily after a rainstorm.

The North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries issues temporary closures when stormwater pollutes coastal waters, which can contaminate shellfish. Contaminated shellfish can lead to illness when consumed.

The new online application, called ShellCast, gauges the risk — very low, low, moderate, high, very high — of a growing area temporarily closing on that day, the next day or two days later, but does not include official closures currently in effect. Information on closures is available on the Division of Marine Fisheries website or the Shellfish Sanitation Temporary Closure Public Viewer.

The project was funded by North Carolina Sea Grant, which announced the tool last week, as a core research project for its 2020-22 cycle,

“Temporary closures of shellfish harvest areas are a big challenge for many North Carolina shellfish growers and can have a big effect on inventory management, cash flow, and ultimately the bottom line,” said Eric Herbst, North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal aquaculture specialist, in a news release.

North Carolina State University engineers and computer scientists developed the tool with the following key partners: Kathie Dello and John McGuire with the North Carolina State Climate Office; David Glenn with the National Weather Service Morehead City/Newport office;  Andrew Haines of the Division of Marine Fisheries in Morehead City; A.K. Leigh with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science in Oxford, Maryland; Chris Matteo, North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association president and owner of Chadwick Creek Oyster Co.; and Ken Riley with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, NOAA in Beaufort.

Once growers create a ShellCast account, they can add their lease sites and view those and nearby growing areas on the ShellCast map page. The forecast provides estimates on the risk that a lease site or growing area will be temporarily closed due to excess rainfall. It is beneficial to add leases because lease rainfall thresholds can vary and lead to different chances of closure even within the same growing area, according to the website. Growers can sign up to receive email or text message notifications if their shellfish lease sites are likely to be temporarily closed.

While growers are always instructed to yield to formal announcements and requirements for closure, ShellCast provides guidance to growers on how best to navigate potential closures. 

“Knowing the likelihood of a closure occurring in the immediate future can help drive decisions regarding resource and time allocation to mitigate or manage the effects of a pending closure on their business,” Herbst said. 

The ShellCast project started in 2020 under Natalie Nelson, who leads the Biosystem Analytics Lab at N.C. State. In addition to Sea Grant, the tool is supported by N.C. State’s biological and agricultural engineering department, and the Southeast Coastal Ocean Observing Regional Association. ShellCast was presented at the Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation Biennial Conference in November 2021.

Sheila Saia, member of the app’s web development team who is now associate director of the North Carolina State Climate Office, is to present updates and future directions for ShellCast at the North Carolina Aquaculture Development Conference March 12. Register for the conference at ncaquaculture.com.

Guest commentary

It may sound too good to be true that one, palm-sized organism could filter water, provide habitat, secure the coastline, and be a delicious, nutritious powerhouse on the plate. But it’s not a gimmick — the oyster does it all.

In North Carolina, a consortium of government, university, business and nonprofit stakeholders are working to restore historically depleted oyster populations in tandem with designing resilient wetlands, building a thriving industry, and preserving an icon of coastal heritage. North Carolina leads the way nationally in its collaborative, multifaceted approach to protecting, restoring, harvesting, and educating people about oysters.

In support of this superhero species, North Carolina Forever is working to spark awareness about oysters and the people behind the nimble and broad effort to bolster them as a catalyst for a resilient future, where people and ecosystems thrive. North Carolina Forever is a bipartisan coalition of North Carolinians — from businesses, agricultural, conservation and environmental organizations — aiming to influence legislation and secure the funding necessary to keep a promise held by the state constitution: “to conserve and protect its lands and waters for the benefit of all its citizenry.”

On Dec. 14, 2021, NC Forever hosted an educational webinar exploring the kaleidoscopic benefits of oysters to our state. This panel discussion entitled, “Oysters! Good for the economy. Great for the environment. Even better for dinner!” was the final installment of a five-webinar series sponsored by State Employees Credit Union and aimed at engaging stakeholders around vital issues facing North Carolina’s lands and waters.

Convened for this aquaculture deep dive were: Erin Fleckenstein of the North Carolina Coastal Federation, Jason Peters of the N.C. Division for Marine Fisheries, Tom
Looney of the Coastal Federation’s Coastal Executive Leadership Council, Rep. Bobby Hanig, R-Currituck, and Sen. Norman Sanderson, R-Pamlico. The webinar was moderated by Coastal Federation Executive Director Todd Miller, who is also a board member with NC Forever.

A coastal scientist with the federation who’s based in Wanchese, Fleckenstein kicked off
the conversation with a review of the comprehensive roadmap driving statewide strategy and action around oyster resiliency: the North Carolina Oyster Blueprint. Fleckenstein introduced the fourth edition of the Blueprint, which sets goals for the next five years, focusing on the four strategies of protecting, restoring, harvesting, and educating about oysters. She highlighted key actions within each strategy, including oyster sanctuaries, living shorelines, oyster shell recycling, cultch planting, and expanded outreach.

Fleckenstein noted that the Blueprint “is one of the only efforts in the country that outlines goals and actions to balance oyster habitat, water quality protection, oyster harvest, and oyster farming.”

Reviewing additional aspects of the Blueprint was Jason Peters, who oversees
shellfish restoration programs for the Division of Marine Fisheries. Peters’ enthusiasm for oysters and his work was clear; he admitted that his fiancé continually reminds him to cut the oyster talk after 5 p.m. He stressed that oysters offer us “so many services
other than just food value,” from environmental to economic. Peters shared recent developments in the oyster sanctuary and cultch planting programs, which he oversees and are further outlined within the Blueprint.

Currently there are around 400 acres protected through the oyster sanctuary program, which creates small, sheltered areas to foster high density oyster populations, spawning larvae and supporting wild species beyond their borders. These sanctuaries also support fish populations and filter vast amounts of water.

In 2020, the General Assembly approved $1.35 million in funding for the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network, which currently consists of 15 sanctuaries throughout the Pamlico Sound. The Blueprint sets a goal to build an additional 100 acres of sanctuary in Pamlico Sound by 2025.

The cultch planting program complements the work of these sanctuaries, restoring wild oyster habitat by establishing new reef sites using hard substrates like shell and limestone marl, which are deposited in strategic areas by barges. Peters is excited about the division’s recently received funding for the purchase of a new cultch planting vessel, which will be able to reach previously inaccessible areas in need of oyster habitat restoration, particularly in southern and remote parts of the North Carolina coast.

Peters emphasized that with frequent and increasingly severe storms, the power
of oyster reefs to stabilize sediments is critical to coastal habitat resilience, and
that the state’s interest in protecting these areas through shellfish restoration is
promising.

Key to legislative backing for this restoration and protection work has been the win-win equation of the oyster industry’s economic potential, alongside the ecosystem services they provide. Bringing to bear deep business expertise paired with a passion for aquaculture was Tom Looney, the third panelist to share his experiences. Looney illustrated a convergence of factors leading to the explosive growth of North Carolina aquaculture in recent years — an unlikely turnaround following at least 100 years of depleted oyster resources, and a historically anemic aquaculture industry.

Efforts to restore oyster habitat and population have been met with key developments in oyster breeding to awaken this latent economic engine along our coast. The development and improved availability of triploid oysters for year-round enjoyment (not just months containing the letter “r”), along with increased oyster shell thickness (for easier shucking), and a shorter maturation period, have made oysters more consistently marketable. These improvements have dramatically increased the viability of small-scale aquaculture operations.

Such developments were critical, Looney highlighted, in convincing the legislature that this industry could deliver prolific, solid jobs and bring sustainable economic growth to our coastal communities.

It can be notoriously tricky to bring bipartisan environmental and business interests on board with a shared legislative agenda. The Blueprint meets the moment of economic opportunity with sound guidance on how to restore, protect, and harvest the threatened coastal resources that allow this industry to exist, so that it can grow sustainably.

Sen. Sanderson said the Blueprint “impressed the Senate” with its efficacy and its thoughtfulness, stressing that not many plans come to their desks so ready to implement. The effectiveness of the Blueprint to garner bipartisan support strikes a note of hope as we face layered environmental challenges in North Carolina; not only is it a roadmap for sustained oyster resources, but a potentially useful framework for future
communication and conservation victories as well.

“No one is doing this kind of a program in the way North Carolina is doing it,” stressed
Sen. Sanderson, “and it’s all because of the wisdom, the scientific approach, and all the other facets that have come together to see this succeed. And I absolutely believe that it is going to succeed.”

Oysters have proven themselves to be worthy of investment. Today, there are over 200 oyster growers along the N.C. coast, generating $27 million in economic impact with over 500 new jobs created. The goal of the working group surrounding these oyster efforts is to generate $100 million in business and 1,000 jobs by 2030.

Empowering passionate people who want to join this emerging industry will be key to achieving these goals, but barriers to entry for growers have been significant. Thanks to the advocacy of the oyster experts convened, the legislature has approved $1 million in funding for low-cost loans catered to shellfish startups, via the N.C. Rural Center. Such loans will make starting an aquaculture business much more accessible.

The next phase of support for these entrepreneurs is a plan to line the coast of North Carolina with aquaculture business incubator programs, to foster healthy growth of sustainable businesses — alongside healthy growth of our coastal ecosystems.

This isn’t a venture to rush into, however. Sen. Sanderson emphasized, “You’ve
got to know what you’re getting into … this is hard work.”

Along with shellfish curricula at community colleges, the proposed incubator programs could help shape dreams into savvy business plans, bolstering the likelihood of successful ventures, and the conscious growth of the aquaculture industry.

Rep. Hanig highlighted the “really comprehensive” Senate Bill 648, entitled “Support Shellfish Aquaculture.” The legislation was passed unanimously in 2019, establishing a pilot project for large oyster leases, streamlining the permitting process for aquaculture operations, increasing areas available for aquaculture, and looking at ways to mitigate user conflicts in lease areas. Improved regulatory processes, in tandem with increased educational opportunities and accessible loans, aim to buoy new N.C. aquaculture ventures.

Consumers are critical to the longevity of any industry; all panelists stressed the importance of education and outreach for the continued enjoyment of our state’s treasured bivalves. Tom Looney highlighted that oyster consumption is doubling every five years; intentional communication strategies can ensure that those consumer cravings are connected with local resources.

Looney applauded The Oyster Trail — a connective platform with over 50 members
and a user-friendly app that links customers to oyster farms, restaurants, markets, and educational tours. Beyond this tool, N.C. oyster resources can now be found in state welcome centers, aquariums, and coastal museums.

“Many people weren’t even aware we had an oyster industry,” remarked Looney. “Today, we’re driving awareness in a big way.”

In addition to following The Oyster Trail throughout the state, citizens can engage in service to fortify our coastal ecosystems. The Coastal Federation offers opportunities for volunteers to plant native vegetation, recycle oyster shells, install rain gardens, clean up marine debris, and assist with outreach programs.

Not only does Erin Fleckenstein spend her working hours fighting for our coastline through strategy and science, she also spends time helping to restore wetland habitats. Fleckenstein explained that, if we can more effectively divert and filter water through the landscape— effectively removing pollutants before it hits the coast— we can help oysters do their jobs and thrive in greater numbers.

“It’s all coming back to water quality,” Fleckenstein maintained, “making sure the waters of our sound are supporting these restoration efforts.”

Rep. Hanig emphasized that the multi-layered benefits and increased awareness of oysters “are just huge for us here, especially in eastern North Carolina,” where some of the state’s most economically and geographically vulnerable communities are located.

While the aquaculture industry’s growth is a beacon of hope in North Carolina, there are significant challenges to navigate. Presently, the coronavirus pandemic and its pervasive disruptions present hurdles to oyster stakeholders, from the coast to the kitchen.

Hanig called attention to House Bill 916, which appropriated $17 million in meat and seafood processing grants, to support businesses in the creation of new programs for resiliency in the face of COVID-19.

