Shuck & Share Celebrates Million-Pound Milestone

When you order oysters this weekend at one of our local restaurants, be happy to know those shells may be working to produce more oysters. The Marine Discovery Center’s (MDC) Shuck & Share oyster recycling program has reached the million-pound milestone. Shuck & Share was launched in 2013 and the first oyster shells were collected at local restaurants in 2014. Restaurants participating in the program began holding discarded shells from diners’ meals to be collected for recycled use in shoreline restoration projects up and down the Indian River Lagoon. Initially, only a handful of restaurants agreed to save oyster shells and donate the shells to MDC. Now, 13 restaurants in Volusia County participate. In addition to Volusia County, nine other coastal counties have adopted the Shuck & Share program. Restaurants in the participating counties across the state are working to use the shells for shoreline restoration programs on Florida’s East Coast, as well as in Sarasota and Tampa Bay. If not for the program, the shells would be going into the county landfill rather than helping to grow new oyster reefs.

“This milestone means a lot of things,” said Tess Sailor-Tynes, MDC’s Conservation Science Coordinator. “In addition to being able to divert all of that shell from a landfill, the shell is going into community restoration practices that involve community members, corporations and school groups, creating a ripple effect of understanding of what we can do to protect and preserve our local habitats.”

Restaurants that participate in the Shuck & Share program:

New Smyrna Beach: McKenna’s Place, Chase’s on the Beach, The

Baker’s Table, City Market Bistro, Off the Hook Raw Bar & Grill, Outriggers Tiki Bar & Grille

Oak Hill: Goodrich Seafood Restaurant

Port Orange: McKenna’s Place, Fysh Bar & Grill

Ponce Inlet: Off the Hook at Inlet Harbor

Daytona Beach: Stoney Farms

Ormond Beach: 63 Sovereign, Riptides Raw Bar & Grill

For more information and an in-depth article by Lisa Mickey, please click HERE.