History of oysters in choctawhatchee bay
CURRENT STATUS OF OYSTER REEF RESEARCH IN CHOCTAWHATCHEE BAY
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CURRENT STATUS OF OYSTER REEF RESEARCH IN CHOCTAWHATCHEE BAY The FDACS has mapped & maintained the harvestable oyster reefs in Choctawhatchee Bay, but there are currently no plotted maps of the oyster reefs outside these harvesting areas within the Bay. Some of the historic fishing families around the bay have mentioned reefs in deep water, at depths ~16 feet, but to date there has been no mapping efforts in these areas by FDACS or any other local water agency, regulatory or non-profit. Activities in Choctawhatchee Bay have historically focused on seeding reefs for propagation. Recent efforts, starting in 2006, have started working with oyster reef creation for ecological purposes. Pilot projects have been conducted in Okaloosa County waters to test the ecological possibilities of a created oyster reef. The pilot effort was headed up by the Ecological Restoration Section of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) Pensacola office and included numerous partners (ex. FDACS, CBA, City of FWB, etc). The project, entitled NWFL OYSTER, resulted in oyster reefs being constructed in three counties, Okaloosa, Escambia, and Santa Rosa. Two reefs were constructed in Okaloosa County, one in Rocky Bayou and the other at the confluence of Santa Rosa Sound and Choctawhatchee Bay, by the Choctawhatchee Basin Alliance (CBA) to determine the best building methods for different locations (Figure 3). The reefs were studied for numerous months as part of a graduate school project and results showed the invertebrate populations were exponentially larger on the created reef site verses similar shoreline sites without oyster reefs (Brown, 2007). Monitoring of the reefs has been maintained by the CBA volunteers, who will continue to note the health of the reef including oyster growth size and water quality parameters in the vicinity of the reefs. CBA is also continuing their reef building efforts in the Choctawhatchee Bay and are extending them to work with private homeowners in an effort to increase living shorelines along the bay. 
Figure 3 – Choctawhatchee Bay reef and non-reef sites, in Okaloosa County, observed as part of an unpublished study by Brown. Oyster reefs built under the NWFL OYSTER grant project in Rocky Bayou and at the South end of Bay Drive. Non-reef sites, Boggy Bayou and Brooks Bridge, used for comparison of invertebrate populations. The City of Fort Walton Beach has initiated a reef building program. On August 31st, 2006 City staff applied for and received a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) through the North Gulf Coast Initiative program which is funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The program is modeled after the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP), which includes: building a 7,200 square feet oyster reef, restoring the native vegetation along the shoreline at Sound Park, and entering local schools to work with the students on local ecological stewardship. The reef building component of the program is designed after the pilot reef established at the end of Bay Drive through a partnership with the FDEP, CBA and The City of Fort Walton Beach. Bahr, L.M. and W.P. Lanier. 1981. The ecology of intertidal oyster reefs of the South Atlantic coast: a community profile. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Biological Service, Washington, D.C. 105pp.
interview. Prytherch, H. F. 1933. Extensive oyster investigations in northwest Florida. BMS 17279. Mimeo. N.P. pp.1-9. Thomas, Prentice M. Jr., and L. Janice Campbell. 1993. Eglin Air Force Base Historic Preservation Plan, Technical Synthesis of Cultural Resources Investigations at Eglin, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties, Florida. New World Research, Inc., Report of Investigations 192. Whitfield, Jr., William K. April 1973. Construction and rehabilitation of commercial oyster reefs in Florida from 1949 through 1971 with emphasis on economic impact in Franklin County. Special Scientific Report Number 38. Florida Department of Natural Resources, Marine Research Laboratory. Directory: data -> files files -> Guidelines for Working with Men Perpetrating Domestic Violence files -> Accelerated Reader through Renaissance Place The only way to become a better reader is to read! files -> Accelerated Reader through Renaissance Place files -> Course Description files -> Short Term Consultancy-Design Engineers (3) Terms of Reference Organizational Background files -> Background files -> September 22, 1999 Federal Aviation Administration files -> What’s at Issue files -> President’s budget says cut aip funding, implement user fees february 6, 2008 What’s at Issue files -> Monitoring of Russian tv channels Download 326.09 Kb. Share with your friends:
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