Cultch Plant Oyster Restoration
Implementing Organization
State of Louisiana
Overview
DWH Project Funding
$10,070,000
Known Leveraged Funding
$0
Funding Organization
Natural Resource Damage Assessment Trustees (NRDA)
Funding Program
Natural Resource Damage Assessment NRDA
Details
Project Category
Environmental
Project Actions
Species Restoration
Targeted Resources
Oysters/Reefs
Project Description
This project will place cultch at several Louisiana locations with relic reefs. Targeted sites include one on public oyster seed grounds in the Grand Banks area of Mississippi Sound, and one on the Caillou Lake public oyster seed grounds in Terrebonne Parish. The project will programmatically plan for inclusion of additional cultch plants within the Biloxi Marsh Complex in St. Bernard Parish and also within the footprints of other public oyster seed grounds (POSG) or public oyster seed reservations (POSR) in the future. Where opportunities exist, cultch material willbe placed as close to the shoreline as possible to promote restoration of shallow water fringing oyster reefs. The objective of the cultch plant project is to create oyster reefs through the placement of cultch, thereby increasing oyster abundance and spawning stocks and offsetting impacts resulting from exposure to Deepwater Horizon oil, dispersant, and response activities. Constructing cultch plants entails placing cultch material (e.g., limestone rock, oyster shell, or fossilized oyster shell) that is clean and free of contaminants. When placed in suitable oyster habitat, cultch provides a substrate for free floating oyster larvae to attach and grow, which in time results in a mature productive oyster reef.
Contact
Carolina Bourque(337) 735-8726
cbourque@wlf.la.gov
Project Website
None
For official trustee information regarding the Deepwater Horizon NRDA, including information regarding the NRDA process and the status of projects, see https://www.gulfspillrestoration.noaa.gov/