Join us for a fascinating look at our local oyster populations and learn what you can do to conserve this valuable ecosystem right in our backyards.
When: Wednesday, June 12
Time: 6:30pm
Where: Paul Memorial Library
Presentation by Brianna Group, a conservationist at the Nature Conservancy.
Due to disease, pollution, sedimentation and historical over-harvesting oyster populations have dropped 90% in the Great Bay Estuary, NH. As a result, Great Bay Estuary has lost important ecosystem benefits including water filtration and habitat production for other marine animals.
Since 2009, the Nature Conservancy has been working in collaboration with UNH to restore oysters to Great Bay through efforts like the Oyster Conservationist program.
The Oyster Conservationist program is a citizen science oyster gardening program with 90 sites and over 300 volunteers that care for and collect data on oyster growth and survival from various sites across the entire Great Bay Estuary. The data collected provides insight on oyster growth and survival trends between the different regions of Great Bay from 2006-2018.
This talk will outline The Nature Conservancy’s restoration efforts and our Oyster Conservationist Program.
Links to oyster conservation news:
https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20161010/40000-oysters-planted-in-great-bay
