"Academics, conservationists, nonprofits, government agencies—and one passionate, retired scientist—are working to rebuild reefs, reduce the carbon imprint and educate the public about the importance of restoring the oyster population."
"Andy Depaola looks out across Mobile Bay, where water laps against the once-hidden pilings of his neighbors’ piers. For centuries, the bay’s thriving oyster reefs created prime habitats for hundreds of fish, shrimp and crabs. The water-filtering creatures cleaned the waste, contributed to wave control and helped maintain the shoreline’s sprawling seagrasses while supporting carbon sequestration.
But now the crumbling seawalls have been battered, large stretches of the bay are greenish, brown dead zones and the beaches where Depaola’s children once picked up crabs and gigged flounders have eroded. With so much murky water in the bay, predatory fish like bull sharks, stingrays and sea catfish flourish in the warmer, rising water, he says, with a frustrated, weatherworn voice.
“No one is here,” he laments. “It’s like silent spring, but it’s silent summer, with no more people.”
They’ve disappeared from the waterfront and an eerie quiet has descended on what he calls a “sea of derelict pilings” where the piers have been washed away by storms and hurricanes so many times that people are too tired or too broke to rebuild the docks that insurance won’t insure."
Lanier Isom reports for Inside Climate News December 25, 2024.
Advertisement 
