Help LRNow to catch baby oysters (spat) as we continue to restore oysters in the river. This exciting program is fun, easy, and it gives us the chance to capture valuable data about spat distribution.
LRNow’s Spat Catcher Program relies on community volunteers who have tidal waterfront access to help guide our oyster restoration efforts. The collected data is used to advise our placement and substrate choices in oyster restoration projects.
In this program, volunteers are provided with habitat cubes (smaller than 12” x 12”) which will be suspended in the water from their dock. Each cage will contain a control substrate (oyster shell) and a variable substrate (such as brick, whelk, clam shell, etc). The cages are left in the water for a full growing season and then are returned to LRNow to be counted and compared. This data gets added to our data set and the spat are returned to a LRNow reef to live out their days. Results from past years variable substrates can be found HERE.
Do you have access to tidal waters in Virginia Beach or know of someone who does? YOU can gather important data that will assist us in understanding spat settlement in Virginia Beach waterways.
Contact Helen@LRNow.org for more information
SPAT (baby oyster larvae) distribution maps:
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