Does Martin County have any past experience in oyster restoration?
Martin County conducted a pilot project in 2005 in which CSA International, Inc. (CSA) managed construction of 18 patch reefs in the St. Lucie Estuary. Those reefs were built using the same methods and are virtually identical to the reefs being constructed in the current project. In 2006 Martin County and CSA built an additional 70 patch reefs in the St. Lucie Estuary. Annual monitoring of these reefs has shown them to be very successful, averaging almost 400 oysters per square meter. Throughout the last two years, the Loxahatchee River District and their partners created 9 artificial oyster reefs beneath residential docks in the Loxahatchee River through a collaboration of environmental managers, area businesses, residents and local students. Research and monitoring of these new reefs show exciting and promising results.
