Breakwater debris removed from Coffee Island, oysters relocated to Lightning Point Living Shoreline

by The Dauphin Island Sea Lab
Volunteers collect oysters from reefblk breakwaters.
The deteriorating ReefBLK breakwaters were gathered from Coffee Island and brought to Lightning Point in Bayou La Batre. Volunteers worked to recover the oysters from the rebar.

This past July, The Nature Conservancy worked with several agencies, including the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, to remove 322 ReefBLK breakwaters from the living shoreline of Coffee Island.

Those breakwaters, bagged oyster shells, and ReefBLK breakwaters were installed in 2010 to protect Coffee Island from storms, sea level rise, and other hazards. The ReefBLK is a cage of vexar mesh that contains oyster shells and is supported in a rebar frame.

volunteers collect oysters from deteriorating breakwaters

While some locations see success with this method, not enough oysters grew at Coffee Island to secure the ReefBLKs, so the structures deteriorated. TNC’s contractors removed the derelict breakwaters and brought them to Bayou la Batre by barge. Volunteers then sorted through the debris to look for living oysters.

The volunteers recovered 495 live oysters, all with the potential to produce more oysters. Dr. Lee Smee’s lab at DISL returned the rescued oysters to the water on top of oyster reefs they had built in front of TNC’s Lightning Point Living Shoreline Project in Bayou La Batre. This event is similar to an effort from 2023 when TNC removed 168 ReefBLK breakwaters from the Alabama Port living shoreline, installed in 2011.

Deteriorated breakwaters piled at Lightning Point in Bayou La Batre