The Rhode Island Oyster Gardening for Restoration and Enhancement program at Roger Williams University is putting oysters in the state’s waterways to filter out pollution and rev up the ecosystem.

     Each little sucker takes in up to 50 gallons of water in a day, clearing out pollutants, plankton, and silt so that the water is nice and clean for the aquatic plants below.  These plants, along with tiny fish that like to live in the oyster beds, attract winter flounder and lobster can be harvested for us to eat. The area’s aquaculture producers are happy about that one.

    The oysters also clean up after crop fertilizers.  Nitrogen from agricultural runoff is sucked up and oxygen abounds for our newfound aquaculture. 

    Clean water, more food, and a pick-up system for ag chemicals. I, for one, am impressed. All hail the mighty oyster: saving the world one sucker at a time.