Bivalve Bites: The Impacts of SOAR
BIVALVE BITES: EASILY DIGESTIBLE OYSTER AQUACULTURE NEWS
When the pandemic shut down (and later, slowed down) restaurants in 2020, it tanked the market for farmed oysters. No or fewer diners meant little to no demand in many areas. But that didn’t stop seed put in the water months before COVID-19 became a household word from growing. Oyster farmers all over the country found themselves with oysters they couldn’t sell, and as they waited for tides to change, these oysters exceeded the size most consumers want in a farm-raised product, while also taking up valuable space on their farms.
Helping these farmers financially while also benefiting the environment was the motivation behind SOAR, (Supporting Oyster Aquaculture and Restoration), a program of The Nature Conservancy that purchased farms’ surplus oysters and used them for wild oyster reef restoration. But the organization didn’t stop there: Also under the SOAR initiative’s umbrella, the Conservancy’s Shellfish Growers Resiliency Fund awarded grants for local projects aimed at supporting and enhancing oyster aquaculture and strengthening its ties to its communities. It funded multiple programs in the South, including an oyster academy at a high school in Alabama, a program for oyster education and one for oyster shell recyling in Georgia, plus research projects and other efforts in North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and more.
By every measure, all elements of SOAR were a success. While it’s currently winding down, its impacts have been both far-reaching, and as Seth Blitch, Director of Coastal Conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Louisiana, explains, the organization hopes they will be long-lasting, too.
Seth Blitch, Director of Coastal Conservation for The Nature Conservancy in Louisiana
OS: Why does the Nature Conservancy support oyster aquaculture?
Seth: Oyster resources matter; more oysters and oyster reefs in any waters are always a plus. But oysters are in pretty sharp decline as resource, whether you view them as a fishery or habitat (and they’re both). So, we started looking at oyster farmers and their needs in the context of the environmental needs of any given estuary and found those things to be compatible. That led to SOAR.
OS: Outline SOAR and its work.
Seth: We began operating the SOAR program during COVID. We bought stock from farmers who had living oysters they couldn’t unload due to restaurant shutdowns. We then transported these healthy oysters to existing oyster restoration projects to create new reefs by placing them in the water. This largely occurred in sites in the Northeast. Whether it was reef augmentation or creation, purchasing these oysters had measurable conservation benefits while also giving an economic boost to some farmers during a very difficult time.
That’s how it began, and then the effort grew into the Resiliency Fund, which we executed in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trusts. With that, we gave grants to local groups and organizations who had ideas for ways to enhance oyster aquaculture in their area that are also in keeping with The Nature Conservancy’s conservation goals. We got and funded some great proposals for developing and using new technologies, targeted marketing strategies and initiatives to work with young people. They shared a common thread: They were about connecting the local community to off-bottom aquaculture and stressing that it’s not just an industry, a way to make a living, but that oyster farming is tied to the health and prosperity of its communities, both ecologically and economically. Making that case and spreading that message has been really exciting. It made something large scale have a lot of local relevance.
OS: What were and are SOAR’s benefits to farmers?
Seth: It helped people in the industry who suffering financially, helped them survive COVID and stay in business. [See stats in box below.] But it did more too. It showed farmers a way to diversify their portfolio, to think about not just growing oysters for the consumption market, but restoration purposes as well. That could take pressure off the wild stocks. Aquaculture is not a complete answer, but it can be a part of it.
It linked what oyster farmers do with what The Nature Conservancy does. And it shows that in a lot of places, that link already existed. We know most oyster farmers have a conservation mindset; they want their waters and their communities healthy. SOAR gives individual growers a way to be a part of larger effort and look at local oyster resources in more collaborative way.
SOARing Success ~ The Nature Conservancy’s SOAR program by the numbers:
125 shellfish farming companies supported
Over 450 jobs sustained across seven states
Over 3.5 million oysters purchased
Nearly 40 acres of imperiled native shellfish reefs supported across 25 restoration sites
37 Resiliency Fund projects selected across 16 coastal U.S. states (including projects large and small in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Mississippi and North Carolina)
OS: What were and are SOAR’s benefits to the environment?
Seth: The reef augmentation and creation were positives, of course. But there’s a nexus between taking care of coastal and estuarine resources and having levels of oyster production that meet demand, and in my mind, SOAR showed how to make sense of that environmentally. I think it also opened the door to get farmers more involved in reef restoration going forward.
“The Nature Conservancy wants the best for the resource and for people’s involvement in it”
OS: What is the program’s most positive and lasting effect?
Seth: We’ve seen that growers have a strong connection to the wild stock and a strong sense of community. Activities like SOAR give growers not just financial help but the chance to be a part of the solution. We were able to engage growers and make a tie between the wellbeing of an individual business and coastal conservation. As I’ve said, this is how a lot of farmers think anyway, but to honor that and create a way to foster even more creativity around that bond, was great. There was a lot of momentum gained by the shared success that SOAR helped drive; I hope that continues.