Increasing the Capacity for Oyster Restoration Through Community Involvement

1. Increasing the Capacity for Oyster Restoration Through Community Involvement Stephen Czwartacki Nancy Hadley Michael Hodges Holly Dyar Allison Kreutzer Hana Benton South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Office of Fisheries Management/Shellfish Management Section

2. South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Responsible for the management of all public trust oysters in South Carolina. Limitations: Funding Manpower Timeframe for restoration due to spatfall season (May – September)

3. SCORE Program • Began in 2000 • ~10,000 Volunteers since 2000 • ~30,000 Volunteer Hours since 2000 • ~38,200 SCORE Bags • ~25,500 bushels of shell • ~573 tons of Shell • 10 yrs. = ~1.2 acre of oyster habitat • Developed a successful model of volunteer-based oyster restoration South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement program

4. Bears Bluff National Fish Hatchery Wadmalaw Island, SC • Create fish habitat • 1 acre of oyster reef • Large scale plantings of shell aggregate • Seeded shell (spat collection bags from docks) • Protect 1-2 acres of salt marsh • Engage dock-owners with volunteer opportunities • 800 volunteer hours • Outreach/educational opportunities • Spat collection bag creation • Bag deployment • Build on Bears Bluff’s reputation of community engagement in the area Sciaenops ocellatus (Red Drum)

5. North Edisto River Watershed North Edisto/Wadmalaw River Watershed Communities Wadmalaw Island Johns Island Seabrook Island North Edisto River/Wadmalaw River Bohicket Creek Church Creek Leadenwah Creek Privateer Creek Horseshoe Creek Toogoodoo Creek

6. Dock-owner contact • Cold calls & letters to homeowners • Charleston County Tax map database • Dock-owner info from DHEC • Public outreach events • Wadmalaw Island Land Planning Committee Mtg. • Johns Island Council Mtg. • Seabrook Island Natural History Group • Word of mouth • “Bumpsy”

7. Volunteer Opportunities • Shell recycling • Make bags to hang from docks • Community bagging events • Hang bags from docks • Deploy seeded shell to shoreline

8. Spat Collection Bags • ~8ft. Long • 8 “bubbles”/bag • ~0.75m2/bag coverage of shoreline • ~12 shell/bubble • Maximizes surface area of individual shells for • collection of spat 1 Month 3 Months

9. Planting Site Selection • Target watersheds • Maximum acreage • Sediment size (visually) • Closed to harvest areas (preferred) • Water quality • Unable to harvest

10. Large Scale Planting of Shell Aggregate

11. Planting of Seeded Shell 1m2

12. Project Sites 7 Large scale planting sites 2707m2/0.67 acres 5 Seeded shell planting sites 687m2/0.17 acres 951 Bags of seeded shell 0.75 Bags/m2 Total area of plantings 3394m2/0.84 acres 40 Participating docks 7 Potential sites for 2011

13. Extending Our Restoration Window • 1600 Bushels of shell aggregate planted on 475 m2 • 3.13bu./m2. • Seeded shell planted on two 112.5m2 areas • One planting on bare shoreline • One planting on shell aggregate

14. Combination Reef

15. Accomplishments • Volunteers • 40 Dock-owners • 199 Volunteers • 545 Hours • Oyster habitat • 12 Reefs 3394m2/0.84 acres • Extended the window for restoration by two months

16. Questions?