POINT WASHINGTON — Bags of oyster shells jutted out of Tucker Bayou on Saturday after more than 20 volunteers placed them in the water off Eden Gardens State Park.
PHOTOS: View a photo gallery from the construction event >>
VIDEO: View a video of the reef being constructed >>
For the past few months volunteers with the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance and Americorps have been collecting used oyster shells from local restaurants, drying them out and then putting them in meshed bags, said Alison McDowell with the alliance.
“We create these bricks inside,” McDowell said.
The volunteers then stacked the bags in 20-foot-long sections a few feet from the shoreline.
The oyster reefs have a number of positive effects on the habitat, McDowell said.
Oysters in the bayou try to settle on anything, even pieces of wood, McDowell said. The new reef will create a stationary habitat for oysters to settle and grow. Crabs and small or young fish also will be able to use the new reef.
Oysters are important for local water quality; one adult oyster can filter about 50 gallons of water each day.
Erosion also can be lessened or even reversed by having the bags as a shore break.
For some of the AmeriCorps volunteers, seeing the finished reef was gratifying.
“Bagging it and cleaning it is pretty much a drag, but building the reef was pretty cool,” said Joshua Rayner of Santa Rosa Beach.