HOUSTON - January 11, 2024. The Palacios Marine Agricultural Research (PMAR) organization from Corpus Christi, Texas, and BCarbon, a Houston-based carbon registry, today announced a joint program to secure commitments to construct almost 70 miles of living shoreline to protect about 23,500 acres of coastal wetlands in the Matagorda and San Antonio Bay systems.

This project is based upon an earlier study by BCarbon that identified 25 sites in the Point Comfort Area, Texas mid-coast, where sea level rise is likely to cause significant loss of wetland acreage due to increased erosion and drowning of vegetation. By constructing living shorelines, wetlands can be protected from erosion: barriers trap sediment within the marsh, helping it keep up with the sea level rise that is predicted to essentially destroy Texas’s coastal wetlands. An example of a living shoreline is shown in Figure 1.

The basic concept of this Protocol, developed by a stakeholder subcommittee at BCarbon, is that the cost to construct these shorelines can be recaptured, fully or partially, by claiming and selling carbon protection and removal credits to companies seeking to reduce their carbon footprint. These credits are based on the well-known ability of marshes to capture carbon dioxide from the air and store it in the soil. Carbon stored in the wetland soil is released by wetland destruction and erosion; however, it can be protected by the living shoreline, allowing the marsh to continue to function and permitting carbon credits to be issued.

A defining aspect of this project is that an effort will be made to find buyers for the carbon credits before projects are initiated, thereby bringing in the buyer as a partner in project development. It is also important to note that marsh protection benefits the Texas fishery, which relies on coastal marshes as nurseries for juvenile white and brown shrimp, crabs, flounder, and numerous smaller finfish. For companies choosing to participate, this will be a win-win from both a carbon and fishery standpoint.

PMAR will play a key role in providing oyster spat for these living shorelines, which are hoped to turn into oyster reefs over time. The success of oyster spat seeding will be boosted by technologies developed by PMAR to seed pieces of the living shoreline before deployment, aiding in spat “set” and success.

According to Dr. Joe Fox, Executive Director of PMAR, “PMAR is committed to the need to protect these important wetlands coastwide, but we felt it imperative to get started in our own backyard. The BCarbon study identified 25 potential sites and we will likely discover more. Each one has a cost for development and resulting cost of the carbon credits. We are committed to working with both landowners and large coastal industries in making this project into one for the Matagorda and San Antonio Bay communities and invite our local industry to jump in and roll up their sleeves and help us.”

Dr. Larry McKinney, a board member of PMAR and former head of the Harte Research Institute in Corpus Christi, is focused on the importance of wetland protection. “The Texas coast has well over a million acres of highly vulnerable coastal wetlands that are essential to the fishery of Texas and hold millions of tons of carbon in their soils. It is imperative that we try to protect these wetlands from sea level rise, and there is no other program besides this living shoreline project concept that offers any hope for these important nursery and carbon storage areas. We see it as our duty as coastal citizens to do all we can to protect these wetlands.”

Jim Blackburn, CEO of BCarbon, concurs, stating, “BCarbon was created to make a difference in the Texas coast, and we believe that we can make a difference. Each of us can participate in addressing climate change and in ecological protection, and the nature-based carbon credit market holds the key to realizing these possibilities. With the help of PMAR, we will move forward to implement an important first step in this process.”

Lalise Mason, the principal coastal landscape designer working with BCarbon, offers, “We at BCarbon have developed an extensive data base of wetland areas, erosion potential, soil carbon content, sea level rise modeling and other key factors and have identified 25+ mid-coast project sites that should yield significant wetland protection at a reasonable cost. Of key importance to me, as a longtime Texas birder and Emeritus board member of the International Crane Foundation, is the potential to protect Whooping crane wintering habitat. This includes traditional wetland territories that have been used for decades, handed down from generation to generation of cranes, and also coastal wetlands that are being newly exploited by the gradually expanding Texas flock. No one entity seems to be focused on this wetland loss as a key issue to the future of the Texas coast, and our team is on it. We and intend to address it and make a difference.”

About PMAR: PMAR is an agricultural non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. PMAR is dedicated to restoring ecosystem health, habitat, and productivity along the Texas coast, with a major focus on oyster productivity, recruitment, and reef restoration.

About BCarbon: BCarbon is 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to research and implementation of nature-based and other carbon credits and ecological conservation on the Texas coast, throughout Texas and the United States and the world.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Joe Fox (jfox@pmartexas.org), Dr. Larry McKinney (lmckinney@pmartexas.org), Jim Blackburn (jim.blackburn@bcarbon.org), and Lalise Mason (lalise.mason@bcarbon.org)   

Oyster experts and biologists at Palacios Marine Agricultural Research (PMAR) are making moves to reverse unsustainable trends in the Texas oyster industry. Inspired by the way Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) reversed the fortunes of the red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus) and spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), commonly known as the speckled trout, PMAR launched a large-scale hatchery system with support from a coastwide restoration partnership made of like-minded conservation organizations. PMAR’s efforts will aid all aspects of the oyster industry but especially the relatively new to Texas and rapidly growing oyster aquaculture industry.

“Assisting the oyster aquaculture industry achieves two goals for PMAR,” Dr. Joe Fox, executive director for PMAR, said. “A healthy aquaculture industry takes pressure off the commercial oyster fishery, conserving reefs, creating new jobs and adding to the coastal economy. At the same time, oysters on the ranches are filtering water that improves ecosystem health and creating fishable habitat. Everyone wins if they are successful.”