Looking forward, Tom Looney underscored the growing challenges presented by erosion, sea level rise, and climate change. These ecological crises require unconventional partnerships working together for our shared natural resources,
taking bold action on behalf of NC’s intertwined communities and ecosystems.

Such unconventional, bold partnerships are central to North Carolina Forever’s
agenda to preserve our state’s natural resources.

In the face of these complex challenges, it is wise to follow the lead of the oyster, which holds the knowledge to restore our waters and support its neighbors — if only we can protect and bolster the wild spaces in which they thrive. In times like these, we have much to learn from the oyster.

To stimulate discussion and debate, Coastal Review welcomes differing viewpoints on topical coastal issues. See our guidelines for submitting guest columns. Opinions expressed by the authors are not necessarily those of Coastal Review or the North Carolina Coastal Federation. Submissions may be edited for clarity.

Brunswick County and the North Carolina Coastal Federation are partnering to increase oyster shell recycling by offering more drop-off sites throughout the county.

Recycled oyster shells are used to build or restore oyster reefs and provide habitat for other marine life. Oyster shells can cost up to $3 per bushel when purchased for coastal restoration. It is also illegal to dump the shells in North Carolina landfills making recycling a better option.

Brunswick County’s Solid Waste and Recycling Program, which has been collecting shell at the county landfill in Bolivia, now provides drop-off sites at the following convenience centers:

• Sunset Beach: 736 Seaside Road.
• Supply: 1709 Oxpen Road.
• Southport: 8392 River Road.
• Leland: 9921 Chappell Loop Road.

From 2003 to 2018, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries operated a state-funded oyster shell recycling program that provided 6 to 15% of the shell needed for restoration projects. The state-run oyster shell recycling program ended in 2018 as a result of budget cuts and staff reductions.

The federation, which publishes Coastal Review, is filling that gap by providing a way for people and businesses to support a healthy coastal environment and keep shells out of the trash. Support for the Cape Fear region Recycling for Reefs program comes from the Orton Foundation.

For a complete list of coastwide recycling sites, visit the website.

ST. JAMES — Years ago, the phrase “living shoreline” wasn’t well known in North Carolina outside of, say, the circles of coastal scientists and researchers.

“I don’t recall that at the time we used the term ‘living shoreline’ as much as we do today,” chuckled Taylor Ryan of St. James in Brunswick County. He’s project leader and founder of the community group, The Royal Order of the Honorary St. James Oysters.

When Ryan went to the University of North Carolina Wilmington and the North Carolina Coastal Federation, which publishes Coastal Review, to ask how his town could reduce erosion along its waterfront park, he had no idea his request would result in a burgeoning, 16-years-and-counting relationship forged by a passion for education, research and resiliency.

The small, relatively young town of St. James in Brunswick County in August created an endowment fund at the university with a gift of $25,000 to support students’ work and research at the town’s living shoreline, officials announced last month.

UNCW has more than 2,000 funds that support an array of programs, but the St. James endowment is special because it was set up by the town.

“This is unique in that the town actually created the endowment fund,” said Lindsay Crighton, director of development of UNCW’s Division for University Advancement. “This is unique because it is pairing a town and the university in looking at coastal resiliency and looking at how a coastal university can partner with a coastal community and have such an impact in the region.”

It all started in the mid-2000s when Ryan attended a seminar about oysters — specifically, the value of an oyster.

A single oyster can clean between 40 to 50 gallons of water a day, Ryan learned. Their shells can be incorporated into a living shoreline, one that is built of natural materials to stabilize and protected a shore.

Such a project sounded like the right fit for the shoreline along St. James’ Waterway Park nestled along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Ryan went to St. James’ then-Mayor Shelley Lesher to ask for $5,000 to kickstart a living shoreline project at Waterway Park. Her answer was an immediate “yes.”

Fast forward through the permitting process, which was not a simple one, to the first build, one where UNCW students and their professors, Coastal Federation officials and 94 St. James residents worked together.

Since that first build, 9,000 bushels of shells have been placed along the shoreline and more than 27,000 plugs of Spartina grass have been planted, according to St. James Mayor Jean Toner.

The town’s website states that some 540 feet of shoreline has been restored and stabilized with plans to do another 2,360 feet.

“Every year, twice a year, we have students and staff join with our residents to work along our intracoastal shoreline to build up the oyster reefs,” Toner said. “It’s been an excellent project. We’ve learned a great deal from the staff and students. We’ve really enjoyed the partnership we have with them. This program, in particular, I’ve just never seen this much dedication.”

Their enthusiasm ultimately led to a natural collaboration between the town and university, one that reaches beyond the confines of St. James’ boundaries and affords college students a treasure trove of research opportunities.

Over the past year and a half, the university has been hosting presentations open to residents in the region.

Those presentations have included conversations about coastal habitats and the dynamics of living shoreline erosion, issues that are of general interest to the broader community.

“When we’re doing a build it’s not just a build, it’s also an outreach and education,” said Martin Posey, a professor and director of UNCW’s Center for Marine Science.

The benefits of the project have become multifaceted.

“That’s one of the great aspects of having this long-term study where we’ve been able to see over the 15 years how has it done as we are beginning to get more storm effects and sea level rise,” Posey said. “And, the endowment sort of solidifies this research can continue another 10 or 15 years. We’re not going to be here forever, but the endowment will help ensure that work continues and we’re able to continue to see how do these systems respond in the long term when they’re faced with these pressures of climate change.”

Posey and Troy Alphin, senior research associate at the center’s Benthic Ecology Laboratory, have been involved in St. James’ living shoreline from the get-go.

The town’s support has afforded a great opportunity for dozens and dozens of students, both graduate and undergraduate, they said.

“The classroom is good. The classroom tells you the facts and the figures and the labs give you some controlled approach. But, to actually get out there and do the research, to see how things don’t always work out the way you want them to work out, to see the fact that results can be fuzzy and you have to sort of figure out what’s happening, to learn the art of science is something that is absolutely critical that has to be done hands-on,” Posey said.

Kenneth Halanych, who took the helm in June as the UNCW center’s executive director, said the relationship between the town and the university has an even broader outreach.

“Engaging both the community and the young researches in science really helps build the trust in science from the community perspective,” Halanych said.

“One of the things we’ve had a huge problem with in this country, especially in the last little bit, is the trust in science and the trust in expertise has been greatly eroded. So, this is a chance for scientists to go and interact with the community, to interact with young researchers or young individuals and say, look, the science is critical in your everyday life,” he said. “This sort of activity I actually think is really important for helping people understand the importance of science and the scientific process. These types of partnerships between communities and universities and the involvement with students is critical for building a productive future.”

The St. James endowment will provide funds to continue the partnership at the university and support students’ work in the town.

“Our hope is eventually that other people in Brunswick County, people that are interested in coastal resiliency and marine biology and applied learning at UNCW that they will be interested in supporting this fund as well because we want other towns, communities, etcetera to look at this opportunity and think well maybe we could do this as well,” Crighton said. “As more support comes in we’re going to be able to do more work, not only in the town of St. James, but also in Brunswick County and expand the ability to have more applied learning opportunities for our students at UNCW, which is a big thing.”

Hand harvest from public bottom begins at sunrise Friday, coinciding with North Carolina Oyster Week.

Continuing through Friday, NC Oyster Week is a virtual “shellebration” of the history, culture, economy, and ecology of oysters in the state organized by the state Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, NC Oyster Trail, North Carolina Sea Grant and the North Carolina Coastal Federation.

Events have been held already this week and there are several still ahead — all listed on the Natural and Cultural Resources website. These events are being shared on social media using the hashtags: #NCOysterWeek #NCOysters #GiveAShuck.

Oysters play their part to help the environment by filtering water, which helps improve water quality, and creating habitat for other animals. Oysters also help the economy once they’re harvested from the waterperson who harvests the oysters to the restaurant that sells local seafood.

Important to note is that after harvest, the oysters needs to be properly stored and chilled to ensure a healthy eating experience.

The state Division of Marine Fisheries provided the following safety tips regarding oysters: 

• Only purchase oysters from licensed dealers. These dealers are inspected and required to keep oysters under refrigeration and otherwise handle the product in a sanitary manner.
• If you harvest oysters for yourself, keep them shaded from the hot sun and refrigerate them as soon as possible.
• Once you have harvested or purchased the oysters, keep them cold. Shell oysters need to be kept at or below 45 degrees Fahrenheit to prevent bacterial growth.
• Thoroughly wash oysters before cooking. Remove all mud and dirt from the outside of the oyster, using a stiff brush and pressurized water.
• Store oysters away from other contaminants. Oysters can become contaminated by placing them on wet floors, splashing them with dirty water, or by contact with raw fish, including fish fluids, and other foods.
• Prior to cooking or raw consumption, discard dead oysters. Dead oysters will have slightly gaping shells that will not close when tapped. Once cooked or roasted oyster shells will naturally open.

Division staff urge those with compromised immune systems to fully cook all oysters before consumption. People with liver disease, alcoholism, diabetes, cancer, stomach or blood disorders or on medication that weakens the immune system are at risk for a potentially serious or even fatal illness from the naturally occurring bacteria Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus. 

Thoroughly cooking the oysters destroys Vibrio bacteria. To thoroughly cook oysters in the shell, either boil them in water for 3 to 5 minutes after the shells open or steam them in a steamer for 4 to 9 minutes after the shells open. Discard any oysters that do not open during cooking.

For cooking shucked oysters, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends several methods, including boiling the oysters for at least 3 minutes, frying in oil for at least 3 minutes at 375° Fahrenheit, broiling 3 inches from heat for 3 minutes, or baking at 450° Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

Recreational hand harvest is allowed sunrise to sunset seven days a week. The harvest limit is one bushel of oysters per person per day or two bushels per vessel per day if more than one person is on a boat. No license is required for recreational harvest, but the oysters may not be sold, according to the division.

The minimum size limit is 3 inches shell length. Those with a proper commercial fishing licenses may harvest oysters from sunrise to sunset Monday through Friday each week. Commercial hand harvest limits are different for some waters and by license type. Commercial fishermen should see this proclamation for specific hand harvest regulations.

Some waters are permanently closed to shellfishing, and other waters may temporarily close to shellfish harvest due to high bacteria levels associated with rainfall and stormwater runoff.

Fishers should check online for shellfish closures. and should continue to frequently check for shellfish closures throughout the year, particularly after heavy rains, or call the Division of Marine Fisheries at 252-726-7021 or 800-682-2632.

North Carolina is celebrating the mighty oyster.

Oct. 11-15 is North Carolina Oyster Week this year and organizers, North Carolina Sea Grant, the North Carolina Coastal Federation, and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources, say the “shellebration” includes a series of in-person and virtual oyster-related events along the coast and in the Triangle.

The public will have opportunities to engage with oyster growers and harvesters, seafood restaurants and retail markets, recreational outfitters and coastal conservation and education organizations. North Carolina Sea Grant has published a list of events that includes some scheduled outside of the Oct. 11-15 timeframe and are also listed on the websites of the NC Oyster Trail, which was also a partner, and NCDNCR.

“Oysters benefit our state in myriad ways,” said Jane Harrison, North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal economist. “North Carolina Oyster Week events will highlight the ecology, culture, economy, and history related to this vital resource.”

In addition to being simply delicious, oysters can improve water quality as they filter water for food. Oyster reefs provide habitat for other animals. And they are an important part of North Carolina’s economy, here on the coast and beyond.

October is a key month for N.C. oysters. The wild-caught season begins Oct. 15 and continues through April.

For those who crave oysters all year, cultivated, or farmed, oysters are available.

