Manatee River was once known as "Oyster River" before developers removed the reefs in the 1950s for paving and building material.
As the filter feeders were taken out, more people continued moving in to the surrounding cities of Bradenton and Palmetto — that has increased runoff pollution and lowered water quality for the river over the years.
"Now we have a huge amount of water, fresh water with pollutants, nutrients that are stimulating algae, providing more particles. Bacteria is also added now to this equation,” marine biologist Ernesto Lasso de la Vega said.
The Palmetto Community Redevelopment Agency contracted him to monitor the progress of a restoration effort in Palmetto Bay, an estuarine pocket of Manatee River, which flows into Lower Tampa Bay.
The agency installed hundreds of reef balls: concrete domes of various sizes and holes to encourage oyster growth.
The project is showing shows some early signs of recovery.
"It took almost a year and a half, maybe a year, just for the initial creatures like sponges, tunicates, barnacles, and even oysters to start attaching to these to these reef balls,” said Lasso de la Vega.
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He’s already observed two-inch oysters on the reef domes, which will soon produce baby oysters.
Adult oysters can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day, each, while providing habitats for hundreds of other marine species.
More fish and crabs have also been catalogued around the reef balls.
But so have an invasive species called Asian green mussels.
They were first discovered in Tampa Bay back in 1999 and have since spread down to Southwest Florida.
Lasso de la Vega said while previous research shows they could alter the ecosystem by smothering oyster populations, he's more hopeful for Palmetto Bay.
"The oysters keep attaching to the mussels, and they're growing. So, in other words, they're going to overwhelm these green muscles, and there's going to be a competition. And I ... I'm betting on the oysters,” he said chuckling.
For now, they’re counting the mussels and watching how the two filter feeders interact with each other.
Lasso de la Vega plans to let nature do its thing and just observe the battle for now.
The scientist said, overall, it could take a year or so for substantial data to come out for the Palmetto Bay restoration initiative.
