In what may be a case of water pollution and/or ocean acidification, South Carolina’s supply of healthy oysters have been depleting for the last 20 years.

DHEC has already closed about 1/3 of the state’s 3,000 acres of oyster beds to harvesting because of pollution.

On top of that, commercial fishermen take about 100,000 bushels a year, SCDNR biologist and SCORE manager, Nancy Hadley said. SCDNR usually replants about 1/2 that much, using revenues from saltwater fishing licenses and volunteer help through SCORE (South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement), but it’s necessary to do that and more to help oysters thrive in nature.

“We’ve got 20 years of not quite enough being replanted every year… Each little deficit might not be all that much, but over 20 years, we are a bit behind… so we need to play some catch-up.”
– Nancy Hadley.

SCDNR hopes to get a $1 million grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act so it can restore about 9 acres of oyster reefs along our coast, but that proposal is only #77 among R-Okla. Sen. Tom Coburn’s list of the 100 worst examples of waste amongst stimulus projects – fortunately for us, it was the only S.C. project on his list!

South Carolina isn’t the only area with depleting oysters though – although as much as we eat, that may have something to do with it. Out West, Pacific wild oysters haven’t successfully reproduced since 2004! They suspect water that rises from deep in the Pacific Ocean may be corrosive enough to kill baby oysters.

If carbon dioxide is the culprit dramatically affecting the ocean, it’s one more incentive for us to do something now to protect the environment and our planet’s healthy future.

So in the end, the goal of having sustainable oyster reefs needs to be looked at more closely, because the question is, “what actually caused the oysters to start dying off” – was it global warming, ocean acidification, pollution, or something else?

A stranded pygmy sperm whale on Sullivan’s Island.
Credit: NOAA

Speaking of water pollution and debris in the ocean, just the other day a pygmy whale and her calf were stranded on the beach – dead because they mistook a plastic bag for food that somebody threw in the water, according to SCDNR officials, something that happens pretty often.

Come on guys, do the right thing and put trash where it belongs!