A Shore town turns to oysters to fight rising seas and erosion

Edith Zhao2025, Affiliate Research

A cluster of oyster shells forming a reef on the shoreline, ocean in the background
Oysters on a reef. Image by kidsasarin, licensed via Adobe Stock (Education License)

From the efforts of local communities, powered by eager volunteers and donors, a new way to protect our shorelines and fight against climate change has sprung up from a somewhat unexpected place – the restaurant table. In Long Beach Township, Barnegat Bay, and numerous other locations and states, a movement to use oyster shells to rebuild reefs has been set into motion. At Long Beach, restaurant owners keep the empty shells that remain after their patrons’ meals, recycling and donating them so they may be embedded back into the sea within a concrete “castle” to protect the township’s bayside marshlands from erosion. Similarly in Barnegat Bay, these returned oyster shells are helping to defend the storm damaged shoreline, and – as oysters are toxin filtering powerhouses – simultaneously clean the bay.

All across the coastline, as oysters settle into these “replanted” shells, reefs and ecosystems are regenerated, coastal erosion is prevented, and the oyster industry is bolstered. RCEI affiliate David Bushek, who is involved with related projects at the hurricane-ravaged Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, says that thanks to a hybrid oyster reef they are testing, “We see either a reduction in the rate of erosion, or a build-back of the shoreline.” There is a lot of promise in the power of oysters and the recent efforts to help them thrive, and there is much that local communities can do to support these projects, an “all-hands-on-deck” push towards a better future for our shores and planet.

Read more at the full article posted by NJ Spotlight News and originally published by Inside Climate News.

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