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		Marine Conservation Marine Conservation What's New Threats to Oceans The Role of Oceans What You Can Do   World Ocean Day What We Do   Build resilience   Restore habitats   Use market-based   strategies   Set priorities   Manage threats Where We Work Marine Species Coral Reefs Contact Us Press Releases For Practitioners

Help support marine conservation With your help, we can conserve marine habitat around the world for people and nature. Video From the Field New York City public high school students help scientists restore the Mashomack Preserve's scallop population, which is part of the Conservancy's plan for shellfish restoration on Long Island. Protecting and Restoring Oceans and Coasts The Conservancy works to protect and restore the most resilient examples of ocean and coastal ecosystems by engaging coastal communities, stakeholders and other partners. Community-based habitat restoration Shellfish Restoration Network Working on the Chesapeake Bay From oyster restoration to preserving upland forests, learn how we’re protecting lands and waters to safeguard the bay. Learn More Fact Sheet: Shellfish Conservation and Restoration A Practitioner's Guide to the Design and Monitoring of Shellfish Restoration Projects

Shellfish beds and reefs provide important habitat for other species, as well as acting as a breakwater for marshes and mangroves and stabilizing shorelines. Bivalve shellfish are suspension feeders that strain phytoplankton from water helping to clear and clean water, which aids in restoring sea grasses that provide shelter to fish.

Restoring a Critical Ecosystem

The Nature Conservancy established a Shellfish Restoration Network in 2004 to enhance the overall coordination of restoration by the Conservancy and its partners. We share lessons learned and provide advice on project design and monitoring approaches capable of documenting the ecological services provided by native shellfish.

The Conservancy provides new techniques for setting standards of successful restoration and analyzes project design and monitoring approaches to determine larger-scale projects.

To help identify and address the critical gaps in knowledge, we published A Practitioners Guide to the Design & Monitoring of Shellfish Restoration Projects. 

With partners, we are also examining the need to address global restoration of shellfish reefs and beds through the Shellfish Reefs at Risk Assessment project. Over the next two years, the Conservancy will work with internationally-recognized experts to identify the state, condition and action needed to conserve shellfish ecosystems around the world.

Find out more about the Shellfish Restoration Network.

Where We Work on Shellfish Restoration

• Chesapeake Bay, Virginia
• Woodard Bay, Washington
• Indian River Lagoon, Florida
• Great South Bay, New York
• Netarts Bay Oyster Restoration, Oregon

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Carl LoBue (Stocking the Great South Bay, New York); Photo © Jon Golden (Mussel inventory at Clinch River, Virginia).