“The idea that oysters can only be eaten in ‘r’ months — that is, September through April — is a misconception,” Harrison said. “You can eat cultivated oysters any day with a ‘y.’ In other words, Monday through Sunday, all year long.”

Scheduled events include cultivated and wild-caught oysters alike. For example, at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday , a live-streaming event on YouTube will feature oyster farmer Ryan Bethea of Oysters Carolina, who will delve into the variety of oysters available on our coast.

At 5 p.m. Friday, Shuckin’ Shack in Surf City and Wrightsville Beach Brewery near Wilmington will host in-person parties for folks to sample these succulent shellfish. Both establishments are part of the NC Oyster Trail, which offers year-round opportunities to taste, learn about, and protect oysters.

The trail’s mission is to help sustain and grow N.C. oyster supply and demand, resulting in economic, environmental, and social benefits to the state’s seafood industry and coastal communities.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation is asking your help to give oysters a second chance by recycling your oyster shells.

Once shells are collected, the federation works with partners to return them to the water where they provide new habitat for fish and shellfish. Whether from an oyster roast, restaurant, or backyard cook out, every shell collected can help protect and restore the coast, the nonprofit said Monday.

The federation oversees several shell recycling stations along the coast to help make the process easy.

The federation said oyster shell is a valuable resource in North Carolina that can cost up to $3 per bushel when purchased for coastal restoration. It is illegal to dump the shells in North Carolina landfills. From 2003 to 2018, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries operated a state-funded oyster shell recycling program that provided 6-15% of the shell needed for restoration projects. The state-run oyster shell recycling program ended in 2018 due to budget cuts and staff reductions.

The federation said its recycling program is filling the gap by providing a way for people and businesses to support a healthy coastal environment and keep shells out of the trash.

“The Town of Duck is happy to provide an oyster shell recycling collection site at the Town Park, making it more convenient for our restaurants, residents, and visitors to contribute to this program that restores habitat for the North Carolina coast,” said Duck Public Information and Events Director Christian Legner.

Duck is just one of numerous shell drop-off points along the coast.

For a complete list of coastwide recycling sites visit the federation’s website. 

For more information about the Recycling for Reefs program or to volunteer contact federation Coastal Specialist Leslie Vegas at 252-473-1607 or lesliev@nccoast.org.

Taste wines paired with North Carolina oysters during the first “Wine and Brine” at the North Carolina Seafood Festival in downtown Morehead City.

This wine and oyster tasting Set for 6 p.m. Oct. 1 with the North Carolina Coastal Federation will afford ticketholders the opportunity to experience the terroir of the wine, or the taste imparted by the origin of the grapes, and the merroir, or the taste imparted by the origin of the oysters.

About 300 guests are expected to enjoy the event in North Carolina Seafood Festival’s Cooking with the Chef’s Tent on the Morehead City Waterfront.

This inaugural event is to highlight the North Carolina Oyster Trail, a grassroots effort to offer oyster tourism experiences to help sustain and grow the state oyster supply and demand, with the end goal of economic, environmental and social benefits to the state’s seafood industry and coastal communities.

Tickets, $85 per person, include samples of oysters and clams from NC shellfish providers, logo wine sample glasses for sampling hand selected wineries, dinner provided by Beaufort Grocery Co., two tickets for alcoholic drinks, and open beer and wine bar. Purchase tickets on the Seafood Festival website.

Guests will get a private sneak peek and share in the introduction of the brand new TV Series, “The Key Ingredient” on PBS North Carolina and meet chef Sherri Castle.

Our vision is for everyone to enjoy an evening full of North Carolina specialty seafood and beverages, mingling with amazing guests all while the festival excitement whirls around right outside this private yet distinguished event.

To volunteer at this event, contact Lewis Piner at 919-605-3677 or lewis.piner@gmail.com.

This post has been updated to reflect this year’s Oyster Week dates. The NCDEQ website has 2020 dates.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation will “Shellebrate” NC Oyster Week Oct. 11-15 with volunteers during an event with salt marsh and oyster monitoring and a marine debris cleanup.

The federation and volunteers will assess from 9-11 a.m. Monday, Oct. 11, shoreline oyster reef and salt marsh restoration projects at Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve, 52 acres of coastal shrub scrub and forest habitat, salt marsh and tidal creek areas with more than 3,000 feet of shoreline along Stump Sound.

Register online to participate in the free event.

Volunteers will be shown how to monitor salt marshes and oysters, no special skills or knowledge are needed to help.

Salt marsh monitoring will include estimating how much and what kind of vegetation is growing in the restored area and using survey equipment to measure the shoreline profile changes.

Oyster monitoring will include opening up shell bags from the reef, measuring and counting oysters, and identifying other organisms. This monitoring helps the federation evaluate the restoration projects’ progress and report these findings to the permitting agencies and funding sources.

While monitoring oysters and salt marsh, volunteers will be given supplies to cleanup marine debris. All project supplies and equipment as well as snacks and refreshments will be provided. There are no restrooms at the site, but a port-a-potty will be on site.

Federation members and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, North Carolina Land and Water Fund and Pew Charitable Trust helped make the project possible.

Organizers expect hot and humid temperatures and encourage visitors to dress for working in wet and muddy conditions such as wearing clothing and boots or closed-toed shoes that can get wet and muddy and bring a water bottle, hat & sunglasses and any medications.

New research shows that wild harvests have declined and cultivated oysters now represent over half of the total economic impact of shellfish in the state.

The shellfish industry provides more than $27 million in economic impact and 532 jobs in North Carolina. Until 2016, the state shellfish industry’s economic impact primarily came from the harvest of wild oysters and clams. New research shows that as of 2019, farmed oysters contributed more than $14 million to state gross domestic product and 271 jobs.

The research was published by Eric Edwards of North Carolina State University’s Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.

“The goal of the research was to better understand the economic impact of North Carolina’s seafood industry,” said Jane Harrison, North Carolina Sea Grant’s coastal economics specialist and a project lead, in a release from Sea Grant. “The shellfish results indicate the strength of the growing aquaculture sector.”

Supply and demand of farmed oysters has increased exponentially in the state over the past five years.

“Restaurants that once only served out-of-state shellfish now proudly advertise multiple N.C. oyster varieties,” Harrison said.

The findings are from a collaborative project led by North Carolina Sea Grant in partnership with researchers at N.C. State, Appalachian State University, Duke University and the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The work was funded by the North Carolina Commercial Fishing Resource Fund Grant Program.

For state seafood economic research highlights, as well as formal reports and methodology, visit go.ncsu.edu/NCSeafoodDemand.

Ryan Gadow is the owner of Three Little Spats Oyster Co., a 55-acre shellfish farm in Stump Sound. Founded in 2018, Gadow chose Stump Sound in Onslow County as the location of his farm because of its renowned shellfishing waters. In North Carolina and beyond, they are recognized as some of the best.

But as much as Gadow loves Stump Sound, he is also increasingly concerned about poor water quality in the sound and the surrounding watershed. Stump Sound has been on North Carolina’s list of impaired waters for decades — a sign of devastating pollution in the area.

As a result, Gadow frequently has to close down operations when pollution levels get too high. This means that the same body of water that represents North Carolina’s shellfish mecca is also inhibiting his flow of business.

“We have restaurants and seafood markets depending on us, and we also have full-time employees that we have to pay whether we’re harvesting or not,” said Gadow. “It really hurts the economics of our business.”

Gadow, like others in the Stump Sound and surrounding areas, is eager for a solution. A planning-based approach now in the works aims to improve water quality in Stump Sound and protect it in the years ahead.

Last fall, the North Carolina Land and Water Fund awarded a $75,000 grant to the North Carolina Coastal Federation to develop the plan. The federation publishes Coastal Review Online. Two main objectives of the project will be decreasing stormwater runoff into the sound and identifying other sources of nonpoint source pollution. In other words, the project is geared toward figuring out what is causing such extreme pollution in Stump Sound and determining how to mitigate those causes in the future.

The project does not focus on a short-term cleanup but rather emphasizes a sustainable approach to prevent ongoing pollution in the future. The federation’s Southeast Regional Manager Tracy Skrabal said recently that it doesn’t make sense to clean up waters without figuring out how to prevent the problem going forward.

“The goal of this project is really to take a holistic look at everything we can do to protect water quality and reverse the trend of degradation of Stump Sound,” said Skrabal.

The federation’s approach will focus largely on stormwater runoff. As land-based development has increased along the North Carolina coast in recent years, the amount of polluted water that makes its way into rivers and streams has become a growing concern. But does land-based development have to cease in order to protect North Carolina’s waters?

Not according to Skrabal. She said a focus for the project will be educational outreach to the community about options for low-impact development, or strategies for allowing rainwater to soak into the ground, mimicking natural hydrology, as opposed to drainage systems that direct runoff toward water bodies. Currently, these low-impact building strategies are not widely used.

A 2014 case study by the Cary-based engineering firm, WithersRavenel found that when implemented correctly, low-impact development can be a cost-effective alternative to conventional building methods. Skrabal said she hopes that cost comparisons like this will show developers that low-impact development could save them money and increase their engagement in the project.

It was the amount of support of other stakeholders that the federation included in its proposal that led to the grant.

“One of the things that stuck out to me about this project is that the Coastal Federation was able to get every municipality within this watershed to actually come out in support of the project,” said Justin Mercer, eastern field representative with the North Carolina Land and Water Fund. “So, there’s this great local buy-in, which is very important for any of these types of projects –not just for the planning stage, but for hopeful eventual implementation.”

Skrabal said this active engagement with municipalities around Stump Sound was intentional. Local governments are the ones who view development plans, and since land-based development is a driving force in this project, it made sense to get those teams on board.

“It makes no sense to prepare a watershed plan in a vacuum,” said Skrabal. “You have to involve the people that are looking at development requests day by day by day.”

It’s also why Skrabal said she plans on opening the floor this year to other local stakeholders. She said diverse attendance at public hearings will lead to the most effective plan possible. Without the engagement of oyster farmers, landowners and others with a stake in Stump Sound’s water quality, the eventual plan would be lacking, she said.

“These are the people that are on the water, on the land, and they can tell us things that don’t pop up when you’re just doing GIS work, or soils analysis and that sort of thing,” said Skrabal. “So we’re going to be having them help us really make sure that we really understand this watershed before we establish a plan to protect it or restore some of these waters.”

A $75,000 grant will go toward plans to improve and maintain the water quality of Stump Sound in Onslow County, known for its oysters.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation received the grant from North Carolina Land and Water Fund for the development of a plan to address water quality and reduce localized flooding.

Stump Sound is designated as Outstanding Resource Waters, open shellfish waters, and a primary nursery area by the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.

While the classifications are to protect the existing uses of the sound for shellfishing, in recent years water quality has declined. Shellfish beds are now often closed to harvest following more frequent rain events because of larger amounts of polluted stormwater runoff flowing into the sound from surrounding land uses.

“Stump Sound is a national treasure for shellfishing, fishing and recreation that must be protected and restored,” said Keith Walls, a marine scientist and owner of Falling Tide Oyster Co., in a statement. “We need effective watershed management that prevents and reduces polluted runoff from entering the sound.”

The plan will identify specific actions to reduce the volume of polluted stormwater runoff that flows into the sound. It will focus on ways to protect, restore and mimic natural hydrology of the watershed by encouraging both simple as well as complex land management actions.

“Stump Sound has been loved by the Ocean City community for over 70 years,” said resident Carla Torrey, president of the Ocean City Beach Citizens Council. “We cherish the economic, cultural and environmental benefits the Sound gives us, and we’ll help make this plan a way to perpetuate its health and productivity.”

Actions to maintain water quality may include the use of nature-based stormwater strategies such as identifying priority locations for investments in land conservation, wetland restoration and stormwater reduction techniques for existing and planned land uses.

