ADCNR Awarded $7.1 Million To Improve Oyster Resilience

The Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (ADCNR) was recently awarded $7.1 million in Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) funds for the “Improving Resilience for Oysters by Linking Brood Reefs and Sink Reefs” project. The project aims to increase oyster abundance and restore resilience to oyster populations by increasing reef connectivity through larval transport and the construction of oyster reefs over a range of habitats and salinities. It will create a network of high-vertical-relief brood (protected) reefs that link to existing and/or created sink (harvested and/or protected) reefs through larval transport, as well as increase oyster population sustainability and oyster reef resilience. ADCNR’s Marine Resources Division and Deepwater Horizon Restoration Section are working with the University of South Alabama and Auburn University to identify restoration sites and techniques most likely to yield the best results for the project. Building on the division’s practical working knowledge and management of the fishery, ADCNR’s goals for this stage of the project are to understand biological, physical and chemical factors that impact restoration success and use that information to build and enhance certain oyster reefs. The project is expected to take approximately two years.