Once you shuck ‘em, Don’t just chuck ‘em!

• Oyster are an incredible natural resource! Living oysters and oyster reefs help improve water quality, provide fishing habitat, support the local economy, and help protect shoreline by breaking waves.

• Oyster larvae (baby oysters) need hard surfaces like shells for settlement and growth.

• Louisiana produces approximately one-third of the nation’s oysters.

• Louisiana currently experiences a shell deficit–most shell removed from the coast is not returned, and even worse, much of it ends up in landfills.

• 100% of the shell will be returned to Louisiana waters.

• Most of the shell will be used to construct oyster reefs. Our first reef–a half-mile long living shoreline–was installed in Biloxi Marsh in November 2016. Our next reef is planned for Barataria Bay.

• 20% of the shell is donated to an aquaculture program with the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries to help support Louisiana’s oyster fishery and promote heathy reefs across the state.

• We monitor the shoreline changes and reef development at our project sites to assess their success.

• You can help save the coast by eating oysters! Patronize the restaurants listed below and be sure to tell them that you appreciate their participation in oyster shell recycling.

• Volunteer with CRCL to help bag shell for use in reef restoration projects!