Jan Farmer, a federation coastal ambassador and resident, added, “As a resident of the Stump Sound area, I am very excited to be involved in this project and look forward to the watershed plan providing a blueprint for future protection and improvement of our waters for years to come. I am also hopeful that the plan will bring many different groups within our community together to work toward a common goal.”

The project will engage diverse community stakeholders in plan development. Once complete, the plan will be instrumental in helping to secure additional funds to implement key strategies identified.

“Community involvement and the participation of federal, state and local agencies, scientists as well as the people who make a living from the Sound will be key to the success of this plan,” said Tracy Skrabal, the federation’s southeast coastal scientist and project manager. “Once complete, the plan will be the foundation of work that must continue to ensure that Stump Sound remains clean and productive for all of us that live, work and play in its waters.”

The Coastal Federation works with local governments, businesses and coastal communities to embrace nature-based stormwater strategies to reduce flooding, improve water quality and help balance economic development with natural resource management.

Learn more about the federation’s work for clean water.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation and partners nearly tripled their goal to restore 50 million oysters in coastal waters.

Through its 50 Million Oyster Initiative to build acres of new oyster reef and support at least 50 million oysters, there are now 140 million oysters on 43 acres of newly created oyster reefs in coastal North Carolina.

Oyster sanctuaries are areas dedicated to oyster repopulation that are open to fishing but not harvest. The adult oysters in the sanctuary will produce spat, or oyster larvae, that drift and attach to other oyster reefs.

The initiative launched in Pamlico Sound in 2017, where the federation, state Division of Marine Fisheries and partners created the 40-acre Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary.

The Division of Marine Fisheries monitored the sanctuary that was completed in 2019. They found that oyster densities are as high as 2,000 oysters per 10.76 square feet, or about 136 million oysters. Each adult oyster can filter 50 gallons of water per day, which means the 140 million oysters will filter about 7 billion gallons of water a day.

“We are very pleased with this sanctuary’s ability to grow oysters year after year, and will continue to monitor its performance as a reference for future sanctuary design and construction,” said Cameron Luck, oyster sanctuary biologist with the state Division of Marine Fisheries, in a statement.

In addition to Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary, 3.5 acres of oyster reef were built as living shorelines and patch reefs along private property and in harvestable waters. Monitoring results from these patch reefs indicate they also support high densities of oysters, with each acre supporting more than 1 million oysters, according to the federation.

“It’s a token of good news to close out 2020. We are so pleased with the success of this project and can’t wait to build on this work in 2021,” said Erin Fleckenstein, coastal scientist and regional manager for the federation’s Wanchese office. “A new grant from NOAA and matching state funds will allow us to build another 5 acres of sanctuary in 2021 near Cedar Island and to continue our living shoreline projects as well.”

The 50 Million Oyster Initiative provided jobs for contractors, fishermen, construction workers, truck drivers and many others during the construction of the reefs. The reefs also provide fish habitat and improve water quality, benefiting commercial and recreational fishing industry, the tourism and the environment, according to the federation.

“Oysters are the bedrock of our estuaries. When oysters are healthy, they support a healthy coastal environment and economy,” said Fleckenstein.

Though sanctuaries are not open to harvest, as the oyster populations in the sanctuaries increase, the overall amount of oysters in Pamlico Sound will, as well. Cultch planting sites nearby will work hand-in-glove with the sanctuary location. The cultch sites are areas where the Division of Marine Fisheries plants oyster shell, marl or other material to provide a base for oyster larvae to land. After the oysters have a chance to grow to legal size of three inches, in two to three years, these areas are open to harvest.

Siting of the sanctuaries and cultch areas is guided by the division’s field based data collection and modeling efforts from North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Total funding for the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary included nearly $3.1 million dollars in state appropriations and $3.3 million in grants from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Community-based Restoration fund. Grady White Boats and private donations from federation supporters provided additional funding.

More information on oyster restoration work is available at nccoast.org/oysters, or contact Fleckenstein erinf@nccoast.org or 252-473-1607. To support the federation’s oyster restoration efforts, consider making a charitable donation by “adopting an oyster.”

No matter how you travel the new North Carolina Oyster Trail, whether you visit every single restaurant along the route or take an oyster farm tour, you’ll come away with one thing for certain: inspiration to cook your own oysters at home.

They’re best simply prepared with a delectable sauce, and these five recipes cover all the best ways to serve oysters.

If you like raw oysters on the half shell, go for the sweet Vidalia vinegar sauce with pink peppercorns and a hint of sweet sparkling wine. Oysters roasted in the oven or over a live fire are insanely good with garlic butter hot sauce or creamy jalapeno remoulade. Also start thinking about your own signature cocktail sauce. Consider the classic cocktail sauce recipe below a base for unbridled creativity.

No matter which sauce you choose, abide by one important rule: Never pile on so much sauce that it covers up the oyster’s flavor.

Sweet Vidalia Vinegar Sauce

A few drops of vinegar on oysters is standard in many communities along the North Carolina coast. A little acid balances the oyster’s rich texture and creamy flavor. In France, mignonette sauce — chopped shallots, crushed peppercorns and vinegar – is the classic condiment for raw oysters. However vinegar is served on an oyster, apply sparingly or vinegar’s tang will overwhelm the oyster’s natural flavors.

Blend 2 tablespoons minced Vidalia onion, 1 teaspoon crushed pink peppercorns, a pinch of crushed black peppercorns, ¼ cup white wine vinegar and ¼ cup sparkling pink sweet wine such as Moscato in a small bowl. Gently stir until combined. Refrigerate until ice cold. Spoon on to raw oysters or offer as a steamed oyster condiment.

Jalapeno Remoulade

When you’re piling fried oysters on a sandwich or giving oysters a smoky brininess by baking them in their shells in the oven, a creamy sauce with a bite is a decadent way to complement the shellfish’s flavor.

Whisk together ½ cup mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons chopped pickled jalapenos, 1 tablespoon hot or mild chow chow, 1 teaspoon chopped capers, 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and 1 teaspoon paprika. Fold in 2 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley and 2 teaspoons chopped chives.

Garlic Butter Hot Sauce

No oyster roast is complete without cocktail sauce and little ramekins of hot, melted butter. As oyster roasts progress, those condiments get mixed together little by little as folks double dip in butter and then cocktail sauce or vice versa, creating one utterly delicious amalgamation. That mixing inspired this recipe. Dip steamed oysters into this sauce or drizzle it over fried oysters.

Peel and then finely chop four large cloves of garlic. Place garlic and 1 stick of unsalted butter in a small saucepan set over medium-low heat. Slowly cook the garlic in the butter for 5 minutes. Do not let garlic or butter brown. Continuously stir butter as you add ½ teaspoon paprika, ½ teaspoon chili powder, ½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, 1 teaspoon horseradish, 1 scant tablespoon tomato paste and 2 tablespoons hot sauce to the pan. Makes ½ cup.

Classic Cocktail Sauce

Asking oyster roast lovers how they make their cocktail sauce is like asking Grandma for a recipe.

They’ll probably tell you they never measure anything and add a dab of this and a little of that depending on how the sauce tastes as they’re mixing it. Everyone seems to agree that ketchup, horseradish, hot sauce and Worcestershire are key ingredients. From there, it’s up to the cook.

Use this recipe as a starter to create your own blend. You might add grated garlic, lime juice, Old Bay seasoning blend, soy sauce, chipotle, wasabi instead of horseradish or other ingredients to make this sauce your own.

Whatever you choose, the end result should be a balance of sweet, salty and tangy with noticeable but not extreme heat. In North Carolina, classic cocktail sauce is a dip for steamed, fried and baked oysters as well as oysters roasted over a fire. It’s also a condiment for fried oysters served in a hamburger bun, a sandwich known as an oyster burger.

In a small bowl, blend together ½ cup ketchup, 1-3 tablespoons grated horseradish, 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce, 1-2 teaspoons hot sauce, 1 teaspoon lemon juice or a dash of vinegar. Cover and refrigerate sauce until ready to use.

Trust Me Sauce

This simplest of all recipes comes from my late Italian uncle who showed up at our house one night to tell us we had been eating steamed clams all wrong.

He suggested that we lay them out on the half shell, sprinkle each clam with a little oregano and garlic powder and then drizzle on top-quality extra-virgin olive oil.

“Trust me,” he said. “I know what I’m talking about.”

Turns out he was right, and his suggestion was equally delicious on oysters baked in their shells in the oven. Sometime, we sprinkled on a little flaked red pepper, too.

HATTERAS ISLAND — In what is envisioned as a creative blending of ecotourism, artisan markets, mariculture and the locavore, or local food, movement, North Carolina’s first oyster trail is readying its launch this spring on the Outer Banks.

Prior to a stakeholder meeting at Hatteras Community Center in December, oyster farmer Katherine McGlade, owner of Slash Creek Oysters, offered a prelude with a tour of her oyster beds by Pamlico Sound.

McGlade, a corporate world refugee who opened her farm in 2015, has a good idea that trail goers want authenticity and an Outer Banks experience, and her job would be educating folks about growing tasty, fat oysters in the natural environment.

“I feel like the type of people who do these kinds of things are already curious people,” McGlade said after participants returned to the center. “If you’re on the oyster trail, you’re guaranteed to have it be local.”

Responding to the North Carolina Strategic Plan for Shellfish Mariculture released in 2018, North Carolina Sea Grant started putting out feelers and pulling together plans to start an oyster trail on the coast. After a meeting in December 2018 about a proposed oyster trail in Manteo attracted a lot of interest from people in the restaurant, tourism and fishing industries, Sea Grant decided that the Outer Banks, with its built-in tourism industry, was the perfect place to kick off North Carolina’s oyster trail, said Jane Harrison, coastal economics specialist for Sea Grant. Sea Grant is a partner in the North Carolina Shellfish Initiative, a statewide collaborative between public and private entities to promote economic development through oyster restoration and aquaculture.

Part of the inspiration for the North Carolina Oyster Trail came from the success of the Virginia Oyster Trail, which was the first in the nation when it was launched in 2015. Like its southern neighbor, Virginia’s wild oyster fisheries collapsed in the 20^th century. With much help from the state, which funded oyster reef restoration projects and oyster farming, the fishery is recovering.

Although Sea Grant and its partners, which include the nonprofit North Carolina Coastal Federation and the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, are encouraging Outer Banks restaurateurs, artisans, oyster growers and others with relevant businesses to participate, Harrison told stakeholders that any member must abide by certain standards. All applicants, who would pay a $100 annual fee, would be quizzed on their knowledge of oysters.

“We want to make sure that any visitor to the trail has a consistent experience,” Harrison explained in a telephone interview. “Even artists need to convey those key messages about oysters.”

With steady encouragement from the Coastal Federation, which has worked for decades to restore oyster reefs and oyster fisheries along the coast as part of its clean water initiatives, the state legislature has been providing agency support and funding to restore the oysters in North Carolina.

As it looks now, Harrison said that there will be about 10 members to start. But there are probably another 50 or so potential members the organizers will be contacting as part of continued outreach. Benefits to members include promotion in multiple media and tourism brochures, as well as marketing assistance.

Two more stakeholder meetings are to be held at locations farther south along the coast, Harrison said.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant Office has provided a $119,784 grant to fund research on mariculture tourism in support of the North Carolina Oyster Trail.

Whitney Knollenberg, assistant professor at North Carolina State University’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism Management, said that tourists today want to spend their money on experiences at a unique location rather than stuff. As a historic Outer Banks fishery that is now recovering, oysters encapsulate the ruggedness and resilience of the islands.

“I think that cultural connection is really important,” she said.

