Chesapeake Bay Foundation outlines efforts to improve area waters
Shelling out to raise awareness for importance of oysters to ecosystem
10 On Your Side got a look at a living shoreline known as the Pinecone Harbor oyster reef, where more than 1,000 feet of oyster beds sit. Though high tide wasn't on our side Wednesday, but down below, the foundation installed more than 4,500 oyster castles and hundreds of bushels of recycled oyster shells.
'So that oysters that we plant and future oysters that naturally spawn in the river will have habitat to land and thrive,' said Jackie Shannon with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.
Chesapeake Bay oyster restoration expected to hit 2025 goal
Oysters are natural water filters, improving water quality, and overall, the health of our waterways.
And that's where you come in.
'We know that any trash that lands in the water is going to come from land, so picking it up from the land first is important,' Shannon said.
Waterways and bridges run throughout Hampton Roads, but are often seen as a convenient trash can for some drivers. Plastics, in particular, become microplastics, and that's not good for anyone.
'It doesn't biodegrade,' said Lisa Renee Jennings with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. 'It just degrades into smaller and smaller pieces, right? So a little fish eats a little plastic big eats the little fish. Continuing on, [it] eventually ends up on our plates.'
As for that three-hour tour, that's all they're asking for from 9 a.m. until noon June 7 to join Virginia's biggest annual cleanup.
On average, every year, at least 3,000 people participate,' Jennings said. 'Now that's gone as high as 6,000, before COVID. but those numbers are coming back and building again. It's pretty remarkable to know in three hours, at least 3,000 volunteers are working really hard, and at the end, on average, to between 75,000 and 100,000 pounds of debris are removed in just those three hours on the first Saturday in June.'
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