Oyster Forum: Northern Coast Registration Form and Agenda

Located at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, in Manteo
this event will begin with morning activities at the Aquarium. Afternoon field trips will feature visits to a living shoreline and planted oyster bed at nearby Roanoke Island Festival Park; a constructed oyster reef behind the Bodie Island Lighthouse; and a natural oyster bed in the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge.

NORTHERN REGION AGENDA

9:30 am – 10:00 am
Sign-in at Aquarium entrance hall 

10:00 am – 12:00 pm
LEARN ABOUT OYSTERS IN THE
SUBTIDAL HABITAT OF THE NORTHERN COAST
You’ll be able to browse displays and talk with fisheries biologists and
conservationists who are building and restoring reefs in Pamlico Sound, scientists who are studying oyster ecology and distribution, state workers who monitor oyster beds for healthy conditions, a commercial fisherman who has mapped historic reefs, and others. Outside we’ll have a small mountain of oyster shells from local restaurants, and volunteers can help bag them to be returned to the water – a natural recycling project. 

12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
BOXED LUNCH
(and more time for browsing) 

1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
FIELD TRIPS
To register for one of the field trips below, rank your field trip preference.
Your trip assignment will be given to you on the day of the event.

• Growing Oysters in Roanoke Sound: The NC Division of Marine Fisheries has planted oyster cultch off Festival Park in downtown Manteo. Participants will take a short boat trip (weather permitting) from Festival Park into the waters of the sound, where biologists will pull a dredge to harvest some of the oysters in the area. We’ll talk about how the design of oyster reefs can help foster growth and protect the critters from disease. On shore, biologists and NCCF staff members will talk about an erosion control project that also created new habitat for oysters. (Capacity 30)
• Building A Reef At Bodie Island: Join staff members from The Nature Conservancy on a boat trip through the marsh to the shoreline behind the Bodie Island Lighthouse, where bags of recycled oyster shell have been planted to create a new oyster reef. Participants will learn about oyster restoration efforts and how oyster reefs act as whole ecosystems. Weather permitting. (Capacity 25)
• Kayak/Walk the Shoreline at New Inlet, Hatteras Island: Tour a thriving natural oyster habitat by paddle (weather permitting) with Hatteras nature photographer Michael Halminski, an oyster connoisseur and conservationist who has lived on the island for 30 years, and a fisheries extension agent from North Carolina Sea Grant. We’ll also be walking along the shore to get a taste for the oyster’s ecosystem. (Capacity 30)

REGISTRATION FORM