ADCNR Oyster Restoration Efforts Continue in Coastal Alabama

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) announced today that extensive oyster restoration in Coastal Alabama will continue with funding through the Deepwater Horizon Natural Resources Damage Assessment Program (NRDA). ADCNR Commissioner Chris Blankenship serves as the Lead Trustee for Alabama.

ADCNR recently received approval of $7 million for oyster restoration under the NRDA Regionwide Trustee Implementation Group Restoration Plan I. These funds will be used for the project "Improving Resilience for Oysters by Linking Brood Reefs and Sink Reefs (Large-scale)."

The Alabama component of the regionwide project includes construction of new brood reefs or supplementation to existing reefs at multiple sites on the western portions of mid and lower Mobile Bay. ADCNR is the Implementing Trustee for this project.

"I am thankful for the continued investment in oyster restoration in Alabama through the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources," said Commissioner Blankenship. "Over the past several years, Director Scott Bannon and his staff in our Marine Resources Division have made substantial changes to the way our oyster resources are managed. We have invested heavily in oyster research, reef mapping, oyster larval transport models and research and hardscape restoration activities.

"We have implemented oyster management stations for commercial harvesters and employ a revolutionary grid system to monitor harvest. We are enhancing reefs in harvestable and protected areas and are partnering with many academic and non-governmental organizations and our federal partners to grow our oyster resources."

This seven-year project includes planning, implementation and monitoring. During the first and second years, ADCNR will use existing bottom mapping, water quality data, habitat suitability indices and larval transport models to identify appropriate locations for brood and sink reefs for each project component and conduct pre-construction oyster surveys, engineering and design activities, environmental compliance consultations and permitting.

In years three and four, ADCNR will construct reefs based on the engineering plans developed in years one and two. In years five through seven, oyster reefs will be monitored for abundance, density, size distribution and larval settlement.

Funding of $2.8 million to add to this original $7 million project is proposed in NRDA Alabama Trustee Implementation Group Restoration Plan IV. That plan is in the final stages of the restoration process and should be completed by November 2024. Click here to review the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Draft Restoration Plan IV and Environmental Assessment.

"ADCNR Deepwater Horizon Coordinator Dr. Amy Hunter and her staff have done a fabulous job managing the DWH funding sources, fostering cooperation and coordinating projects to do good work in Coastal Alabama," Blankenship said. "I appreciate the way they work with our ADCNR staff, our federal agency friends and other groups to coordinate our restoration work. It is complicated and there are a lot of personalities and agendas. They do well to manage all that and implement quality projects."

The $9.8 million in oyster restoration funding announced today builds on work previously undertaken by ADCNR for oyster restoration.

ADCNR, in consultation with National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), completed the Coastal Alabama Comprehensive Oyster Restoration Strategy in 2021. ADCNR and its partners have been implementing many of the strategies outlined in the plan. Click here to review the plan.

In 2023, a detailed side-scan mapping of the oyster reefs in Mobile Bay and Mississippi Sound was completed. This information is key to future oyster reef restoration decisions and planning.

More than 1,000 acres of oyster reef have been restored by ADCNR using cultch material in two projects that were funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation Gulf Environmental Benefit Fund and NRDA.

ADCNR is partnering with the Auburn Extension Service on the Oyster Grow-Out Restoration and Reef Placement project. Phase I of the project was funded in Restoration Plan II in 2018 and includes placement of oysters on three off-bottom oyster reefs in Portersville Bay, Bon Secour Bay and Grand Bay. This was a $962,000 project. The oysters were grown out by participants in the very popular oyster gardening program administered by Auburn University Marine Extension Service and transferred to the reefs at the end of each growing season.

As proposed in the NRDA Alabama TIG Restoration Plan IV, the Oyster Grow-Out and Restoration Reef Placement – Phase II Project would fund the continuation of this work. Phase II of this project would install up to 15 dense spawning aggregate structures over a five-year period and conduct monitoring. The proposed cost for the Oyster Grow-Out and Restoration Reef Placement – Phase II project is $1,369,827.

As included in the Coastal Alabama Comprehensive Oyster Restoration Strategy, ADCNR strives to work with other agencies and organizations to improve oyster habitat in Coastal Alabama.

ADCNR has worked with the Alabama Wildlife Federation (AWF) to enhance oyster reefs. Specifically, AWF has worked to pinpoint restoration activities within Alabama's Comprehensive Oyster Restoration Strategy that AWF can implement to have a significant impact on oyster restoration.

"This new round of oyster restoration funding secured by ADCNR is significant and will further advance execution of Alabama's Comprehensive Oyster Restoration Strategy," said Tim Gothard, AWF Executive Director. "AWF is proud to be one of many groups contributing to this important work and we are proud of the leadership Commissioner Blankenship and Director Bannon continue to exhibit."

AWF and their project partners, including Vulcan Materials Company, The Cooper Group, PowerSouth Energy, the J.L. Bedsole Foundation, Coastal Land Trust, the Thomas E. Jernigan Foundation, Alabama Power Company, the E.E. Delaney Foundation, the Lynn Dent Boykin Family, Hancock Whitney and Regions Bank, built a 77-acre oyster reef in Mississippi Sound and added cultch material to several inshore reefs to add to the oyster spawning stock biomass. AWF has also provided water monitoring equipment and partnered with ADCNR in other ways to improve oyster habitat. Click here for more information about the AWF Oyster Restoration Fund.

"Oysters are the keystone species of a healthy ecosystem," Blankenship said. "Not only are they tasty and healthy but the ecosystem services oyster reefs provide as habitat for crabs, shrimp and other marine creatures cannot be overstated. They clean and filter the water and are truly one of God's most fascinating creatures. It is critically important for us all to continue with oyster restoration efforts in Coastal Alabama. The work that will be done with this funding will make positive impacts for decades."

ADCNR's Marine Resources Division will host an oyster meeting on Tuesday, August 27, 2024, from 1-3 p.m. at the Bayou La Batre Community and Senior Center located at 12745 Padgett Switch Rd. in Irvington, Alabama. The focus of the meeting will be to update the community about activities related to the management of Alabama's oyster fisheries and to receive public input.

ADCNR promotes wise stewardship, management and enjoyment of Alabama's natural resources through four divisions: Marine Resources, State Lands, State Parks, and Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries. Learn more at http://www.outdooralabama.com.