But Knollenberg cautioned that “diversifying the product” is also important. The trail should offer various options for visitors to choose from, whether attractions, recreational activities, hands-on art events or cooking classes, and offerings should vary seasonally. And it’s worth remembering, she added, that “the No. 1 tourist thing, every single time” is shopping.

At the same time, oysters fit the “foodie” trend that favors local, healthy, natural and photogenic. Oysters, which are high in protein, reflect the place they grew in, both in appearance of the shell, and in the taste: degrees of briny or sweet. Plus, they filter the water and are good for the environment.

That’s why oyster trails that include tastings, pairings with wine, beer or spirits, and in-person tours are becoming especially popular with millennials and Gen X tourists.

“They do it for the ’Gram,” Knollenberg said, referring to posting photographs on the popular social media site Instagram. “They’re motivated by food — we have seen that increasing greatly. We’re kind of at a great time to combine that.”

Tours of a few local oyster growing operations offered during the last two years of the Taste of the Beach event held every spring on the Outer Banks had sold out, said Dan Lewis, president of the Outer Banks Restaurant Association, the event’s sponsor. Another annual event, dubbed “Oystoberfest,” he said, is also a big hit on the Outer Banks.

With those successes, Lewis, owner of Coastal Provisions Oyster Bar in Southern Shores, said that logic would follow that tourists will love the oyster trail, with its embrace of culture, art, history and experience rolled together, even more as a genuine North Carolina product.

“We have a great industry,” he said. “The reality is if we figure out the infrastructure, North Carolina could become one of the top oyster growers in the country.

“The geography alone says this is one of the best places in the world for oysters.”

CARTERET COUNTY — Over the course of three years, the North Carolina Coastal Federation and state Division of Marine Fisheries have been building the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary in Pamlico Sound.

The project is expected to wrap up July 8 with the final deployment of material to add to the new, 40-acre oyster reef.

The division and contractor Stevens Towing Co. Inc. have each spring and early summer since 2017 placed thousands of tons of limestone marl and granite in the sound to build new oyster reef, which provides habitat for baby oysters, known as spat.

With the conclusion of the Swan Island Sanctuary, the division, the federation and partners are to identify areas in need of restoration efforts.

In addition to being one of 15 oyster sanctuaries in the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network, the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary is a part of the federation’s  50 Million Oyster Initiative that aims to build by 2020, 50 acres of oyster reef, with each acre supporting about 1 million oysters, according to a news release from the federation. The federation said 50 million oysters filter 2.5 billion gallons of water per day.

Statewide, the division has built nearly 145 acres of cultch planted reefs, with some close to the sanctuary where they can receive spat. These cultch reefs will be open to harvest when oysters reach the legal size of 3 inches.

The reefs in the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network, which are not open to harvest, are part of the plan to regrow the state’s oyster population.

“We recently completed a comprehensive survey of reefs in Pamlico Sound, including reefs that are harvested, natural, intertidal and subtidal. And what we found, is that while subtidal sanctuary oyster reefs in Pamlico Sound only occupy about 6% of the total footprint of oysters, they account for an estimated 40% of the oyster population in Pamlico Sound,” Dave Eggleston, North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Science and Technology director, said in a statement. “Furthermore, these sanctuaries are hosting oysters at densities nearly ten times higher than the other reef types that we monitored.”

Erin Fleckenstein, coastal scientist in the federation’s Wanchese office and project manager for the restoration project, explained that the success of the sanctuaries is encouraging.

“They provide insurance for our oyster population in Pamlico Sound. They host adult oysters that help to repopulate our harvested reefs while also filtering the sound and providing habitat for other fish,” she said.

The three-year Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary Project was funded by $3 million in state appropriations and nearly $3.3 million in grant funds from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s community-based restoration program with additional funding by Grady White Boats and federation members.

“The effort to restore our oyster populations is especially important after the critical blow that oysters got last fall. With two major hurricanes, Florence and Michael, the oyster population was hit hard. Impacts associated with stormwater runoff, low oxygen water and sediments, decimated oyster populations across the state. It was an impact that was felt by many harvesters during oyster season,” according to the federation.

Following the storms, a preliminary survey indicates that Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary had very high spatfall counts, “indicating recent oyster settlement. While this may have been a stress response to the storm, recruitment and survivorship were strong on this reef. The sanctuary will help to reseed nearby cultch planting sites.”

WILLISTON – It’s probably safe to say that relatively few women – or men – would start an oyster seed nursery at age 65. It’s probably even safer to say that few if any women who deign to take on that task and degree of risk would buy a big, decrepit cinder block building, renovate it and hope that the business will help revitalize an entire community, albeit a small one.

But Susan Fulcher Hill is doing it in Williston. A few years ago she and her husband, Robert, purchased the run-down, long-abandoned 8,000-square-foot Willis Brothers Seafood building on U.S. 70 at Jarrett Bay. After years of learning and planning, in late July they “planted” their first tiny larvae – 3 million of them – with the goal of selling seed oysters to the growing number of oyster farmers around the state.

Will the business make money?

“We certainly hope so,” Hill said recently. “But it’s like anything else that involves Mother Nature: You don’t know. We should know by the end of August.”

But the story of how Susan Hill got to this point is as interesting as the question of whether the couple’s business will succeed.

A native of Williston, she’s the daughter of Donald Fulcher, who made a career on the water. He was a commercial fisherman and for many years was the chief engineer for the Eastward, the first research vessel used by the Duke University Marine Laboratory on Pivers Island. So she grew up with salt water in her blood, and with an abiding love for all things marine.

By the time it was time to go to college, Susan headed to East Carolina University to major in marine biology. She ended up transferring to Vanderbilt University and graduated with a degree in biology, then headed off to Brigham Young University in Utah, where she earned a master’s in food science and nutrition.

Eventually, she met Robert, they got married and founded a company, Diabetes Care and Education Inc., in Greenville, South Carolina.

“I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 19,” Susan said.

So starting and running a company that helped other diabetics obtain supplies, support and information seemed as natural as a Williston native getting involved in seafood. And the company was very successful. Eventually, they had offices in five states, and the headquarters ended up in Louisville., Kentucky, where the couple stayed for 20 years.

When they sold the business in 2007, they retired, and spent much of the next 10 years doing volunteer work and missions for their church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

But all along, Susan said, there was a nagging desire to return to her first love, marine biology, in some way, and a desire to come home to Down East Carteret County.

Eventually, opportunity presented itself in the form of that old Willis Brothers building, which locals just call “Elmer’s clam house,” she said.

“When I was growing up, it was the hub of eastern Carteret County,” Susan recalled. “Dozens and dozens of people worked there over the years. Williston used to have a post office and a store, and we’d walk to the store and get a soda, go to the post office and get the mail, then go to the clam house and watch the boats at the boatworks. There are a lot of memories for me and many other people in that place, a lot of history, and a lot of emotional connections.”

The ‘Clam King’

Elmer Willis was known far and wide as “The Clam King.”

According to a 2014 CRO article by Frank Tursi, “Willis quit school after the eighth grade to help his father fish commercially. He left for Norfolk where he worked for a time as an engineer on boats, but he came home to stay in 1939, bringing with him a wife – Pearl Smith of Atlantic – and a 2-year-old daughter, Nancy. Another daughter, Beverly, would be born later.”

Willis opened a general store just past the bridge crossing Williston Creek. It housed the post office Susan Hill mentioned, and in the early 1940s Willis started the seafood business with his brother, Wesley, who later sold his share to Elmer.

Heinz was the big customer – think clam chowder, although not necessarily the great stuff produced by skilled seafood artist in Carteret’s fishing villages – but Elmer Lewis sold the national company all the clams they used for many years.

Willis Brothers’ clams also went elsewhere in the U.S. besides Heinz in Pittsburgh. Cleveland was a huge market; for some reason clambakes were always big there.

Willis Brothers clams also raised money for local schools for years at clambakes. The business, and Elmer, were integral and important parts of the community and culture of a place that was isolated and self-sufficient. And proud of it.

But Elmer died in a car wreck in 1977 and the clam house closed. A fire destroyed the store and boatworks in the 1990s, and the clam house deteriorated into what Tursi, in his 2014 article called, “frankly, an eyesore.” There were efforts to obtain grants, and talk of a park.

But if it had become an eyesore, it was, as Susan said, one with rich, still vibrant history. And it still kindled emotional connections to times gone by, perhaps better times, for many people, including a Williston native who had been gone a long time and had salt in her blood.

So she put in a bid for the property and got it, and started talking to people. She knew that the state, with a push from the North Carolina Coastal Federation, was getting into oyster production in a big way, building reefs and encouraging oyster farming, both to revive a once-thriving industry and to help improve water quality. One oyster – just one – can filter clean up to 50 gallons of water per day. So Down East Mariculture Supply Co. began to become a reality, slowly.

Susan had found out more than two years ago, at a North Carolina Sea Grant meeting, that there was a shortage of oyster seed for those efforts, and that almost all seed used here comes from Virginia. Buying from Virginia can be time-consuming, as state Division of Marine Fisheries rules require that those larvae or seeds must be tested for disease. So even those are sometimes hard to get.

And that’s when her idea was hatched. A shortage is an opportunity for the adventurous. But there was a lot of work to be done.

“A lot of people said I should tear the building down, but I didn’t want to do that,” Susan said.

Part of the reason was that history, that culture, but part of it was also practical. While most oyster nurseries are outside, Susan said, “At our ages, we didn’t really want to be outside in all the heat and the humidity and the rain and wind.” So they decided to pipe the seawater into the building, where the larvae would be placed in upwellers and grow to the size needed by the state’s oyster farmers.

Hatchery Protocol

Generally, nursery systems pump seawater to provide a constant flow of water and food to the oysters. The designs and locations may differ, but the goal, no matter how it’s done, is to allow the oysters to grow to approximately an inch as quickly as possible. From the nursery, these seed oysters can either be sold to other commercial producers for grow-out or placed in a company’s own grow-out facility. The Hills opted to just sell the seed oysters.

With her knowledge of marine biology and her ties to the commercial fishing industry and its heritage, she knew a good bit of what she needed to know. But Susan studied intensely, taking classes at Carteret Community College, talking to others, reading extensively on the internet and taking a seminar from a renowned expert on the subject, Scott Rickard of Auburn University.

“We’re basically using his protocol,” she said. Most experts say 20 percent of the larvae die before they reach the size oyster farmers need, she said, and that would be 600,000 of that first batch of 3 million. Rickard has much better success, and Susan’s hoping she and Robert do, too. It’s a waiting game, for now.

And it’s taken quite a while just to get to the point in late July when the first larvae went into the water.

The building needed major renovations. Those aren’t finished yet. But after two years, it’s usable, and Susan thinks it looks nice. Inside, the nursery takes up only a small fraction of the space, and she wants to use at least some of the rest of the space to help rebuild those connections so many residents in the area had to the site.

“This isn’t all about us, or even just about us and oyster farmers. It’s also about the community.”

Susan Fulcher Hill

“We’re open to ideas,” she said. “We want people to give us suggestions.”

There’s room for art, and she’s been talking to a mosaic artist. Susan wants an educational, history component to the building, devoted to the area’s rich hunting and fishing culture. She envisions ecotours, students and others visiting to see how the process works, and they might eventually sell supplies.

“We want to help bring some jobs back for people in Williston,” she said. “This isn’t all about us, or even just about us and oyster farmers. It’s also about the community.”

The community, she said, has been positive.

“I think people are excited,” she said. “Everyone seems thankful that we didn’t tear down the building, that we’re making use of it.”

One who is pleased is Elmer Lewis’s daughter, Nancy, who is a Williston native but now lives in Davis.

“I’m very happy with what Susan is doing,” she said. “It certainly looks a lot better, and I’m glad that the building is getting used for something that can help the commercial fishing industry.

