EJW OUTDOORS SETS EXAMPLE FOR OYSTER SHELL RECYCLING

[NCangler]

MOREHEAD CITY – EJW Outdoors in Morehead City will become the first private business to comply with a new N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries policy by allowing the removal of oyster shell used as landscaping in front of its establishment.

On Wednesday, Sept. 19, crews will replace the oyster shell with decorative rock around the sporting goods store’s parking lot. The removed shells will go to the state’s Oyster Shell Recycling Program and be used in oyster reef building projects.

“EJW Outdoors is an important partner for the division and we are excited to work with them to promote this new initiative,” said DMF Director Louis Daniel. “I greatly appreciate their support.”

DMF purchased the decorative rock to replace the oyster shell at EJW Outdoors in anticipation of implementing a new policy that prohibits businesses participating in DMF programs, such as the N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament, from using oyster shell in landscaping. This falls in line with a new law, passed by the N.C. General Assembly this summer, prohibiting state government agencies from using oyster shell as ground cover.

EJW Outdoors is a N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament (citation) weigh station.

The store moved to a new location a few years ago and used oyster shell for decorative landscaping. Like so many others, the owners did not realize the oyster shell could serve a better purpose.

“Anything EJW Outdoors can do to improve the fisheries, we’re all for it,” said David Willis, EJW Outdoors owner.

Oyster reefs serve a number of purposes in the coastal ecosystem. Most notably, oyster reefs help produce more oysters.

When oysters spawn the larvae need a hard surface on which to attach and grow. The most productive surface on which they can attach is shell.

Oyster reefs also attract numerous other marine organisms, such as algae, worms, barnacles, crabs, small minnows and fish, which in turn attract bigger fish. Oyster reefs are considered essential fish habitat.

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Additionally, oysters are nature’s water filters, feeding on plankton and organic debris. One oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day.

DMF hopes to use EJW Outdoors as an example to educate other business owners about the need to consider the environment when landscaping.

Already, Dr. David Freshwater, who owns the Exchange at Mansfield, a shopping center next to EJW Outdoors, has agreed to use matching decorative rock instead of oyster shell for landscaping.

“It seems like the right thing to do,” Freshwater said. “Eastern North Carolina’s economy is built around small businesses, so it will take small business owners working for the environment to enhance the coastal resources.”

The Oyster Shell Recycling Program will receive about 1,200 bushels of oyster shell from EJW Outdoors and add them to its recycled shell stockpile at a South River DMF facility. The shells will be used to set oyster larvae for oyster reef-building projects in the Neuse River, Bluff Point or Middle Bay no-take oyster sanctuaries. DMF policy is to use recycled oyster shell at restoration sites close to the recycling source.

DMF staff will begin work at EJW Outdoors around 7:30 a.m. Wednesday and will be available for on-site interviews and photographs throughout the day.