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There are many obstacles to successful management of shellfish as habitats, but the greatest include the perception that a problem does not exist and that non-native shellfish can replace wild native species. Native oysters must be recognized and managed for the reef habitats that they provide.
The Road to Recovery
There are many obstacles to successful management of shellfish as habitats, but the greatest include the perception that a problem does not exist and that non-native shellfish can replace wild native species. Native oysters must be recognized and managed for the reef habitats that they provide.
The report recommendations include:
Improve protection
- Protect the remaining healthy reefs across all continents.
- Develop marine protected area systems (MPAs) for oyster reefs.
- Recognize reefs as ecosystems in protected area policies such as those arising nationally from commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
- Recognize oyster reefs as critical wetlands under the Ramsar Convention.
- Expand ‘at risk’ listings for oysters as imperiled species and oyster reefs as a threatened habitat.
- Develop shellfish and temperate reef commitments in global organizations.
Restore and recover reefs and their services
- Set restoration and recovery goals at regional and national scales.
- Use existing restoration funds to rebuild the natural capital of reefs to provide for multiple benefits.
- Support public-private partnerships to restore native oysters.
- Develop new funding mechanisms around ecosystem services, such as shellfish’s ability to sequester nitrogen in their tissues, and oysters’ role in defending shorelines and reducing erosion.
- Reduce perverse incentives that make restoration more difficult.
Manage Fisheries Sustainably
- Develop and adhere to fishery rebuilding plans for oyster reefs.
- Stop fishing in areas with less than 1% of shellfish remaining.
- Ensure sustainable fisheries in the Gulf of Mexico, likely the last place in the world where sustainable fisheries and large scale reef conservation is possible.
- Use private fishing rights more effectively to promote greater stewardship.
- Map reefs to assess management effectiveness over time.
Stop the Intentional Introduction and Spread of Non-native Shellfish
- Follow the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea’s (ICES) code of practice for marine introductions and transfers.
- Use incentives or other market forces to support hatcheries and businesses that grow and use native shellfish.
- Support environmentally compatible aquaculture of native shellfish that relieves pressure on reefs and wild stocks.
Improve Water Quality
- Use shellfish as bioindicators to measure water quality and overall achievement of estuarine conservation and restoration targets.
- Enhance and establish shellfish partnerships that include a broad spectrum of stakeholders.
- Support sustainable aquaculture.
The condition of oyster reef habitat is generally poor and the challenge in revitalizing native oyster reefs is great. Nevertheless we suggest many reasonable actions that will work on local to regional to global scales. Fundamental to ensuring success of these actions, oyster reefs and other shellfish-dominated habitats need to bemanaged as critical components of coastal ecosystems and the commitment must be built to restore their vital functions in bays and estuaries around the globe.
Download the report to read more detailed recommendations.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Aaron McCall (oyster restoration site, North Carolina); Photo © Rob Brumbaugh (monitoring oysters, North Carolina).
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