“The fishing industry is in such difficult times,” she added. “It’s hard for me to be believe there’s not a fish house in Atlantic. And we had an inspector at our business (Luther Lewis and Son Crab Co. in Davis) and I asked him how many crab-picking places there are in North Carolina now. He had to think really hard and finally said, ‘Less than five.’ At one time, there were 45.”

Ms. Lewis’s company – her husband, James Paul Lewis died in 2016 – used to be involved in all aspects of the crab fishery and operated 10 trawlers, but now just makes crab cakes, which are shipped up and down the East Coast.

So, saving “Elmer’s clam house,” she said, preserves a significant part of a heritage that is rapidly disappearing.

“At one time, just about everybody in Williston worked there,” she said. “There would be a 100 pickers in there.”

Her father, she said, was an innovator, a brilliant man despite having only an eighth-grade education. He built yachts and head boats, and that legacy lives on in Jarrett Bay Boatworks. He started the scallop business in the area, and even developed and patented a scallop-shucking machine.

She’s happy that his legacy lives on in the building.

“It was so sad to see that building in such disrepair,” she said. “I hope Susan has great success.”

MOREHEAD CITY — North Carolina is set to join a national effort that highlights the social, economic and environmental importance of shellfish.

Michael Regan, secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, is expected to announce Thursday Gov. Roy Cooper’s support for the North Carolina Shellfish Initiative during an event at the North Carolina State University Center for Marine Sciences and Technology, or CMAST. The event is scheduled for 10 a.m. until noon.

The statewide initiative is modeled after the National Shellfish Initiative, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s program to increase the shellfish population in the nation’s coastal waters. The North Carolina Shellfish Initiative is being promoted as a way to advance the state’s work to strengthen the coastal economy, create jobs and promote sustainable seafood and shellfish restoration.

The state initiative sets four goals: job creation, protection of water quality, protection of shellfish health and sustainable management.

The North Carolina Shellfish Initiative reflects the growing importance of shellfish conservation and the industry’s benefits to the coastal economy. North Carolina is the sixth state and the first in the Southeast to follow the federal model and establish an initiative to increase shellfish.

The state shellfish initiatives are described as a vehicle to leverage partnerships, grant programs and regulatory authorities to maximize the benefits of shellfish and maintain vibrant coastal communities and healthy coastal ecosystems.

“North Carolina has a history of collaboration among public, private and academic sectors to transform ideas into actions that advance shellfish restoration and mariculture,” Ken Riley, a marine ecologist with NOAA’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science, said in a statement. “Over the last 15 years, the state has garnered public attention with significant investment in shellfish restoration and the growth of the shellfish farms.  NOAA is pleased to partner with the State contributing tools and expertise for siting shellfish farms and oyster restoration projects, which increase opportunities to sustainably harvest shellfish.”

The event Thursday is open to the public and will include remarks from Regan and representatives from other federal, state and private stakeholders involved in shellfish restoration, production and research and development.

Attendees can join a short walking tour around the CMAST campus to learn more about North Carolina shellfish activities and programs from industry, agency, university and nonprofit partners. The tour will include a visit to the North Carolina Sea Grant Shellfish Farming Demonstration Center, a regional technology center and proving ground for training prospective growers such as commercial fishermen wishing to enter the mariculture industry.

For more information about the Initiative and its launch, visit ncoysters.org or contact Erin Fleckenstein with the North Carolina Coastal Federation at erinf@nccoast.org.

WANCHESE — Baby oysters have a new habitat here along the shoreline near the North Carolina Coastal Federation’s northeast office.

Around two dozen concrete oyster reef balls weighing in at 1,300 pounds each, were deployed last week along 100 feet of shoreline, giving baby oysters plenty of space to attach and grow, the federation announced Wednesday. Over the next two years, the oyster reef balls will recruit oysters, helping to improve water quality in Broad Creek. These oyster reef balls will help create more habitat around the shoreline that can provide foraging and refuge areas for important fish species.

Area contractor, Total Marine Services, deployed the 25 oyster reef balls measuring at 3 feet by 4 feet apiece near the federation’s office in Wanchese Marine Industrial Park.

The reef balls are adjacent to a 100-foot sill built by volunteers out of recycled oyster shell and show two different ways oysters can be used to create habitat and protect the natural shoreline, according to the release.

“These reef balls help to demonstrate the variety of ways that oysters can be restored to our waters,” said Erin Fleckenstein, coastal scientist and regional manager for the federation’s Wanchese office, in a statement. “The reef balls and nearby oyster shell bags will provide a surface for baby oysters to naturally attach to and develop into an oyster reef along the shoreline.”

One of many projects being built at the federation’s offices, the staff continuously works to demonstrate techniques for building oyster reefs, protecting natural shorelines and limiting stormwater runoff from entering nearby coastal waters.

“We look forward to educating everyone about these techniques. Already we’ve been using the oyster bags along the shoreline in our summer programming,” said Sara Hallas, coastal education coordinator, in a statement.

The project is supported by Camp Younts Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Community-based Restoration Program.

Oyster restoration is one of the federation’s major initiatives. By 2020, the organization plans to restore 50 acres of oyster reef through its 50 Million Oyster Initiative.

Learn More

• 50 Million Oyster Initiative

CARTERET COUNTY – Last week the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Community-based Restoration Program announced it recommended $950,000 for the North Carolina Coastal Federation and partners to continue work on the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary.

With the funding, the federation and its partners plan to expand the 25-acre project to an almost 40-acre project in 2019. The North Carolina General Assembly provided matching sanctuary and cultch funds of $950,000 for the same project, which will be entering its third year.

At the end of June, contractors and project partners wrapped up the second phase of the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary, adding 10 acres to the project site and to the Sen. Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network.

This project began in the spring of 2017 when the federation and its partners, the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries and a private contractor, Stevens Towing Co. Inc., built 15 acres of oyster reef in the Pamlico Sound near the mouth of the Neuse River.

“We have really enjoyed being a part of building the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary. Promoting oyster growth and clean water in the Pamlico Sound are two things that are easy to love, so it is great to be able to put our skill set to work in helping attain these goals,” said Simon Rich of Stevens Towing Co.

The first phase of the project constructed oyster reefs out of limestone marl, but for the second implementation the reefs were created with granite. Granite is less susceptible to pests and is denser than limestone. Since this is the first time granite has been used on a project this size, the division says it will be closely monitoring the site to compare the use of granite to limestone.

“This project would not have been a success without the continued collaboration between the North Carolina Coastal Federation and Division of Marine Fisheries,” said Kaitlin DeAeth, an oyster sanctuary biologist with the division. “Participating in this construction project has been a rewarding experience and we look forward to phase three of this project.”

All the materials, contractors and employees for this project are based in North Carolina, including the 50 million pounds of granite. So far the Swan Island Oyster Sanctuary has employed 56 people from North Carolina to complete the first and second phases of the project.

In addition to NOAA and state funding, the Swan Island project has received private donations.

“We are proud of our almost 20-year partnership with the North Carolina Coastal Federation toward restoring important oyster habitat,” said Pat Montanio, director, Office of Habitat Conservation in NOAA Fisheries. “This landscape-scale effort exemplifies the multiple benefits of habitat restoration to boost fisheries, improve water quality and support local economies.”

The Swan Island project is part of the federation’s 50 Million Oyster Initiative which aims to have 50 million oysters in North Carolina waters by 2020. In addition to filtering 2.5 billion gallons of water per day, the oyster reefs will provide habitat for other commercially and recreationally important fish.

Learn More

• Visit ncoysters.org or nccoast.org/oysters, subscribe to quarterly email newsletter “On the Half Shell.”
• Read more about NOAA’s funding recommendations.

Last of three parts

WILMINGTON – Oh, the mighty oyster.

They filter and clean our waters, play an important role in our economy by providing food and jobs, build reefs that help prevent erosion and provide habitat for hundreds of marine species.

Yet, oyster populations are at historic lows, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, Fisheries.

The loss of wetlands, pollution, erosion from development, outdated harvest methods and overfishing have resulted in the great oyster population decline.

“As oysters decline in health and numbers, their remarkable ability to filter water is diminished, resulting in poorer water quality,” according to NOAA Fisheries. “The cycle is difficult to reverse.”

That’s why the next of the four goals identified in the collaborative planning effort led by the North Carolina Coastal Federation known as the Lower Cape Fear River Blueprint “is a complex and ambitious” one.

The Third Goal: Oysters

There are signs that the oyster population can be revived in the lower Cape Fear River.

Vast oyster reefs that once thrived in the lower river are either no longer existent or buried under mud, but “there remain viable pockets of oyster reefs supported by an abundance of oyster larvae each year,” the blueprint notes.

Shellfish harvest is open from the area of the Fort Fisher Basin to the river’s mouth.

“While many challenges remain, these factors indicate the potential for a revitalized oyster population and fishery in the lower river is great,” according to the blueprint.

The North Carolina Coastal Federation has for the past 15 years worked with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries, or DMF, and other partners to restore oyster populations in the state.

Based on evidence that a million oysters are restored for every acre of oyster sanctuary created, the federation has been aiding DMF to restore at least 50 acres of oyster reefs coastwide by 2020.

That number of oysters will filter an estimated 2.5 trillion gallons of water each day, according to the plan.

A focus area for oyster restoration sites, reef sanctuaries and cultch planting areas in the lower river extends from Snows Cut down to Bald Head Island.

The Fourth Goal: Managing Invasive Species

The non-native, invasive plant species phragmites australis, or the common reed, grows as high as 10 to 12 feet tall, choking out native habitats. This aggressively spreading plant is hard to destroy and it’s growing in the lower Cape Fear River.

Under the blueprint, existing populations of phragmites and migration patterns would be identified through research conducted by the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

The next step is to study effective ways to manage and eradicate the invasive plant species and examine current scientific research on the possible negative effects on the ecosystem and human health from pesticides used to kill the plant.

Based on that research, the federation and researchers will set up a plan to manage phragmites in a way that is safe to the ecosystem and human health.

Funding will then be sought to initiate a pilot program to manage the invasive species. That program, if successful, would then be expanded to the rest of the lower river region.

Upstream benefits

Though the goals mapped out in the blueprint pertain specifically to the lower river, the work implemented as a result of that document will have impacts upstream.

“I’m encouraged by the Coastal Federation’s desire to focus a lot of their resources on the lower Cape Fear,” said Dawn York, Cape Fear River Partnership coordinator. “I think it’s a motivating factor. The work the Coastal Federation is doing and has been doing is like a platform to leverage all the effort that the Cape Fear Partnership and all the partners within the partnership has been working on.”

One major initiative of the partnership is the installation of fish passages at the Cape Fear River’s lock and dams.

These manmade rapids allow migratory fish such as American shad, river herring, striped bass and Atlantic and shortnose sturgeon to travel upstream to spawn.

The first of these passages that allow anadromous, or inland-spawning fish, to swim over during their voyage upstream, was completed in 2012 at Lock and Dam No. 1 near Riegelwood.

The partnership, a coalition of public and private groups, is pulling together funds to design and start building similar fish passages at Lock and Dams No. 2 at Elizabethtown and No. 3, just below Fayetteville.

The lower estuary is primary nursery area for ocean-living anadromous fish including river herring and shad so enhancing and protecting the quality of water in that portion of the river will only aid in efforts to increase migratory fish populations, York said.

Building up eroded shorelines will help protect primary nursery areas habitat, which, in turn, will also be beneficial to the ecosystem that supports migratory fish. Oyster reefs provide habitat to commercial juvenile fish, forage fish, and other marine life such as blue crabs and shrimp.

