A growing number of Tampa Bay seafood restaurants aren’t throwing away their used oyster shells, instead giving them to Tampa Bay Watch to be used for new oyster reefs in the bay.
Tampa Bay Watch picks up shells collected by restaurants, which are dried and cleaned at a curing station in Fort De Soto. After 3 months, shells are built into vertical oyster gardens or oyster reefs. Those reefs become habitat for fish and wildlife, and allow settling oysters to filter harmful pollutants from the water.
Roughly 4 tons of oyster shells are already being recycled monthly across Tampa Bay under this new initiative. Since the project’s launch in February 2022, the program has recycled an estimated 102,000 pounds of oyster shells.
Restoration managers aim to increase Tampa Bay’s oyster coverage to 471 of the bay’s 256,000 acres by 2050 (Tampa Bay Estuary Program Habitat Master Plan).
Are you a restaurant owner, or do you know a restaurant owner, who might be interested in participating in the Shells for Shorelines program?
Reach out to Richard Radigan by emailing rradigan@tampabaywatch.org
