Boy Scouts Volunteer Labor to Support Oyster Restoration

Here at Mass Oyster (MOP) we had an inventory in the form of a roll of mesh netting. We had purchased it a couple of years ago, but had not been able to use all of it.  It is routinely used for holding shell when it is being exposed to spat in a nursery. 

Roll of Mesh Tubing

A friend of MOP was heavily involved in Scouting and seeking a meaningful project with an environmental element for them to pursue.

We worked together with troop leadership to develop the project for the boys. We provided the boys with a spool of netting. The boys  were from Troop 49 of St. Catherine's Parish in Norwood  and they did a fine job. They cut the netting into 36 inch lengths, then passed it off to colleagues who would tie off one end. Then, the yard long pieces were tied into bundles of 20. They made over 20 bundles.

Scouts from Troop 49 hard at work.

The participating boys received the highly coveted Mass Oyster Patch.

Oyster Restoration Patch

The tubes were then delivered to the Cape Cod Commission for the next step.

Scout hands over a patch after delivering 429 mesh bags for oyster restoration.

The commission will then load the mesh tubes with recycled shell. 

Then the bags will be delivered to a hatchery where the bags of shell will be immersed in tanks with billions of free floating baby oyster spat. Those spat will settle on the shell and begin to grow.

Bags of Shell at a hatchery collecting spat.

Tiny spat on oyster shell

Numerous spat on a shell after growing to the size of nickels.

The bags of shell are then transferred to estuaries for the baby oysters to grow and 
mature.

Oyster reef growing on a castle substructure.

Thank you Troop 49!