"oyster beds" news and stories

Recycling heap in South Carolina. Photo: huggingthecoast, Flickr.

Coastal conservationists say the first South Carolinians had the right idea when they flung the remnants of their oyster feasts back into the ocean.

"Native people didn't put their oysters in a cooler and head down the road for a party," says Joy Brown, marine restoration specialist for the South Carolina Nature Conservancy. "They put their oysters right back in the water."

The Nature Conservancy is now trying to replicate the Cusabo's recycling habits, which they credit with sustaining the state's oyster crop, filtering its waters and preventing shoreline erosion. The advocacy organization is partnering with the Department of Natural Resources on a pilot program to collect emptied oyster shells from Charleston-area restaurants and return them to the sea.

"A lot of times, these shells are going into landfills," Brown says. "But they can serve a better purpose."