If you have a pier on waterfront property in Mobile or Baldwin counties, you may be a candidate for the oyster gardening program. Oyster gardeners pick up juvenile oysters from the Auburn University Shellfish Lab, hang them from a pier in an “oyster garden” and grow them until they are ready to be moved to restoration reefs in Mobile Bay. Oyster gardener volunteers help clean the water, create habitat and increase oyster populations.
If you’re interested in being an oyster gardener, call PJ Waters at the Auburn University Marine Extension and Research Center and Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant at 251-438-5690. Or, come to the Auburn University Shellfish Lab, 150 Agassiz St., on Dauphin Island, at 10 a.m., Saturday, May 19, to tour the oyster hatchery and learn about the program.
If you are interested in becoming an oyster gardener or to register for the tour, contact PJ Waters at 251-438-5690 or [email protected].