Oyster Reef Restoration

FLOOR - Florida Oceanographic Oyster Restoration

Vincent Encomio, PhD, Research Scientist, spearheads the effort to restore the oyster population devastated by fresh-water discharges into the estuary that began in 2005 and continues today!  The oysters are critical to cleaning the water and providing habitat and food for more than 300 estuarine species.

Florida Oceanographic staff and volunteers grow oyster larvae and spat at our science center.  When they mature, Dr. Encomio and others lead volunteers in building oyster-shell reefs and populate them with the growing oysters. Additionally, oyster shells are collected at local restaurants, including:

Conchy Joe's
New England Seafood (Jensen Beach)
Shucker's
Finz
Shrimpers
Jensen Beach Ale House
Mulligan's (Stuart)
Riverwalk Cafe

The shells are quarantined and then bagged by staff and volunteers and deployed to create new oyster-shell reefs in the Indian River Lagoon and St. Lucie River estuaries. Their progress is monitored using cutting-edge acoustic technology.

For more information on how you can get involved, please contact Vincent directly at 772-225-0505 ext 112.

Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

Friday, January 13th               9am-11am        Oyster Shell Bagging at FOS
Saturday, January 21st           9am-12pm        Oyster Reef Deployment at Flagler Park

To Sign-Up, contact Vincent at 772-225-0505 ext. 112.

Please wear closed toe shoes to all events, and be prepared to enter the water up to waist deep at the reef deployments.  Gloves and water are provided.
This video of oysters viewed through a microscope was created by Pete Silvestri, a student from East Michigan University, who was part of the East Michigan University class that visited Florida Oceanographic Society and Dr. Vincent Encomio on April 27th, 2011.