Storm looming over Galveston Coast

On September 4, 2008, Hurricane Ike pummeled the Galveston Bay area. While local citizens suffered immeasurable losses in life and property, the storm dealt a crippling blow to another less visible population—the already suffering oyster community.

Data collected before and after Hurricane Ike shows that the storm destroyed or damaged approximately 50% of Galveston Bay’s oyster reefs by burying them in sediment that eroded during the storm surge. Ike dealt its biggest blow to the East Galveston Bay, where nearly 80% of all oyster reefs were destroyed.

Enter Bill Rodney

Bill Rodney, a marine biologist for Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Coastal Fisheries division, has pretty much dedicated his entire life to restoring oyster habitat. Prior to moving to Galveston he worked as a fisheries biologist doing estuarine fish surveys in Chesapeake Bay tributaries. One day he accidentally dragged his net over a patch of oyster reef. This lucky catch opened his eyes to a new world of fish species, including skillet fish, naked gobies and striped blennies- all of which make their homes in oyster reefs.

Eventually, Bill’s oyster reef investigations brought him to the Galveston Bay area, where he joined the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Oyster Reef Mapping and Restoration Project. He describes how a pattern of overfishing exists that started in expanding urban centers and moved along the coast to more distant estuaries. Eventually the most distant estuary became overfished. “In the case of the eastern oyster fisheries, the starting point was the Hudson River in New York City in the early 1600’s and the wave propagated down the coast and around the tip of Florida to Louisiana and Texas,” Bill explains.

What does that mean for Galveston Bay oyster reefs? According to Bill, Galveston Bay may represent the eastern oyster’s “last stand.”

Importance of Restoration

Saving the eastern oyster population is crucial for many reasons. Not only does oyster harvesting provide food and income for many families, but oysters provide a multitude of valuable ecosystem services, including:

   
• Water filtration- A single adult oyster filters 50 gallons of water a day. Imagine how much water an entire oyster reef filters!
 
• Enhanced benthic-pelagic coupling- Without getting into a detailed scientific explanation, this process is crucial to the cycling of carbon, nitrogen phosphorus, and energy through the aquatic food chain.
 
• Habitat- Oysters themselves provide a habitat for a unique community of invertebrates and small fish, many of which are filter feeders.
 
• Foraging habitat- Oyster reefs also provide a place for certain predators to find the food they need.

Even though oyster reefs provide these benefits and more, the general public remains unaware of their value. Bill surmises that this is the result of oyster reefs’ location beneath turbulent estuarine waters, which make them hard to see and capture on film. Bill laments, “They’re not as ‘charismatic’ as some other habitat types like coral reefs.”

The Restoration Solution

Bill Rodney is a key leader in the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Oyster Reef Mapping and Restoration Project. The project assesses the status of oyster reefs in Galveston Bay and the success of restoration efforts through mapping oyster habitat. At the time this article is being written, Bill and his cohorts have surveyed over 100 square miles of Galveston Bay and restored more than 22 acres of oyster reef habitat.

The mapping effort began not long before Hurricane Ike struck. This forced Bill and his partners to resurvey many sections of reef they had already completed before the storm. Bill points out that this actually allowed them to demonstrate the value of the data they were collecting much sooner than they anticipated. “Still, I wish the storm hadn’t hit at all!” he ensures.

Other Obstacles

While the project has experienced success so far, Bill admits that they’ve run into a few impediments along the way.

 
• Overfishing- Fisherman still have to make a living after the hurricane, so they continue to harvest as many oysters as possible.
 
• Red tape- Permitting and purchasing procedures required before restoring oyster reef may represent the biggest obstacle; yet Bill states that these regulations ensure that restoration is done properly.
 
• Breaking equipment- As Bill puts it, “salt water and high end electronics are not really mutually compatible.”

Despite these roadblocks (and many more that remain unmentioned), they hope to finish surveying the remaining areas of the Bay and restore more than 200 acres of oyster habitat by the end of 2010. Bill emphasizes that aggressive restoration and sound science are the keys to success.

What Can You Do to Help Bill?

There’s plenty anyone can do to help Bill in his quest for complete oyster reef restoration. One great project that takes place along the shore in San Leon, Texas uses volunteers to help raise baby oysters in plastic mesh bags that hang from the piers. If you’re interested in raising oysters or any other projects that might benefit oyster reef restoration in the Galveston Bay, contact Bill Rodney at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).