| COMMUNITY-BASED RESTORATION OF OYSTER REEFS
IN SOUTHWEST FLORIDA-WESTERN EVERGLADES WATERSHEDS
 Southwest Florida has witnessed tremendous urbanization
in recent years. To accommodate this growth in population,
resource managers have been forced to develop and manage
watersheds, thereby compromising the habitat of aquatic organisms
and impacting estuarine ecosystems downstream. These estuaries
provide critical feeding, spawning and nursery habitat for
ecologically and economically important species of finfish
and shellfish, including oysters (Crassostrea virginica).
 Oysters
not only represent an important fisheries species commonly
found in estuaries of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts
of the U.S. but they are important ecologically. Individual
oysters filter 4-34 liters of water per hour, removing phytoplankton,
particulate organic carbon, sediments, pollutants, and microorganisms
from the water column. This process results in greater light
penetration immediately downstream thus promoting the growth
of submerged aquatic vegetation. Although the oysters assimilate
70% of the organic matter filtered, the remainder is deposited
on the bottom where it provides food for benthic organisms.
This secondary production, combined with a complex, three-dimensional,
reef structure serving as nesting habitat and/or refuge,
attracts numerous species of invertebrates and fishes (e.g.,
blue crab, mud crabs, grass shrimps, penaeid shrimp, blennies,
gobies, killifishes, skilletfish, toadfishes). Furthermore,
many of these organisms serve as forage for important fisheries
species, birds, and mammals.  Oysters are not only an important
fisheries species, but oyster reefs serve as essential fish
habitat and their protection and restoration should therefore
be a focus of resource managers. However, records from Southwest
Florida suggest that oyster growth and distribution has decreased
drastically since the 1960s. With support from the South
Florida Water Management District and the Charlotte Harbor
National Estuary Program, we have already identified areas
in the Caloosahatchee River and in San Carlos Bay that are
conducive to the production of healthy oyster reefs (e.g.,
low contaminant loads, high spat recruitment, higher growth
of juveniles, and low disease and predator incidence).
With funding from the South Florida Water Management District,
Charlotte Harbor National Estuary Program, National Fish
and Wildlife Foundation, and National Oceanic Atmospheric
Administration, we are collaborating with the Lee County
School District,  Florida Sea Grant, the City of Cape Coral,
and the citizens of SW Florida, in educating and involving
the general public as well as high school and undergraduate
students in a community-based restoration of oyster reefs
in the lower Charlotte Harbor estuary, and estuaries of the
Ten Thousand Islands in the Western Everglades. In concert
with the university personnel, community volunteers create,
maintain, restore and enhance oyster-shell reefs in order
to establish healthy living-oyster reefs. The project will
also assess the suitability of other locations within the
lower Charlotte Harbor estuary for the enhancement of existing
oyster bars or for the restoration of historic oyster bars.
To date, oyster reefs have been created in the Caloosahatchee
River / lower San Carlos Bay, Estero Bay (Lee County), and
Henderson Creek (Collier County). Information related to
the restoration project can be found at:
http://www.floridaenvironment.com/programs/fe30602.htm
http://www.bonitanews.com/03/05/bonita/d916684a.htm
http://www.news-press.com/news/local_state/030511oysters.html
|
