Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/1050416
96 NOVEMBER 2018 / I N - D E P T H / the oysters to eat, and throughout the summer the oysters are culled by size into different silos so they have equal food opportunities as they grow. "Oysters grow really quickly, which is fantastic," Cullen says. Once the oysters reach 25 millimeters, or about an inch long, they must be moved into the wild, where they will hopefully enhance habitats and, perhaps someday, reefs. Last year, the baby oysters were moved to locations in Ipswich, Essex, and Gloucester. "It's very exciting that we were able to raise oysters that were healthy enough to be relocated," Cullen says. is year, the team was spending a little more time doing habitat evaluation before relocating the oysters, considering factors such as tidal flow, predators like the green crab, and the type of environment (oysters do best on rock substrate). e Massachusetts Oyster Project has also worked closely with local towns, state regulators, and shellfish constables to determine the best relocation spots, since shellfish are so highly regulated in Massachusetts. S P R E A D I N G OYST E R S A N D E D U C AT I O N Although much of its work has been on the North Shore, the Massachusetts Oyster Project's roots are actually in Boston. "We were told emphatically by the Division of Marine Fisheries that there were no oysters in Boston Harbor," says Andrew Jay, former president and co-founder of the Massa- chusetts Oyster Project. "From documents, we know that oysters went extinct in the Charles River Basin around 1880." Jay says that the organization started by placing 140,000 seed oysters purchased from Island Creek Oysters at the mouth of the Charles River. ey placed more oysters over the next several years, and have monitored them since. "We demonstrated that Boston Harbor is once again a suitable environment for oysters; we showed that they could survive, grow, reproduce, and multiply," Jay says, adding that there are still populations of oysters growing in Boston Harbor. E D U C AT I N G A B O U T OYST E R S ey're also showing the people and towns of Massachusetts how important oysters have historically been—and can be in the future—to the region. Education is key. at's why three "It's very exciting that we were able to raise oysters that were healthy enough to be relocated." – JENNIFER CULLEN, PRESIDENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS OYSTER PROJECT