Giving Tuesday: Seeding 240,000 Oysters & Counting

Giving Tuesday is now a special day for us here at Long Wharf. It’s a day where we get to reflect on the impact we’ve been able to make on our community. It’s the day when we’re able to put our money where our mouth is and directly support our charitable partners who are focused on maintaining the health and balance of inshore waterways in some of our favorite places.

We’re excited to announce that our annual fundraising effort will help directly seed over 170,000 oysters across northeast ecosystems which will naturally filter 8.5 million gallons of seawater every day. To date, we’ve directly helped seed over 240,000 oysters and counting.

As promised when we launched the SeaWell™ Collection in 2020, every item sold will directly support reseeding coastal oyster reefs and this effort would not be possible without these partners.

We love working with our friends over at the Massachusetts Oyster Project. An all-volunteer non-profit dedicated to strengthening beaches and coastal estuaries through cultivation, shell recycling, education, and advocacy.

The organization runs an impressive array of initiatives including fully supporting a network of upwellers across Gloucester, Marblehead, Hyannis, and Nantucket. For those who don’t know, upwellers are incubators for oyster that take spat, baby oysters the size of a grain of sand or red pepper flakes, and houses them for a year or so before they are well equipped for life in nearby open estuaries.

Once the baby oysters are of size and cleared for seeding they are then distributed across designated sites where they can assimilate to life in the wild, help improve water quality, and provide habitat for other small marine life.

Additionally, the Massachusetts Oyster Project launched the inaugural shell recycling program on Cape Cod this past summer. Program Manager, Lucas Baybutt, spent all summer collecting shell from 8 restaurants during their busy season. Once the shell is collected it is taken to the Wellfleet Town Transfer Station where it must sit for a year and will eventually be used as cultch for reef restoration or oyster farming. The program collected an impressive 26,000 lbs of shell that would have otherwise ended up in landfills.

Our friends at the South Fork Sea Farmers passionately operate the registered 501(c)(3) organization on Long Island’s East End in partnership with the East Hampton Shellfish Hatchery.

Alongside the Hatchery, with locations across Three Mile Harbor, Hog Creek, Napeague and Acabonac Harbors, the group works to continuously raise awareness through constructive action programs, fundraising efforts, and advocating for the importance of sustainable marine habitats and sustainable aquaculture.

They have expanded local educational programs and encourage other residents to be stewards of their marine environment while operating individual oyster gardens where each member gets to seed 1,000 of their own oysters. The group has seeded over 200,000 oysters along with other beneficial filter feeding shellfish such as tasty bay scallops.

It goes without saying that we greatly appreciate the valuable partnership both the Massachusetts Oyster Project and the South Fork Sea Farmers have provided over the years. We’re excited to continue making progress and advocating for more programs that benefit our favorite inshore waterways with continued growth and your support.

If you’re in the giving mood, please consider supporting either of these organizations directly or follow them on Instagram for updates and events! @oysterprojectma @southforkseafarmers