In the early 1800’s the Manatee River was called the Oyster River because of the many oyster reefs lining its shores. Over the years, however, harvesting for restaurants, dredging to improve navigation and ultimately dredging to provide fill for road beds eradicated over 90% of the oysters along the Sun Coast.

Restoring our local oyster population is an important environmental priority because of the critical role they play in improving water quality and supporting other species. One mature oyster can filter from 9 to 50 gallons of seawater every day. That helps remove nitrogen and phosphorus that clouds the water column and feeds red tide and other harmful algal blooms.

Oysters are called “environmental engineers” because their reefs provide habitat for other sea life like crabs and shrimp that attract many species of game fish. Their reef structure helps prevent shoreline erosion which reduces the excess nutrients entering our waterways. Oyster reefs also naturally grow in relative height to match sea level rise from climate change.

Given oysters important multi-faceted role in our marine environment, START helped launch the Gulf Coast Oyster Recycling and Renewal (GCORR) program in 2017 to help bring back this vital species to our waterways. Other organizations joining START in the initial partnership included the Chiles Hospitality Restaurants, the Anna Maria Oyster Bars, the Manatee County Department of Natural Resources, the Gulf Shellfish Institute, the University of Florida IFAS/Sea Grant program and Waste Pro USA.

The participating Shuck ‘N Save restaurants save the shell from diners in special containers that are picked up several times a week by Waste Pro USA and taken to “cure” in a County storage area. This process keeps 40 tons of shell a year out of landfills as garbage and uses it instead to build a base for new oyster beds. Research has shown that the “fresh” shell from restaurants attracts 23% more new oyster spat than the quarried fossil shell typically used for oyster restoration projects.

The participating Suck ‘N Save Restaurants are:

• Anna Maria Oyster Bar / 6906 14^th Street West, Bradenton, Fl 34207

• Anna Maria Oyster Bar / 6696 Cortez Road West, Bradenton, Fl 34210

• Anna Maria Oyster Bar / 1525 51^st Avenue East, Ellenton, Fl 34222

• Marriott Resort / 600 US Highway 41 North, Palmetto, Fl 34221

• Shuck It Raw Bar / 313 12^th Street West, Bradenton, Fl 34205

• Speaks Clam Bar / 8764 State Road 70 East, Lakewood Ranch, Fl 34202

• Starfish Seafood / 12306 46^th Avenue West, Cortez, Fl 34236

• Swordfish Grill / 4628 119^th Street West, Cortez, Fl 34236

We encourage you to patronize these environmentally proactive restaurants that are helping to restore our oyster reefs whenever you can.

Thanks to a $950,000 grant from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Manatee County Department of Natural Resources has taken over the GCORR Program and is focused on building new oyster reefs at strategic locations along the Manatee River. The restored oyster reefs along the river will protect the shoreline from erosion from storm surge during hurricanes, bolster the banks against sea rise from climate change and filter excess nutrients in the river before it runs into the Gulf.

For further information about this important water quality restoration program contact:

Christine Russo with the Manatee County Department of Natural Resources at (link) christine.russo@mymanatee.org

Damon Moore with Oyster River Ecology (Link) damon@oysterriverecology.org