“(The blueprint goals) all have fairly big impacts,” York said. “It’s not just from a drinking water perspective. It’s help to bring fisheries back to the region, to open up oyster harvest. I hope to be a part of making it successful and supporting the Coastal Federation and doing what the partnership can to bring it all together.”

Second in a series on the Lower Cape Fear River Blueprint

WILMINGTON – More people, more development, more frequent and intense storms, and localized sea level risk – these are the pressures facing the lower Cape Fear River.

The river’s surrounding watersheds span more than 9,000 square miles and encompass more than 6,600 miles of streams and tributaries.

To address head-on these issues that threaten the river’s vulnerable natural resources, the Lower Cape Fear River Blueprint, a collaborative planning effort being led by the North Carolina Coastal Federation, identifies four goals and strategies. Those goals include: protecting and restoring water quality; implementing living shorelines along the river’s banks; boosting oyster habitat; and protecting native coastal wetlands free of invasive species.

The First Goal: Water Quality

About $100 million to $120 million is spent each year in the Cape Fear River basin on fishing, hunting, boating and other natural resource related activities, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The North Carolina Division of Water Quality, or DWR, classifies all surface waters in the state.

A majority of the lower Cape Fear estuary is classified as SC, or waters identified as tidal salt waters for secondary recreational activities like fishing and boating where skin contact with the water is minimal.

Class SC is the least stringent water quality designation.

One of the objectives in the blueprint is to get the state to reclassify the waters between Carolina Beach State Park and Bald Head Island to SB, a designation that would make the waters primary recreation and provide the river an additional level of protection.

The process of getting that reclassification would entail petitioning the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission, or EMC, to a study how the river is primarily used. If the EMC rules to move forward with the request, the decision then goes to the North Carolina Rules Review Commission.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ultimately determines whether to approve the reclassification request.

Meanwhile, work could get underway to develop watershed restoration plans that call for reducing the amount of stormwater runoff flowing into the river.

The federation studied eight watersheds spanning more than 30,000 acres in Brunswick and New Hanover counties and determined that the current volume of runoff during storms can be reduced to levels recorded in 1993, according to the blueprint.

More than 600 sites have been identified as potential locations to reduce stormwater runoff throughout the lower Cape Fear River.

Runoff may also be reduced through wetlands restoration.

The federation has evaluated potential wetlands restoration sites to help restore and enhance the river’s water quality.

A study is underway to identify a list of restoration project sites with work in those areas to begin next year, according to the blueprint.

The Second Goal: Living Shorelines

The largest living shoreline project in North Carolina is underway along the banks of the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site, a pre-Revolutionary port roughly halfway between downtown Wilmington and the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

The multi-million-dollar shoreline protection project combines the protection of reefmakers with the construction of a living shoreline.

As storms, changing tides and the brunt of waves created in the wake of shipping traffic ripped chunks of the historic shoreline away, fort officials decided to pursue a more natural way to combat erosion.

A major initiative of the federation is the education and implementation of living shorelines as an alternative to bulkheads, which can destroy wetlands and other habitat for marine life.

Living shoreline projects are built with various structural and organic materials, such as plants, submerged aquatic vegetation, oyster shells and stone. These projects generally work best along sheltered coasts such as estuaries, bays, lagoons and coastal deltas, where wave energy is low to moderate.

Mounting research shows that living shorelines hold up better through storms than hardened structures, enhance intertidal habitat for fish and other marine resources, and better defend against sea level rise.

In early 2017, the Army Corps of Engineers authorized its first nationwide permit for living shorelines, a move that solidified on a national level the value of living shorelines and helps streamline the permitting process.

Nationwide Permit 54, which became effective in March 2017, addresses the construction and maintenance of living shoreline projects.

The federation and researchers with the University of North Carolina Wilmington have identified areas of estuary shorelines in the lower Cape Fear River particularly vulnerable to erosion from commercial shipping traffic and effects from sea level rise.

That study revealed that Brunswick County’s shorelines along the river have suffered more erosion that New Hanover County’s river shores.

The federation is taking the results of that study to identify shoreline areas at the most risk for erosion.

The blueprint calls for pinpointing at least 10 potential living shoreline project sites within those areas and initiating funding and construction for those projects next year.

Next: Oysters and Invasive Species

Coastal conservationists and shellfish growers are cheering new investments in the state’s oyster industry included in the state budget compromise.

The $22.34 billion spending plan announced Monday includes $1.03 million in one-time funding to build oyster sanctuaries in Pamlico Sound. Also, a $300,000, non-recurring, shellfish rehabilitation fund will go to build new oyster reefs all along the coast. The budget also includes $149,000, recurring, for two new positions at the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to accelerate shellfish industry growth and increase shellfish production and recycling.

“The General Assembly’s new budget takes big steps toward making coastal North Carolina the Napa Valley of oysters,” said Todd Miller, executive director of the North Carolina Coastal Federation. “This funding will help implement the state’s blueprint for restoring the oyster industry and help attract more federal money to restore our oyster beds.”

The budget also provides $100,000 to clean up abandoned crab pots in state waters.

Advocates say boosting the shellfish industry can benefit coastal communities by providing work for fishermen and marine contractors and improving water quality.

“In a few years, the success of these restoration efforts will be a huge economic gain for fishermen and tourism businesses along our coast,” said Jay Styron, president of the North Carolina Shellfish Growers Association. “Oysters are one of the best economic development strategies we have for our coast, and it’s nice to see this investment by our lawmakers to help us carry it out in a timely way.”

BEAUFORT — Organizers of the March 12-13 oyster workshop at the NOAA Beaufort lab on Pivers Island say it was a successful event that re-energized participants and will lead to more effective and efficient efforts to enhance North Carolina’s oyster fishery and the crucial habitat that supports it.

“We all got a chance to compare notes and to see what has worked and to make sure we’re all on the same page as we move forward,” said Ted Wilgis, a coastal education coordinator for the N.C. Coastal Federation, one of the organizers of the conference. “We were very pleased with the presentations and discussions. It was a jam-packed agenda, and we had great participation from state and federal researchers, policy people, representatives of the fishery, resource managers and others.

Ted Wilgis hopes collaboration will provide more opportunities for programs like this one, which monitors the health of oyster reefs.

“Everyone worked hard,” added Wilgis, who is based in the federation’s Wrightsville Beach office. “We asked a lot of those who participated; it was very intense and fast-moving, an effort to do a lot in a short time. I think everyone learned a lot and came away feeling good about efforts in the future.” Twenty years ago, North Carolina’s oyster population and its commercial harvest were in an abyss, decimated by pollution, loss of habitat and decades of infestation by dermo, a parasitic disease that kills the shellfish before they reach the legal harvest limit.

The state’s watermen in 1994 harvested a paltry 34,727 bushels of oysters, worth a meager $632,000, according to state Division of Marine Fisheries figures.

As oyster and fish houses continued to shut down and fisheries managers contemplated drastic measures, such as bringing in and planting non-native oysters in the state’s coastal waters, an industry that once supported thousands of fishermen and their families seemed headed for a technical knockout.

But thanks to concerted efforts by many – including state agencies, NOAA, nonprofit groups like the N.C. Coastal Federation and academic researchers – the oyster fishery has staggered back to its feet, with harvest reaching 196,661 bushels in 2010 and 151,314 in 2011 before dropping to 83,188 in 2012.

Experts, such as Craig Hardy, the lead oyster biologist at the fisheries division and a participant in the workshop, don’t believe there’s a new downward trend under way; Hardy said environmental factors were largely responsible for the 2012 dip.

Poster and oral presentations over the two-day meeting encouraged discussions and group consensus-building, and participants produced a set of workshop findings that will help determine future action items, strategies, resources and partnerships.

Erin Fleckenstein

Although recommendations have not yet been put in writing and finalized, the idea is to use what was learned at the workshop to build toward revising and updating the existing Oyster Restoration and Protection Plan for N.C.: A Blueprint for Action. At an anticipated January 2015 N.C. Oyster Summit, workshop findings will be reviewed, and then, incorporated into a third edition of the Restoration and Protection Plan that will guide state research and restoration efforts from 2015 to 2020.

Wilgis said a key decision at the workshop was to organize two work groups, one for the northern segment of the state’s coast, which has vast expanses of sub-tidal oyster and shellfish waters, such as Pamlico Sound, and one for the southern segment, which generally is home to more intertidal small rivers and sounds that over the years have seen more development and more effects from stormwater runoff and pollution. The dividing line will be the White Oak River, between Onslow, Jones and Carteret counties.

One big idea, Wilgis said, is to use what was learned about what has worked to come up with a list of “shovel-ready” habitat restoration and creation projects for which grant money can be sought. And, he and Erin Fleckenstein, a federation scientist, said last week that the collaboration and networking during the workshop should enable those with an interest and a stake in oyster habitat and harvesting to better seek those grants without duplicating efforts.

There also was agreement, Wilgis said, among those involved in efforts to identify more sources of shells for the projects; one big idea is to create a sanctuary, working with the state fisheries division, in the Cape Fear River.

Brian DeAngeli offered encouragement to those at the workshop, Wilgis said. DeAngelis is a Nature Conservancy program coordinator and fisheries biologist and the former research assistant at the National Marine Fisheries Service. He said North Carolina is “lucky” to have had good support from the state, especially the fisheries division, and a variety of partners in the effort, enabling work to proceed on not just one front, but many, including fisheries enhancement and water quality.

The latter is a key to the involvement of the federation, which got involved in a big way more than a decade ago because of its mission of protecting and enhancing coastal water quality. Because shellfish filter pollutants as they feed, a healthy oyster stock is essential to water quality.

Oysters can live up to 40 years and grow up to 8 inches; however, most N.C. oysters are harvested at three years of age, at the minimum harvest size of three inches. In the early stages of an oyster’s life, it’s carried about by currents. As it matures, the oyster sinks to the bottom, and to survive, it must land on a hard surface. That’s why they are found growing together in clumps.

Experts say each adult oyster filters and cleans up to 50 gallons of water a day, eating algae and removing sediments and nitrogen, so it’s easy to see why a good oyster population makes a big difference in water quality.

Wilgis said another important “take home” from the workshop was the importance of making sure projects are monitored carefully and evaluated in similar ways. There are, of course, some who look at efforts specifically in terms of water quality improvements, but others look more for fisheries enhancement. Some projects obviously do more for one than for the other, but researchers need to be able to communicate with each other and present results and recommendations in ways that all involved can understand.

“We need to be sure that we’re generally using the same metrics” to determine successes and failures, Wilgis said, so all involved can learn from each other.

Another important decision was to develop a common web site on which researchers and project managers can share information not just with each other, but with the public. Ideally, he said, those involved could upload reports on what they’ve learned and post links to other relevant studies they have found and perhaps used.

Successful restoration projects depend on the cooperation of organizations, state agencies and volunteers like this guy who’s building an oyster reef one bucket at a time.

One of the few problems at the workshop, Wilgis said, was a lack of time. The various presentations were lightning-fast, he said, so there will need to be more in-depth discussions. Another issue, he said, was a lack of emphasis on oyster farming and the important role it can play in habitat enhancement, water quality and harvesting.

Hardy, the state fisheries division’s “go-to” guy for most things oyster-related, was similarly pleased with the workshop.

“There was a lot of information presented in a pretty short amount of time, but it was presented very well and well-organized,” he said. “Not only that, it was a good opportunity for people to just get to know each other a little better and learn more about where everyone is heading.

“I think it was a very good first step” toward the summit next year, Hardy said, a way to make sure everyone is focused and working together toward the goal of coming up with practical and effective strategies and projects that can be adopted in the next five-year plan to preserve and enhance habitat and fisheries.

Like Wilgis, he noted that the format did not lend itself to in-depth discussions, because there were so many topics and so much to do in a relatively short amount of time. But he said there are plans for participants to get together before the summit to talk more in-depth on topics.

