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It serves as the research home for the Virginia Coast Reserve Long-Term Ecological Research Program. A new $2.5 million laboratory and housing facility was dedicated in on August 26, 2006. [1] The Center is located within the Virginia Coast Reserve, a biosphere reserve operated by the Nature Conservancy.
Ward Oyster Company is a cage oyster farm headquartered in Gloucester County, Virginia, and one of the largest cage oyster farms on the U.S. East Coast. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Established in 1986, the company sells 4 million oysters and tens of millions of larvae each year.
The company's oyster farms are located in the Yeocomico River, Potomac River, James River, Rappahannock River, and York River. [9] [16] In 2002, the company also helped to restore an oyster reef in the river. [17] The company also operates a seafood cannery and packing facility and is a research partner with the State of Virginia.
Oyster shell reefs are another option when creating living shorelines. Oysters are critical in enhancing water quality and providing habitat to fish species, so creation of oyster reefs to decrease shoreline erosion rates have many added benefits. [ 6 ]
The company was founded in 1899 by James Croxton. [1] [5] [6] The company is currently operated by cousins Ryan and Travis Croxton, the great-grandsons of the founder.[7] [8] [9] The company harvests four oyster varieties, Rappahannocks, Stingrays, Snow Hills, Barcats, and Olde Salts, in addition to Olde Salt Clams.
The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica)—also called the Atlantic oyster, American oyster, or East Coast oyster—is a species of true oyster native to eastern North and South America. Other names in local or culinary use include the Wellfleet oyster , [ 3 ] Virginia oyster , Malpeque oyster , Blue Point oyster , Chesapeake Bay oyster , and ...
Additionally oyster beds provide cohabitation for mussels, barnacles, sea anemones and more. It has become a huge concern that the population of oyster reefs have been decreasing at a rapid rate. Many species are losing their habitat, animals are undergoing a decrease in food consumption and the ocean is experiencing less filtration.
Oyster reef restoration projects often place the sanitized shells of dead oysters, concrete, or limestone pieces on a soft bottom to encourage oyster spat settlement. [10] Restoration of intertidal eastern oyster reefs can match natural densities of oysters and mud crabs , and recover oyster stability in about 6 years. [ 18 ]