Aquaculture By Design: Why Oysters are Important

The Nature Conservancy examines the benefits of oyster aquaculture.

Learn how The Nature Conservancy (TNC) protects the lands & waters on which all life depends. Impacting conservation in 72 countries & territories, TNC has grown to become one of the most effective & wide-reaching environmental organizations in the world.

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April 27, 2021

By: The Nature Conservancy

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Photo By: Jennifer Emerling

Photo By: Robert Clark

Photo By: Jerry and Marcy Monkman

Photo By: Severn Smith

Photo By: Mark Godfrey

Photo By: Jerry and Marcy Monkman

Nature Conservancy Oyster Conservation Coordinator, Amanda Moeser, holds oyster shells in her hands at Jackson Estuarine Laboratory in Durham, New Hampshire. Moeser will distribute cages of oyster spat to almost 100 volunteers living along Great Bay, New Hampshire, as part of the Nature Conservancy’s community-based oyster restoration program that is “part public education and part citizen science.” For two months in the summer, the volunteers will collect data on the growth of spat on the oyster shells that will help the Nature Conservancy and the University of New Hampshire in their efforts for oyster reef restoration.

Tom Perry is an oyster farmer based in White Stone, Virginia.

Brian Gennaco, owner of the Virgin Oyster Company, harvests oysters from an oyster bag on his oyster farm in Little Bay in Durham, New Hampshire.

Oysters grown at the Orchard Point aquaculture operation help filter water in the Chesapeake Bay while providing jobs and sustainable protein.

Chesapeake Bay Oysters

Tim Henry, owner of Bay Point Oyster Company harvesting oysters on his boat in Little Bay in Durham, New Hampshire.

Bay Point Oyster Company harvesting oysters on a boat in Little Bay in Durham, New Hampshire.