This photo of squeaky clean oysters came from Jill Cayer!
Our oyster gardeners – and oyster buddies – are some of the pearls of our Restore Our Shores (ROS) program! These community members partner with our team to help restore oyster populations in the Indian River Lagoon.
From their lagoon-side docks, our oyster gardeners grow, monitor, and care for baby oysters, or spat. You don’t have to have a lagoon-side home or dock to help either! Our oyster buddies help our gardeners and ROS team, filling in to care for these young oysters as needed!
The impact is incredible: Our oyster gardeners and buddies have grown over half a million live oysters. These oysters help establish oyster populations on the reefs our ROS team and community volunteers built to help balance the lagoon’s ecosystem!
Read on to learn more about this experience from two of our oyster gardeners! You can also see some fun photos our gardeners shared during a little photo competition that shows some of their fun experiences so far!
How long have you been an oyster gardener?
Jill: I have been an oyster gardener for four years. I got my first batch of spat in April of 2022.
Fred: I started oyster gardening this past year.
What made you want to become an oyster gardener?
Jill: We moved to a home on a canal in 2018. A couple years later we had a pretty bad algae bloom. Being relatively new to the area, I wasn’t overly familiar with all the issues plaguing the lagoon. I love our wildlife and love our home and wanted to help get the water quality to improve. I had heard many stories of how the lagoon looked many decades ago and would love to experience that. I also figured it would be a fun learned experience for my children.
Fred: I want to help out the Indian River Lagoon in any way I can. On social media and at various meetings, I heard about oyster gardening and had water access, so, it made sense to sign up and do it.
What do you enjoy about oyster gardening?
Jill: My favorite part of oyster gardening is knowing that not only am I helping to build an oyster reef and population somewhere in the lagoon, but I am also helping our local oyster growth right at my home. There are oysters growing everywhere.
Fred: It’s fantastic to know that this is assisting in the restoration of the Indian River Lagoon. At the same time, it’s a great activity to do, to watch the oysters grow and learn more about them.
I also recently served as an oyster buddy to help another oyster gardener who had to go out of town. That was really interesting as I got to see some of the differences in oyster growth between their location and mine.
What surprised you about oyster gardening?
Jill: What surprised me most was how quickly they reproduce and how fast they grow. Little quarter inch spat would be a solid two-inch oyster in a few months. Then a few months later, new spat was already appearing.
Fred: Just how easy it is to do. It requires minimum time if you can take them out, clean them and the cage and put them back in the water as required on the same day.
Do you have a fun or meaningful memory associated with oyster gardening?
Jill: My favorite memory of oyster gardening is all of the animals that have hung around the oysters. Seeing diamondback terrapins, cownose rays and blue crabs while they are in the water and herons and anoles hanging around them when they are sunning. I can tell the wildlife appreciates them too.
Fred: The amazing experience for me was when I pulled up one of the cages, and there was a small seahorse hanging on by its tail. I did not expect to find a seahorse here in Sykes Creek, so this was a very cool discovery.
What’s your advice for people considering becoming oyster gardeners?
Jill: My advice is to absolutely give it a try! Most gardeners start with a bag or two of spat, which usually starts small but can grow quickly. You have to stay on a relatively consistent schedule of rinsing and sunning to avoid fouling growth. Scraping off barnacles and slipper shells when they are small is much easier than after they get bigger. If you try it, and it really isn’t for you, there will be gardeners that will help get them off your hands. There have been a few cases where an injury, or emergency has arisen for one gardener, and other gardeners step up to ensure all is taken care of. It’s a great network of amazing people all doing their part to help improve the lagoon. I have only one habitat now but could take about seven more if someone needed help.
Fred: Do it! This is a fantastic opportunity to make a difference for the lagoon. It is not an excessive amount of time, and there is real joy in seeing the oysters grow.
Also, if your property is not on the water, you can be an oyster buddy and help those who may not be able to care for their oysters for a short period of time. So, anyone can get involved.