Oyster Reef

The environmental department is seeing more seagrasses and wave protection from an oyster reef they installed just offshore of their current Philippe Park project a few years ago.

Six million pounds of ancient oyster shells from a Charlotte County mine are now a thriving 3-acre reef in the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. It is among the latest oyster reefs restored by the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.

Volunteers have been busy building up natural seawalls on one of the spoil islands in the middle of the bay. They're helping restore part of one of the most important rookeries in the state.

To protect coastal bases, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has enlisted corals, oysters and three international teams of scientists to develop “hybrid reefs,” to break up damaging waves.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approves a five-year ban on harvesting wild oysters from Apalachicola Bay to give the fishery time to recover from drought and other pressures.

Oyster harvests in the Gulf of Mexico have declined dramatically. Now scientists are working to rebuild oyster reefs, helped by settlement money from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

The health of Tampa Bay has been on the rebound in recent years. But there's still a lot to be done to bring back the natural fisheries. So groups of…