Thanks to a shellfish aquaculture research partnership between Center for the Inland Bays and Delaware State University, graduate student Frank Marenghi and technician Kate Rossi-Snook are helping to further the work of the oyster gardening project in the three Delaware Inland Bays.
Marenghi and Rossi-Snook recently stopped by South Bethany to check in on volunteer oyster gardens in the area.
They're hoping "to help restore oyster population in the inland bays and improve water quality in the canals," Marenghi said.
The three-year project has four objectives: To apply various shellfish aquaculture techniques for better shellfish growth and maximum survival, to study the habitat value of shellfish aquaculture gears, to enhance current oyster reef restoration work -- including the citizen volunteer oyster gardening program through long-term research efforts -- and to study lagoon systems along the barrier islands in Delaware to determine suitable and self-supporting locations for shellfish spawning.
Source: The Daily Time