Huntington Harbour dock owners help collect more than 600 native oysters

Huntington Harbour dock owners have done their part for the last several months.

The full fruits of their efforts to help collect native Olympia oyster larvae were revealed Sunday at the Huntington Harbour Yacht Club.

More than 600 native oysters were collected since April via shell strings given out by nonprofit Orange County Coastkeeper as part of its Living Shorelines program, said OC Coastkeeper Communications Director Matt Sylvester.

Orange County Coastkeeper Marine Restoration Director Kaysha Kenney examines an oyster shell on Sunday at Huntington Harbour Yacht Club.

(Courtesy of Orange County Coastkeeper)

“Some of the participants got pretty competitive with seeing whose shell strings got the most oysters on them,” Sylvester wrote in an email.

The shell strings, which were attached to the docks in the harbor, give the larvae a place to attach themselves and make a habitat. This was the first year the strings were used in Huntington Beach, though they have been deployed in Long Beach for the past several years, benefiting Alamitos Bay.

The 600 oysters were taken to a restoration site at the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge, which shares the same waterway as Huntington Harbour.

More than 600 oysters were collected via shell strings given to Huntington Harbour Yacht Club dock owners in April.

(Courtesy of Orange County Coastkeeper)

Oysters are known for offer several benefits to the ecosystem, among them filtering pollutants and providing habitat for other sea animals. The U.S. Navy reached out to OC Coastkeeper in 2021 after dealing with coastal erosion at the Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach.

Sylvester said OC Coastkeeper is planning to bring back the same shell string program at Huntington Harbour Yacht Club next year.

Oysters collected were taken to the Seal Beach National Wildlife Refuge.

(Courtesy of Orange County Coastkeeper)