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Volunteer oyster gardeners in Baldwin and Mobile counties who have registered with Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium / Alabama Cooperative Extension System picked up their oyster stock and kicked off the growing season today.

In the Mobile Bay oyster gardening program, residents from Mobile and Baldwin counties get small, juvenile oysters from the Auburn University Shellfish Lab and grow them in baskets that hang from their piers.

Last year, each volunteer received about half the usual 1,000 oysters because organizers were unsure if conditions resulting from the oil spill would prevent the residents from removing the baskets from the water and cleaning the oysters. This year, the program will be stocking to pre-oil-spill levels.

This oyster gardening program is different from other oyster restoration projects because the oysters that are planted in Mobile Bay are about 3 inches. Planting the oysters in November after they have grown to that size makes them stronger and more likely to survive than oysters typically planted on reefs for restoration. The bigger oysters also will be able to spawn their first spring in the Bay, making even more oysters.

The program is sponsored by Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant, the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Auburn University and Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

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