The first such hatchery is under construction in Palacios, Texas now. As time is of the essence, PMAR acquired and made operational the first mobile hatchery west of the Mississippi River. This high-tech facility—the size of an 18-wheeler refrigerator truck—can produce up to twenty million oyster larvae per week. PMAR’s team of experts led by Rob Hein, hatchery manager for PMAR, have produced more than 200 million larvae.

“I think it must be like working on the international space station,” noted Hein. “It’s a relatively small linear tube packed with equipment and not much space to spare, with algae and oyster larvae developing all around. It keeps you on your toes.”

Undoubtedly, the mobile hatchery is a high pressure and resource-intensive operation and cannot replace a larger scale brick and mortar facility long-term. It does fill an important gap in contributing to much needed restoration right now and is a catalyst to a new Texas coastal industry.

Today, the Texas oyster aquaculture industry depends on out-of-state hatcheries to supply the seed oysters that are vital to the viability of Texas oyster ranches. Yes, in true lone star form, they are referred to as oyster ranches in Texas. Because of the successful operations of Texas’s first mobile hatchery in Palacios, PMAR is now able to provide Texas oyster ranchers with seed oysters, helping to assure their sustainability.

PMAR has supplied seed oysters to several Texas oyster ranchers from PMAR’s mobile hatchery and nursery facilities over the last month. More will be made available as demand and the industry grows. PMAR remains focused on supporting restoration practitioners along the coast with at least two brick and mortar hatcheries in the future. In the meantime, PMAR’s mobile hatchery keeps pumping out oyster larvae, millions at a time.

About PMAR

Palacios Marine Agricultural Research (PMAR) was established by the Ed Rachal Foundation and is dedicated to restoring oysters on the Texas coast. Oysters are keystone species that make significant contributions to the health of our bays and estuaries, supporting our state’s $80 billion coastal economy. For additional information, please visit https://pmartexas.org/ 

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Recycled construction materials and oyster shell are creating the foundation for new life in Aransas Bay thanks to a reef restoration project. The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi is collaborating with various partners to create nearly 3 acres of restored oyster reef in the waters off Goose Island State Park.

Oysters are an important part of the coastal environment, improving water quality, providing habitat for fish and other species, and protecting shorelines from erosion. But they’re in decline worldwide – it is estimated that 90 percent of native oyster reef habitats have been lost, compared to historic abundance. Contributing to that problem are unsustainable harvest and destructive dredging of oyster reefs. The removed shell generally ends up in the landfill after the oysters are consumed, leaving young oysters without hard substrates for attachment and building new reef.

“A lot of people love to eat oysters, but they often don’t realize what an important role they play in our environment,” said Gail Sutton, HRI associate director and co-founder of the institute’s Oyster Recycling Program, Sink Your Shucks. “They’re the water treatment plants of the bays — one oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water a day. They’re also a happening place to be underwater, providing habitat and nurseries for species like fish and crabs. When a reef dies or is removed, the water quality goes down and the fish leave. It’s an indicator of environmental degradation.”

Because of their proven environmental benefits, oyster reef restoration has become an increasingly popular environmental mitigation method in coastal communities worldwide. HRI has been at the forefront of oyster recycling and reef restoration for the last decade. Through its revolutionary Oyster Recycling Program, the institute has spent the last 12 years collecting more than 2 million pounds of oyster shell from local restaurants and wholesalers and placing it back into the environment to create new reef habitat.

Over its past decade of reef building, HRI has studied how best to build reefs that protect and enhance local bay habitats. Through its Coastal Conservation and Restoration Lab led by Dr. Jennifer Pollack, who co-founded the Oyster Recycling Program, the program has built 25 total acres of oyster reef protecting vulnerable shorelines and seagrasses in Aransas, Copano, and St. Charles bays. And they have seen the success of these projects locally – a 2,000 linear foot reef installed by HRI and partners immediately before Hurricane Harvey in Goose Island State Park incredibly survived the storm and saw new growth in the months afterward, Pollack added.

“We will be adding on to work we’ve undertaken for many years to protect the state park,” Sutton said. “We place these in special spots — we call them ‘boutique reefs’ — because the environment is so delicate. We’ve found our methods really work.”

It’s necessary to provide a strong base for these reefs such as concrete, river rock, or limestone to allow the shell to better serve its purpose of attracting young oyster larvae to attach and grow. Without it, the reefs will often sink into the soft muddy bottoms of Texas bays.

The cost of construction materials has gone up recently, however, and concrete to build new reefs was hard to come by. But when the Ed Rachal Foundation, a frequent HRI partner, found out about the predicament, it stepped in to donate nearly 3 million pounds total of concrete, along with the labor to mobilize the materials. Other partners include Palacios Marine Agricultural Research, Inc., a research partnership with HRI, Derrick Construction Company, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Center for Coastal Studies at TAMU-CC.

Over a period of several weeks, workers loaded the concrete barriers onto barges by crane. It took about four days to move all 210 barriers — at 40 feet by 2 feet, they each weigh about 14,000 pounds each. The barriers were placed end-to-end in a designated reef site staked out ahead of time. In waters six feet deep, they will be used to create four large mounds with space to allow water to pass between them. About 330,000 pounds of recycled shell will be placed on top, and the cycle of reef building will begin again.

The reef will be monitored by HRI scientists and students after placement to study its performance over time, looking at the water quality, growth, and diversity of life of the reef. After all, you don’t just want to build a reef and leave, you want to see it thrive, Pollack said. Long-term monitoring helps officials to ensure these investments in the environment are a success over time.

“Our program is small but we’re vertically integrated, and we’re closing the loop,” Pollack said. “The people eat the oysters, we take the shell, we allow it to sun-bleach, we put it back in the water at the right times and in the right places, and we start all over again. And we’re making sure with our research that these reefs are a success for the next generation.”

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