An environmental group is buying back unsold thousands of unsold oysters and using them to clean up the coast in New Hampshire.
The Great Bay Estuary is perfectly situated where seven rivers dump freshwater into the salty ocean water of the Gulf of Maine.
This unique ecosystem is home to 23 plant and wildlife species that are considered either threatened or endangered – damaged by decades of pollution.
Enter 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic and Brianna Group, the Coastal Coordinator for The Nature Conservancy.
“Because of COVID a lot of oyster farmers, the entire industry felt a lot of negative economic impact from the virus. Restaurants were shut down and not purchasing oysters,” Group said.
The fishing industry there is directly tied to 450 full-time jobs – jobs that were jeopardized when COVID hit. But thanks to a private grant, the non-profit was able to purchase the leftover oysters and re-release them into the estuary, where they can filter pollutants from the water.
“One adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water in a day. And they’re reproducing,” Group said.
Multiply that by about 159,000 oysters the organization has been able to buy and release, and you get nearly 8 million gallons of water filtered daily. And Group says the Nature Conservancy hopes to buy 5 million oysters from seven states – including Maine and Massachusetts.
“This partnership is only opening doors how we do restoration across Great Bay and across the country,” Group said.
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