As former events coordinator for Summerville Saltwater Anglers, I began a partnership with SCDNR’s SCORE (Oyster Restoration) team to begin planting oysters in the Ashley River. One of the missions of the club is to provide community service to the Ashley River to improve it as a whole. This was 5 years ago, and each year we have had a planting event in July, peak time for “spat” or larval oysters to be floating around looking for something to attach to.
We recently had a speaker from SCORE come to the club and review our progress. This past weekend we planted 400 bags of oyster shell substrate. They have a formula that predicts the number of new oysters that will “recruit” on each bag and what it will filter at maturity. When mature, the reef we planted will filter an estimated 40,000 gallons of water per hour. Well, since we began, we have planted approximately 3,000 bags of oysters, and if you go back to the first year’s reef, it is now a full grown, live, oyster reef with big blades growing up off of it. Really good stuff. There is nothing better you can do for our marine estuaries than plant oysters. From filtering the water, to creating the beginning of the food chain that leads to our desired game fish – and beyond – think dolphin and osprey, for example. There are many opportunities to get involved. Check out the SCORE program for a calendar of events.
Secondly, really good news to report – regarding the full funding of the Community and Professional Response Initiative (founded by Redfin Charters, Z-Man Fishing, and Eye Strike) and our first project, named Project ReSpeck. The goal was to raise $25,000 to aid Waddell Mariculture in their spawning efforts that eventually end up as stocked fish in our waterways. This was in response to our record freeze last January and trying to think of a way to help somehow. I’ll let the press release speak for itself. Just want to thank everyone who contributed to our cause. Every little bit helps, and every penny goes to the cause.