Provided by Galveston Bay Foundation
Galveston Bay Foundation operates its oyster recycling program in 2024.
An oyster shell recycling program out of Galveston Bay is trying to restore the local population after years of setbacks.
The effort comes amid a growing need for oyster restoration across the Texas Coast.
Sally Clark, the director of habitat restoration for the Galveston Bay Foundation, said oysters in Galveston have suffered in recent years. According to Clark, Hurricane Ike smothered up to 60% of the reefs. Then, years of droughts and floods added to the population’s uncertainty by causing fluctuations in water salinity.
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Clark said that since 2011, the Galveston Bay Foundation has collected over 2,200 tons of empty oyster shells from restaurants and is returning them to the bay to serve as a home for baby oysters. It’s part of an oyster shell recycling program.
“We have staff that comes around to these restaurants two to three times a week and collects the shells,” Clark said.
Galveston Bay Foundation staff then quarantines the shells for six months.
“That is just to remove any harmful pathogens or bacteria or food remnants from the restaurant before we can put them back in the water,” Clark said.
Currently, multiple restaurants in Galveston, Clear Lake and Houston participate in the oyster recycling program, including Gaido’s, Fisherman’s Wharf and Tommy’s Restaurant and Oyster Bar.
“It allows us to keep the shell out of the landfill and return it to the bay for habitat,” Clark said. “And like a full-circle moment, the shells are sometimes harvested from the bay and then return there after they’re consumed.”
Clark said October is a good time to put recycled shells in the water as baby oysters look for a hard surface to make a home after spawning. Spawning season typically runs from May through November.
Most recently, the Galveston Bay Foundation constructed two acres of additional oyster reef using recycled concrete and recycled oyster shells in Dickinson Bay, which connects to Galveston Bay.
“We’re very proud of what we’re able to accomplish, especially because it uses the shell that we have collected with our restaurant partners, but it is still small in terms of the scale and the pace of what needs to be restored in the bay,” Clark said.
Clark said the reef they restored in Dickinson Bay is non-harvestable, so the oysters that grow there can become large adults and reproduce and create hundreds of baby oysters that can float through the water column.
Alongside the Galveston Bay Foundation, others have looked for ways to make drastic changes to the oyster population along the Texas Coast. In June, oyster harvesting company Jeri’s Seafood worked alongside Palacios Marine Agriculture Research to release one million baby oysters into East Galveston Bay on privately leased areas using an agricultural drone. The tiny oysters were spread across five acres in a matter of 20 minutes.
The hope was that, given four to six months, the oysters would grow big enough to harvest, according to previous Houston Public Media reporting.
The commercial and recreational oyster harvesting season in Galveston Bay begins in November.