The State of Florida has completed the construction phase of the Apalachicola Bay Oyster Restoration project funded by the RESTORE Council. This $4.7 million project is the first completed implementation phase of a project funded from the Council-Selected Restoration Component’s Initial Funded Priorities List. Approximately 95,000 cubic yards of lime rock material was taken by barge and placed in the bay waters on an estimated 317-acre area in Franklin County. This has provided a new base that larval oysters may naturally settle on and grow in size to maturity. Newly settled oyster larvae are referred to as oyster spat. This effort complements other oyster restoration projects within Apalachicola Bay, an area with nationally and regionally significant oyster reefs which have suffered from degradation. Oysters improve water quality through filtering out excess sediment and pollutants. Oyster beds provide habitat that sustains fish and other bay organisms.
Florida’s Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve will monitor the project by measuring the colonization and growth of oysters in the restored area over the next two years.
For more information on this project, contact Rachel Horne deepwaterhorizon@dep.state.fl.us.