NOAA Publishes Oyster Facts

Wayne Creed September 26, 2015 1 minute read

NOAA, for this summer’s Oyster Day (August 5^th), put together these oyster facts. See the globally recognized research NOAA does with oysters and shellfish.

Oyster Facts

Oysters clean up the water as they grow.
Farmed oysters don’t need to be fed – they are filter feeders, filtering phytoplankton, nutrients and particulates from the water.
Harvesting oysters is a form of bioextraction – it removes excess nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from the ecosystem.
Oyster beds and reefs stabilize coastal sediments and can minimize negative impacts of storm surges.
Oysters are bivalve mollusks of the shellfish family.
Each female oyster can produce over 100 million eggs during a spawning event.

Oysters in the U.S.

Oysters have been farmed in the United States since the 1800s.
Oyster production makes up the largest portion of marine aquaculture in the United States.
35 million pounds of oysters, valued at $136 million, were produced in the United States in 2012.
Historical oyster populations have been decimated in the United States. A number of restoration efforts are under way to once again build up populations.