All-in-all, Hardy said, the workshop was a “huge success.” He said he felt “re-invigorated” and believes he and others came away more optimistic that — in an era in which it’s harder to find state and federal budget allocations and grants for oyster work — there is a strong desire among capable people to continue to make headway in an effort most people believe is very important.

Fleckenstein, who is based in the federation’s office in Manteo, agreed that the workshop was great opportunity – and a successful effort – to get almost everyone involved in the same place and on the same page.

“I think the general feeling was that we all are impressed by what has been done and by the information that we have and can use as we move ahead,” Fleckenstein said. “But I think we all also agreed that despite all the work that has been done, there is a lot left to do. The good news is that I believe we’re all strongly motivated to keep going.”

And motivation, Fleckenstein said, is important, in part because of state and federal budget cuts, which make it harder to find money for good projects. It’s also important because it’s easy to indulge a natural tendency to rest after achieving some success.

“I think a lot of ideas were generated,” she said. “It’s important for everyone to get together periodically, and we were fortunate to have a wide variety of people involved in the workshop. And people worked well together.”

Along with the federation, other sponsors were the Albemarle-Pamlico National Estuary Partnership, the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, the N.C. National Estuarine Research Reserve, the N.C. Sea Grant College Program, the N.C. State University Center for Marine Science and Technology, the UNC-Chapel Hill Institute of Marine Sciences and the UNC-Wilmington Center for Marine Science.

Reprinted from the Tideland News

MOREHEAD CITY — Oyster season opens today, and state officials are optimistic that the 2012-13 harvest will be a good one, continuing a comeback for a fishery that is culturally, economically and environmentally important.

Mike Marshall, central district manager for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, emphasized, as always, that the agency isn’t in the prediction business. But, he said recently, sampling by division staffers has turned up lots of oysters, and they’re growing faster than they were this time last year.

Dermo cells as seen through an electron microscope. Photo: S.C. Department of Natural Resources.

In addition, Marshall said, samplers are seeing “little or no” Dermo, the parasitic disease that ravaged oysters beds from the late 1980s through the early 2000s. That is one of the reasons for the comeback in oyster stocks and the oyster market as the parasite at one time was killing up to 50 percent of the state’s oysters before they even reached market size.

The fast growth, Marshall said, is welcome news after last year, when oysters “didn’t really grow much until a good while after the season started, really after Christmas.”

Although no one is sure why that happened, Marshall said the speculation is that since oysters are filter feeders, the plankton they depend on for growth might not have been the right size early in the year.

Whatever the reason, the slow growth was a bit of an anomaly, and biologists are glad to see it is apparently back to normal this year.

The prospect of a good season is welcome news to Earl Marshall Taylor, owner of T&W Oyster Bar near Peletier in Carteret County.

“We’ve been getting calls for the last month from customers who want to know when we’re going to have oysters,” said Taylor. “I think business is going to take off if the oysters are nice and pretty like they were last year when it (the season) closed. I feel like people are going to be standing in line to get in the door.”

There’s no way to overestimate the importance of the oyster to T&W, which opened its doors in 1971. Back then the restaurant was only open when the oyster season was in swing. The seating capacity was 38 on opening day; now it’s 250. At times over the years, the restaurant has been filled to capacity. One night – Taylor doesn’t recall the exact date – the restaurant went through 51 or 52 bushels of oysters. The average number of bushels a week was once 125 to 150.

But the 1980s weren’t so kind. Dermo hit, and in the fall of 1987 the state experienced its first red tide, a toxic alga that had moved up the coast, on the Gulf Stream from Florida. The red tide shut down shellfish harvesting for months, and the publicity harmed the state’s whole seafood industry for a long time.

Staff Sgt. Nathyn Purganan of II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group at Camp Lejeune receives a bag of oyster shells for a new oyster reef in Stump Sound. He was part of a nine-man group that helped N.C. Coastal Federation build the reef. Photo: U.S. Marine Corps by Pfc. Jackeline M. Perez Rivera.

Recycling oyster shells has contributed to the rebound of the oyster harvest. Photo: N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries.

These days, the restaurant has diversified, but the oyster is king; T&W can go through 40 bushels in a week.

Taylor gives a lot of credit to the state fisheries division. The agency and private interests, like the N.C. Coastal Federation, have emphasized restoring oyster beds and recycling oyster shells. Taylor’s restaurant and many others save the shells, which are used by the state and groups like the federation to rebuild oyster reefs. The rebuilt reefs attract baby oysters, or spat. The work seems to have paid off. Many experts think the oyster population in Pamlico Sound is at or near the pre-Dermo and red tide levels.

The increase is population isn’t only good for business and consumers but also for water quality. Oysters filter the water as they feed. One adult oyster can filter 30-50 gallons of water a day.

The oyster is also king this time of year at Queen’s Creek Seafood in Hubert in Onslow County. Owner Randy Tallman said the bivalve “is our business” in the fall.

Tallman said he sells about 100 bushels a week when things are going well, and like Marshall and Taylor, he thinks this year will be a good one.

In addition to buying from commercial watermen, Tallman harvest oysters for his business. He said he’s seen healthy ones in a variety of waters, including Bogue Sound and near Hammocks Beach State Park.

Taylor said one reason he’s optimistic about the season is that some areas were closed to harvesting earlier than usual last year. For example some areas of North River in Carteret County were closed because of the presence of “green gill,” which occurs occasionally in oysters when algae levels in the water increase.

Customers won’t buy “green-gilled” oysters, Taylor said, even though the condition has no effect on the health, quality of taste. The early closure, though, gave the oysters another year to reproduce and grow, Taylor said. The only possible downside, he said, is that some of the oysters may have grown too large for customers who prefer smaller oysters.

This year’s crop of oysters may also have benefitted from an early closure of mechanical harvesting is some areas. Using dredges and other types mechanical gear is much more efficient than hand harvesting, but the division shuts the effort down when fishermen start taking too many oysters below the legal size of three inches.

The only real bad news clouding the season outlook is the significant mortality in the lower Neuse River, Marshall said. Heavy rainfall is believed to have contributed to low oxygen levels in the water, he explained. Fish could swim away, but stationary oysters died. The Neuse is a very nutrient-rich river and is especially prone to high nitrogen levels from fertilizers that run off farm fields. High nitrogen levels trigger algal bloom. When they die, the algae sink to the bottom and decompose, which robs the water of oxygen.

Ted Wilgis of the N.C. Coastal Federation checks oyster growth on a new reef that the federation built.

High runoff worsens the problem by stratifying the water – lighter freshwater on top of the river’s saltwater. The layering prevents oxygen from mixing with the deeper water.

The good news, Marshall said, is that low oxygen conditions rarely occur in coastal waters south of the Neuse.

Marshall said the bottom line is that most areas that will be open to harvesting look “at least a little better than last year.”

Oyster harvests in recent year don’t approach those of “historic” levels because those records go back more than a century. “You’d have to go back 50 years or more to see these kinds of levels,” Marshall said. “It’s just a snapshot, really, and this year might be off a little compared to the past couple of years, but it’s been very good. You don’t want to say, ‘Yeah, we’re back; we’ve made it.’ But we are very encouraged.”

The numbers support the optimism. In 1987, the commercial oyster harvest totaled 1.42 million pounds, worth $2.88 million. By 1994, it had hit a low of 183,704 pounds worth $632,634, and the harvest didn’t top 300,000 pounds again until 2005, at 367,961 pounds worth $1.55 million.

Since then, though, there has been a steady climb, with harvest reaching 573,630 pounds ($2.6 million) in 2009 and then nearly doubling, to 1.04 million ($5 million) in 2010. The 2011 figures were 800,453 pounds, valued at $4.48 million.

Marshall said he expects the 2012 figures will be down because mechanical harvesting was shut down early.

OAK ISLAND — Students at John T. Hoggard High School in Wilmington braved nasty weather last week to get their hands dirty and help create healthier waters and a more stable shoreline for this beach community in Brunswick County.

About 25  students arrived bright and early at Waterway Park on Wednesday, April 25, to continue bagging oyster shells and limestone marl, which will eventually be used to create an underwater reef spanning a portion of the island’s northern shore.

The reef is part of a project that will also include a restored salt marsh along the shoreline of the park. The reef and marsh will work as a living shoreline to slow down erosion while providing important habitat and water quality benefits. Living shorelines use more natural methods of erosion control than wooden or concrete bulkheads and stone rip-rap.

“Our goal,” says Michaux “is to create a coastline that is both healthy and aesthetic.”The project, initially started by the one of Oak Island’s advisory boards, has grown to involve the N.C. Coastal Federation and the town’s Public Works Department. John Michaux, Public Works manager for Oak Island, says that the federation has been a tremendous help in planning and coordinating the reef’s construction.

Boat traffic across the Intracoastal Waterway currently creates wakes that slam into the shoreline, eroding the land. When the sill is put into place and the marsh restored, that wake will be buffered and hopefully cut down on the amount of erosion , Michaux said. This will allow several vacant lots across the coastline to be converted into public park space.

“What the reef will also do,” says Michaux, “is create a good habitat for new oyster beds.”

The sill works by layering bags of limestone marl or oyster shells on top of each other underwater, explained Ted Wilgis, one of the federation’s coastal educators who is overseeing the project for the non-profit conservation group.

“Baby oysters, called spat, like to settle on oyster shells,” he said. “So this new sill will encourage new populations of oysters. As it matures, the reef will become important habitat to many types of marine life.”

The marl and shells provide  a home and protection for juvenile fish, crabs, small marine organisms and many important commercial and recreational species, Wilgis said. As the oyster reef develops, larger fish will tend to congregate around it, feeding on the smaller fish and marine life. Oyster reefs are important nurseries and feeding grounds that help support North Carolina’s billion dollar commercial and recreational fishing industries.

To complete a reef of this size, though, takes planning, and more importantly, lots of labor. That’s why oceanography and marine science students at Hoggard volunteered to help collect and bag the needed materials.

“This is a valuable experience for them,” says Aaron Soodek, an oceanography and marine science teacher at Hoggard. “The students had the option of joining in as part of a unit on shellfish.”

Soodek and his students travelled hours to work in the cold and the rain for the better part of Wednesday. Despite the disagreeable weather, however, students went about energetically bagging the oyster shells and marl. Soodek says that his students were more than eager to get outside and work in the field.

“I don’t mind the rain,” says Vassily Brown, a Hoggard student. “I think this is too important to let something like that (the weather) get in the way.”

Volunteers arrived by bus at10 a.m. and were handed raincoats and treated to lunch, courtesy of the federation. Wilgis, who coordinated the event, helped everyone split into groups – students were making bags, helping slide shells into collection tubes, tying the full bags up and stacking them with the rest. For several hours, students joked and laughed as they performed their duties.

“It’s repetitive,” says Will Garbo, another student, “but rewarding, and I’m out here making a difference.”

Students who volunteered for the project received valuable community service hours, a requirement of high school organizations such as the Beta Club.

The reef will also help preserve a unique feature of Oak Island’s coast, the marshlands that are being overrun by the constant boat wake – a problem made apparent when a passing military vessel created large waves that slammed into the shore’s bulkhead. Even the bulkheads in place do very little to protect against the effects of constant marine traffic. With the sill in place, there will be a buffer for the marshes. The federation and the town plan to replant some of the marshes later.

Along with all the benefits to the continued health of the shore, the volunteer effort also had a more subtle, yet arguably more important effect – teaching a younger generation about the importance of maintaining our ecosystems.

“It’s not just our responsibility,” says Garbo, “it’s everybody’s responsibility to do what they can for our environment.”

Organizations like the federation can provide information and tools, but the real effort comes from everybody doing their part to make a difference – no matter how big, or how small.