Reports from Canada.com say that many thousands of oyster shells will be ground up and used in environmentally friendly paving materials for the parking lot at a new $8.6 million Vancouver Island University field research station planned for Deep Bay.
According to the news item, field station manager Brian Kingzett said that using the oyster shells -- a full 12 months worth of production at Fanny Bay Oysters, or about 325 dump truck loads -- in the paving material will create a more permeable surface.
"It basically acts as a natural trap and keeps things from getting in the ocean," said Kingzett.
And keeping the ocean clean, or if necessary adapting shellfish to survive in a less pristine ocean environment, is part of what the planned research station is all about.
Vancouver's Sustainable Path of Oyster Shells
CANADA - The road to a sustainable shellfish industry is to be paved with oyster shells.