鈥淪o we are out here at Peanut Ridge, which is a reef in Apalachicola Bay.鈥� Chris Matechik with the FSU Coastal and Marine Lab is driving a boat around experimental oyster plots marked by color-coded stakes. Oyster boats are pulling up between green-flagged stakes and dumping bins of rocks into the water.
鈥淪o each color is getting a different substrate material. We put out shell yesterday - just straight up oyster shell. Today we鈥檙e putting out small limestone, and tomorrow we鈥檙e putting out larger limestone,鈥� Matechik says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e going to be tracking them over time to determine which material鈥檚 attracting young oyster larvae which are free-swimming in the water column right now, settle there, make a home, and grow into adult oysters.鈥�
In a nearby boat, Shannon Hartsfield makes sure everyone is going to their designated area. 鈥淭his is an opportunity for them to come out and do something to help the bay,鈥� Hartsfield says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e all excited and ready for commercial harvest to happen again.鈥� For the oystermen dumping limestone, this work provides a little extra money while harvesting is shut down.
The Apalachicola Bay oyster fishery crashed in 2012, and it still hasn鈥檛 recovered. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission for five years. This experiment is part of a larger effort to make it viable again.
Back at East Point, FSU Coastal and Marine Lab鈥檚 Dr. Sandra Brooke is overseeing an excavator as it loads oyster boats with limestone. Brooke is principal investigator of the Apalachicola Bay System Initiative (ABSI).
鈥淭he objective of this project is to try and understand the root causes of the decline of the oyster populations in the bay, the health of the system, and why the oysters haven鈥檛 recovered despite several efforts, and how we can put the bay on a pathway to recovery,鈥� Brooke says.
鈥淪o as part of that project we are conducting a series of restoration experiments, and so what we are doing is testing three different materials that might be useful for restoration on a larger scale.鈥�
Previous restoration attempts used oyster shell, which is what larval oysters usually grow on. ABSI is using shell in some plots, but they want to see whether other materials might work better.
鈥淟ime rock is a good material because it has the same chemical composition as oyster shell,鈥� Brooke says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 two different sizes of lime rock -- the small, which is about ten centimeters, and then larger lime rock which is about twenty centimeters.鈥�
Over the next few years, they鈥檒l record which material better attracts and sustains oyster life. At the same time, they鈥檒l be marking changes in the amount of water that flows down the Apalachicola River.
鈥淔rom that information we can sort of understand what kind of river flows are best overall for the oysters,鈥� Brooke says, 鈥渁nd when do we need it, and how long do we need it for?鈥�
For instance, they鈥檙e starting the experiment now because oysters are entering their spawning season. One proposed management plan already calls for a at this time of year to keep salt-loving oyster predators away from young, vulnerable oysters.
Over the next few years of experiments, ABSI may produce conclusive evidence supporting the need for more freshwater during the late spring and through summer. This information can inform decisions about freshwater releases from the dam.
鈥淲e can鈥檛 do anything about the climate and the weather,鈥� Brooke says. 鈥淏ut if we know what we need, we might be able to go the Army Corps and the other agencies that manage the river flows and say, 鈥榣ook, we know we can鈥檛 get all the water we want all the time, but we could we get this much for this period because it鈥檚 really important?鈥欌��
Recently, Florida鈥檚 legal efforts to help the bay by getting more fresh water into the system were dealt a blow when the . Florida has accused its northern neighbor of using too much water upstream鈥攈indering downstream flows.
Despite that, Shannon Hartsfield is optimistic about the work they鈥檙e doing. 鈥淗opefully in the next four years, there鈥檒l be a hundred, hundred and fifty oyster boats out here making a decent living again.鈥� Hartsfield says. 鈥淧eople will be able to go half shell bars and order Apalachicola Bay oysters - and afford to buy them.鈥�
Hartsfield says that in recent years, conditions have been wetter and that he has seen signs of hope. The question is - will that progress continue through another harsh drought or destructive storm?
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