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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462
For Release: December 3, 2008
Contact: Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402

THREE SHELLFISH RESTORATION SITES TO RECEIVE ONE MILLION SEED OYSTERS THIS WEEK AS DEM, NOAA STAFF CONDUCT NORTH CAPE RESTORATION PROGRAM'S FINAL OYSTER TRANSPLANT

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announce that they will release more than one million oysters into three Rhode Island shellfish restoration sites beginning today, as part of the North Cape shellfish restoration program.

The oysters were raised last summer in a floating upweller system — a device that acts as an oyster nursery — at the Camp Fuller YMCA dock in Point Judith, where they were closely monitored with the help of volunteers. These seed oysters have now grown to an inch or more in size and will be released to discrete sites to restore oyster populations in historic beds.

This marks the fifth and final release of oysters under the North Cape restoration program. Oyster restoration efforts began in 2003, and more than five million oysters will have been released in restoration sites located in Rhode Island coastal ponds and Narragansett Bay. Follow-up surveys indicate that the transplanted oysters are doing well and that, although limited, natural sets of oyster larvae or 'spat' are have been documented in the area around the restoration sites.

The North Cape shellfish restoration program addresses the natural resource damages sustained when the tank barge North Cape ran aground off Moonstone Beach in South Kingstown in 1996, spilling 828,000 gallons of heating oil into Block Island Sound and Rhode Island's coastal ponds. More than 10 million surf clams and other shellfish, fish, and birds were killed as a result of the spill. A legal settlement was reached in 2000, and funds were secured from the responsible party to help restore injuries to shellfish and other coastal resources. Restoration efforts have been ongoing since 2001.

Scientists and resource managers from DEM and NOAA are directing the restoration efforts. Both agencies, along with the U.S. Department of Interior's Fish and Wildlife Service, are the trustees for the natural resources damage settlement for the North Cape spill.

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