ECSGA supports community-based shellfish restoration projects because of the environmental services they provide and the educational opportunities they present.  Research indicates that large populations of restored filter-feeding shellfish can improve water quality, improve habitat value and remove excess nutrients from sensitive coastal habitats.  In addition to these tangible benefits, well-designed restoration projects have strong educational components that raise awareness about water-quality issues and the important role of shellfish in coastal ecosystems.  Raising public awareness is a critical step towards improving degraded water quality, which is one of our top priorities.

For more information about shellfish restoration:

• Read the ECSGA's shellfish restoration policy position.
• Visit the Oyster Restoration Workgroup. a worldwide clearinghouse of information on molluscan reef ecology, remote sensing and related restoration and monitoring, including living shoreline efforts and so much more.
• Read this story from NOAA Fisheries,  Oyster Reefs Provide Habitat and Filter Water, Findings Show about how restored oyster reefs help the Chesapeake Bay. They released their findings in a new NOAA Fisheries Technical Memorandum, which quantified how oyster reefs improve water quality, provide habitat, and support commercial fishing and local economies.
• Visit the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference Shellfish Restoration page.
• Read Best Management Practices for Shellfish Restoration, prepared for the ISSC Shellfish Restoration Committee by Dorothy Leonard and Sandra Macfarlane in October 2011.
• Information on the annual International Conference on Shellfish Restoration can be found on the South Carolina SeaGrant website (search for ICSR).  On alternate years the venue switches from Charleston, S.C., to an overseas locale.
• Visit NOAA's oyster reef habitat conservation website.
• Visit The Native Oyster Network of UK and Ireland, a community of academics, conservationists, oystermen and NGOs  working to restore self-sustaining populations of native oysters.
• Read the Native Oyster Network of UK and Ireland's European Native Oyster Habitat Restoration Handbook.
• Visit the Native Oyster Restoration Alliance (NORA), which supports the protection and  restoration of the European oyster, Ostrea edulis, and its habitat .
• Visit the Australian Shellfish Reef Restoration Network.