The Science & Technology Society hosted a panel discussion with red tide experts on the evening of April 17th at the Planetarium in the Bishop Museum of Science and Nature in Bradenton. The panel discussed the many facets of red tide from what causes it, concerns about its impacts on the environment, our economy and [...]
We were very pleased that the documentary film “Unfiltered” about the plight of oyster reefs around the world was selected for screening at the Sarasota Film Festival last week on April 29th. Produced by Chucha Barber and directed by Josh McLawhorn, “Unfiltered” shows the devastating impact of the loss of fresh water from the Georgia/Florida [...]
In the October 2013 issue of START’s e-newsletter we published our first article about the problems the Apalachicola Bay oyster industry were experiencing. One of the country’s major estuaries and the cradle of Florida’s prized oyster industry has had its oyster population drastically decline in what some were then calling a budding ecological disaster. Historically, [...]
Apalachicola Bay is located on the Florida Panhandle near the Big Bend. It is one of the country’s major estuaries. Historically, nearly 90% of Florida’s and 10% of the nation’s wild oysters came from Apalachicola Bay. In recent years it has had its oyster population drastically decline in what some have called a budding ecological [...]
It all began back in 2017 when Robert Baugh, General Manager of the Chiles Restaurant Group, suggested that we adopt an oyster recycling program like the one he worked on with restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina. It involved saving oyster shell from restaurant diners and using them to build new oyster reefs in the nearby [...]
START is very pleased to announce that our Gulf Coast Oyster Recycle and Renewal Program (GCORR) has been awarded the Golden Mangrove Award by the Tampa Bay Estuary Program. The award is given to the grant recipient who has made the most effective use of the funding by leveraging it among other partners and programs [...]
On August 7th, START’s Chairman, Sandy Gilbert, gave the Manatee County Commission an update on the Gulf Coast Oyster Recycle and Renewal (GCORR) Program that has been underway for the past year. Sandy began by explaining that given the County’s extensive investment in infrastructure over the years including replacing 2/3 of the septic systems along [...]
