Whelk Shells To Be Used As Cultch in Barnegat Bay, NJ Oyster Restoration Project
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Daily Journal] - April 20, 2015 -
BERKELEY TWP. – A century ago, oysters were so plentiful in Barnegat Bay that visitors would clamber off trains, wade into the water and pluck handfuls to roast for dinner.
But decades of pollution, accelerated by rampant development along the bay's shores, have reduced the oyster population to a small fraction of what it once was.
The American Littoral Society bought 160 tons of whelk shells from a seafood processor for about $2,000. On Thursday, it hired a barge to carry them to the reef site and dump them on the bay floor.
The oyster are not intended for consumption but to help improve water quality in the struggling bay and to protect the shoreline against devastating storms like Superstorm Sandy. The hard shells and the irregular, raised profile of the oyster beds help blunt the impact of waves and storm surges on the shoreline.
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