A new layer of defense is coming to the Indian River Lagoon. Researchers on Friday began building more oyster reefs to help improve the health of the ailing estuary.
This past year, more than 60,000 live oysters were grown by volunteers.
The oysters will soon be capable of filtering 3 million gallons of lagoon water per day and project managers are hoping even more oysters are grown this year to help the lagoon.
Experts hope the cleaner water will reduce the number of fish kills, dead dolphins and manatees that have been found in the Indian River Lagoon over the past couple of years.
This is the second phase of the Brevard Zoo and Brevard County’s Oyster Gardening program.
Roughly 350 residents have spent the past several months growing oysters at the end of their docks on the lagoon.
Now it’s time to return them in and build oyster reefs.
“It’s really exciting to see, when you get those tiny things, you don’t see them at all at first, and then all of a sudden there’s an explosion and there’s all these baby oysters all over, it’s kind of like parenting, you’re excited to see all of them,” said volunteer Mary Morgan.
The oysters are put into bags that are carefully placed into the lagoon to create a reef.
They may seem small, but each oyster can filter 50 gallons of water a day.
Volunteers will be building new reefs at Nicol Park in Port St John on Friday and Saturday.
They will also be building reefs April 17 and 18 at Long Point Park in Melbourne Beach and on May 1 and 2 at Rotary Park in Merritt Island.