NOAA Publishes Oyster Facts

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.