In Brief

Oyster Shell Recycling Project Begins in Louisiana

News
By Douglas Main
published

oysters-flooding
Oyster beds once protected much of America's shoreline. (Image credit: Inna Sokolova, University of North Carolina at Charlotte)

Oyster shells needn't go to waste. A Louisiana-based group has started a project to put oyster shells back into the ocean after they are discarded at restaurants in New Orleans. Why? Because once the shells are placed back on the seafloor they help new oyster communities form and regenerate, according to the group organizing the project, the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. The project is funded by a $1 million gift from Shell Oil Company, according to the coalition.

Oyster shells have been used elsewhere for the same purpose, for example in the Chesapeake Bay. "Oyster shell is a naturally created and valuable material that should be returned to the coast, where it can serve as a foundation for reefs and as cultch [or fodder] for more oysters," said the group's executive director, Steven Peyronnin, in a post from the coalition. Oyster larvae preferentially latch onto other oyster shells and begin growing, the group added.

Email Douglas Main or follow him @Douglas_Main. Follow us @livescience, Facebook or Google+. 

Douglas Main
Douglas Main
Douglas Main loves the weird and wonderful world of science, digging into amazing Planet Earth discoveries and wacky animal findings (from marsupials mating themselves to death to zombie worms to tear-drinking butterflies) for Live Science. Follow Doug on Google+.