Do It Yourself Oyster farmers at work to help Alabama's seafood industry

Volunteer oyster farmers are working to bolster Alabama’s seafood industry and to protect the Gulf coast ecosystem. Do-It-Yourself oyster gardens in Gulf Shores and in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi are working to overcome a drop in seafood production. Federal figures show oyster harvest in the U.S. fell sixty eight percent to about twelve tons a year in the 1990’s. That’s down from over thirty seven thousand tons a year in the 1950s. The decline is blamed on overharvesting, pollution, parasites, smothering sediment and other problems. The Gulf area effort started as a master thesis research at the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant gardening program. Leftover oyster shells are also used to shore up local reefs.