Congratulations
to the students of Newport Elementary School, who helped to
initiate a program to restore historic oyster beds at Hoop Pole
Creek in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina. Students worked with
the North Carolina Coastal Federation to not only restore the
oyster beds, but to ultimately improve water quality.
 Dredging
activities had nearly destroyed the once productive oyster
beds. Not everyone knows that oysters are not only great to
eat, but they keep the water clean by filtering 50 to 60 gallons
of water a day.
First, the students
learned about oysters and about coastal habitat. Then they
conducted the actual oyster bed restoration by placing reef
material (old oyster shells) in an area of the creek that
had lost its oyster beds, and then covering the reef material
with baby and juvenile oysters. They left the oysters alone
and checked in every once in awhile just to make sure things
were progressing. Students from other schools in the area
also contributed to the reef building and restoration. At
the end of the project, the students estimated that they had
helped to produce over 3,000 young, healthy oysters.
During the next
year, students intend to continue their restoration work by
expanding the reef and increasing the number of young oysters.
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