WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • DECEMBER 2017 61 Inland Bays (Martin 1996). Volunteers who participate in water quality monitoring and oyster aquaculture are more aware of the need to protect water quality and aquatic biota. They have also gained an appreciation for oysters and restoration efforts. Oyster floats at docks have generated more awareness for the project in the community, with about 21,200 new people now aware of the restoration project. The most common actions taken now that were not taken previously as a result of volunteer participation in the oyster gardening project were: 1) paying more attention to the various forms of aquatic life and wildlife near oyster floats, 2) no longer using fertilizers or pesticides on their lawns, and 3) restoration project has generated a forum for people to discuss health of the estuaries. Oyster Gardening in Perspective Bivalve suspension feeders serve an important biogeochemical role in coastal ecosystems because nitrogen and phosphorus from the water column are removed by filtration or transferred to sediments as biodeposits (Newell 2005). Oyster gardeners in Delaware are taking steps that will lead to improved water quality, as indicated by water quality monitoring over the years. Each oyster gardener has about 200 oysters at their docks. Assuming that each adult oyster filters approximately 190 L of water per day (Paddock 2010), with the approximately 40,000 oysters currently in the project, about 7.6 million L of Inland Bay water is filtered per day. However, the Delaware Inland Bays have a surface area of 83 square kilometers and an average depth of 1.2 meters (Martin et al. 1996) for a total volume of around 101 billion L. The restoration project is a good step forward but largescale oyster aquaculture is needed to generate a more meainingful environmental impact in Delaware Inland Bays. Oyster gardening has been an effective mechanism to educate the public and increase public awareness of water quality and estuarine health. The actions of oyster gardeners are an important part of essential habitat revitalization. The many years of participation in this project by volunteer oyster gardeners illustrates their strong commitment to local watershed protection. Oyster gardening provides intrinsic value in the enjoyment of gardening and pride in contributing to improvement of the Delaware Inland Bays. Acknowledgements We thank our funding partners, NSF SMILE Program, USDA Evans-Allen and DuPont Clear Into the Future Program. We also thank our primary partners, the UD Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program and the Center for the Inland Bays and most of all, our volunteers for their dedication and commitment for the program. The program would not exist without them. Notes Gulnihal Ozbay, Professor and Extension Specialist in Natural Resources Amy Cannon, Undergraduate Research Assistant Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources Delaware State University 1200 North DuPont Highway, Dover, DE 19901-2277 gozbay@desu.edu Photos by Laurieann Phalen and Frank Marenghi. Literature Cited Buitrago, J., M. Rada, H. Hernández and E. Buitrago. 2005. A singleuse site selection technique, using GIS, for aquaculture planning: choosing locations for mangrove oyster raft culture in Margarita Island, Venezuela. Environmental Management 35(5): 544-556. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). http://www.epa.gov/ reg3wapd/estuaries/de_inland_bays.htm. Retrieved May 2014. Ewart, J. 2008. Delaware Center for the Inland Bays Oyster Gardening Fact Sheet. http://darc.cms.udel.edu. Retrieved May 2014. Martin, D.M., T. Morton, T. Dobrzynski and B. Valentine. 1996. Estuaries on the edge: The Vital Linkt Between Land and Sea. Washington, D.C. American Oceans Campaign. Pp. 111. NOS (National Ocean Service). 2011. Division of NOAA, Division of US Department of Commerce, http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/ facts/population.html. Retrieved May 2014. Newell, R.I.E., T.R. Fisher, R.R. Holyoke and J.C. Cornwell. 2005. The Comparative Roles of Suspension Feeders in Ecosystems. Pages 95, R. Dame and S. Olenin, editors. Vol. 47, NATO Science Series: IV - Earth and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Netherlands. Paddock, B. 2010. Oysters are a shore thing in New York; They can filter 50 gallons of water a day, reducing pollution. Daily News | New York. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/oystersshore-new-york-filter-50-gallons-water-day-reducing-pollutionarticle-1.183775. Retrieved by May 2014. Thanawala, K. 2001. Economics, environment and equity. Forum for Social Economics 31(1):73-79. UDEL (University of Delaware). 2011. Citizens Monitoring Program. http://citizen-monitoring.udel.edu/. Retrieved by May 2014. TABLE 1. Oyster gardener survey questionnaire.
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