Restore Our Shore’s (ROS) busiest season has come to an end! Our dedicated team made incredible conservation achievements over the last few months, from building nearly 30,000 square feet of oyster reef in the Indian River Lagoon to celebrating one full year of growing our own seagrass. Let’s go through some of our team’s biggest wins of 2024. 

Oysters: Our team wrapped up the season with a ton to shell-ebrate! To start, they built nearly 10,000 more square feet of oyster reef compared to the previous year, reaching just over 27,000 square feet of reefs across the lagoon. These reefs are a vital tool in restoring the lagoon’s ecosystem and replacing lost oyster populations. The oysters filter and clean water, helping to control harmful algae blooms, protect shorelines, support growth of coastal marshes, and more, which is why we dedicate so much time to building these structures. We also officially built our 100th oyster reef in the lagoon.

Each reef was constructed with funding from the Save Our Indian River Lagoon (SOIRL) program, and we are incredibly grateful for their support. 

We are also proud to report that our oyster reef monitoring results for projects built in past years were also very positive.  

“We are seeing more and more natural oyster recruitment of wild oysters in the Melbourne area,” said Senior Conservation Manager Olivia Escandell. “This is exciting because we have put so much effort into building projects in that region in recent years.”  

Oh, and did we mention that we also learned to captain our own barge? This vessel made it much more efficient to place our oyster reefs around the lagoon, aiding our high-success rate.  

Clams: Like oysters, clams have tremendous potential to aid in the reduction of algae blooms and encourage seagrass growth. This year we planted one million (yes, that number is correct!) seed clams with funding from SOIRL. Our recent monitoring has told us that we have about 50% survival rate across the lagoon. 

“This percentage is great considering how small the clams were when we planted them!” noted Olivia.  

The recent water quality conditions (higher salinity and few low oxygen events) have been much more favorable for clam growth this year compared to last year.  

“The survival of clams has been 100-fold, and they have grown a lot faster as well,” said Olivia. 

Seagrass: For more than a decade, our lagoon has faced extensive seagrass loss, an indicator of poor lagoon health. We have been dedicated to trying to bring back seagrass, and with it a healthier waterbody.  

This fall marked our first anniversary of operating both of our seagrass nurseries, one in Rockledge and one at the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute in Melbourne Beach. 

“We have learned so much in one year, and we are finally feeling like we have our systems dialed in,” said Olivia. 

Just like in the lagoon, conditions change seasonally in the nursery, so our team has had to learn how to adjust. Despite the learning curve, we are confident we will have plenty of seagrass to supply our planned pilot planting projects next spring. 

This year, we planted six different pilot seagrass plots across the lagoon with funding from the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRLNEP). At first, we saw rapid seagrass growth across all our sites, likely due to positive water quality trends in the lagoon. However, by month three, all of our sites had suffered losses.  

“This year, the rainy season brought rapid changes to depth and light in the lagoon, which likely had a negative impact on the seagrass,” noted Olivia. “The hurricanes also took a toll on our exclusion devices that are intended to protect the grass.” 

While we only have seagrass left at three of our sites, we gathered a lot of useful data that will help us design better projects moving forward.   

Lastly on the seagrass front, we observed some amazing natural recovery of seagrass in some parts of the lagoon, including areas near Titusville and the northern Banana River. Some sites have rebounded to over 90% cover in just a few months.  

“This is great news for the lagoon, and we hope to see this trajectory continue!” exclaimed Olivia.  

While some of these big projects may be winding down for our ROS crew, that doesn’t mean they won’t still be busy in the off-season! During the coming winter months, they’ll be spending time monitoring oyster reefs, distributing oyster spat to oyster gardeners, leading outreach events in the community to promote buffer zones and native landscaping, and preparing for next year’s projects.  

From long days building oyster reefs to learning the ins and outs of growing seagrass, we’re so proud of our team’s important conservation work that leaves the lagoon better than we found it. We can’t wait to jump back into the water in March of 2025! If you’d like to join in on some of these spat-tacular projects, learn how to volunteer with us here. 

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Special thanks to Flammio Financial Group, Stifel-Garvin Wealth Management Group, Artemis IT, AmazonSmile Foundation, Jim and Darleen Barfield, Nancy and Mark Tomassone, Karen and Matt Zifcak, Linda and Jack Masucci, Christine and Glen Kramer, Julie and Jeff Leonard, Hope and Brian Fisher, Leonard Financial Group, Brewer Paving & Development, HHCP Architects, Inc., Whiting-Turner Contracting Company, Nassal Companies, Turner Construction Company, Brevard County Hyundai Dealers, SSA Group, Julie Harrison & Dr. Stephen J. Watts, and Hedrick Brothers Construction. Their generosity makes our work possible! 

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