Seminole River
Our starting point in Southeast Florida: a million-oyster program for the river, built with the waterfront communities that live beside it.
What.
We help coastal communities restore living oyster reefs, one million oysters at a time.
Our coastal waters are in decline: polluted water, algae blooms, lost habitat, eroding shorelines and rising seas. Coastal communities feel it first, in their homes, boats, fishing, tourism and local business.
We studied more than 80 oyster restoration programs around the world. The old answers were too small, too expensive and too hard to scale.
We don’t have 50 years.
For the last five years the Institute has been rethinking how oysters are grown and building the innovative solutions and partnership needed to reverse the decline and empower coastal communities to build and restore Million Oyster programs in their community.
Oyster reefs are living infrastructure. They filter water, shelter young fish and other sea life and, where conditions suit, soften waves and protect shorelines. The Institute does four things: research global best practice, set standards for measuring results, build partnerships across countries, and promote oysters, as food and for healthy coasts.
Our work.
Hellen Creek
Waterfront residents, oyster growers and conservation partners ask a practical question: how can docks and shorelines help rebuild a living oyster population? Under-dock oyster habitat and local nurseries give residents a direct role in caring for the creek.
The Million Oyster Playbook
Written for the people who have to make a project work: choosing a site, choosing a method, and deciding what to measure. One million oysters is its common unit for planning, funding and reporting. Shared so one community’s experience helps the next.
Star-Spangled Oyster
Fort McHenry ties the story of the national anthem to the waters of the Chesapeake. America’s 250th anniversary invites Maryland’s civic, business and community leaders into a 25-year effort to rebuild oyster populations in the Bay.
How.
Grow locally. We empower coastal communities to grow oysters and build reefs.
We spent five years rethinking every step. The result is four tracks that take a community from knowledge to a working reef.
- Track 1: Knowledge. Identify the key activities, research global best practice, and present it as a coherent, teachable package.
- Track 2: Train. Step-by-step instruction and expert training modules, leading to instruction, certification and verification.
- Track 3: Solution. Orchestrate global best practice to provide the lowest cost innovative solutions.
- Track 4: Promotion. Identify and document impact, develop revenue sources, and launch Million Oyster.
What changes for a community:
- Complex, with limited experience becomes training in each area.
- Difficult to do alone becomes a support network.
- Disorganized, with limited data and few standards becomes organized: measure and share standard data.
Technical detail lives on the Million Oyster Partnership site.
Who.
A nonprofit built around the people who know the water.
Founded in 2013 by Chesapeake Oyster Farmers, the Oyster Institute has evolved to bring together university researchers, hatcheries, growers, conservation groups and public agencies to partner with coastal communities to build Million Oyster Programs to Restore Water Quality, Protect Coastal Erosion and Regenerate Habitat.
David PunchardChairman
Where.
Starting in Florida. Working with partners in Maryland and Virginia. Planning a base in London.
- Florida Seminole River, our starting point in Southeast Florida.
- Maryland Hellen Creek and the Chesapeake Bay.
- Virginia The research base in Hampton.
- London Planned, for projects in the UK and Europe.
We welcome conversations with coastal communities, research teams and organizations that want to build or support oyster restoration.
Join in.
Partners for purpose.
Donate
Your gift funds the Institute’s own work: research, standards, partnerships and education.
Payee: Oyster Institute Inc.
Venmo: @oysterinstitute
Bank transfer: details on request, admin@oyster.institute