Horry County will soon install oyster reefs in Garden City
HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) — Horry County’s stormwater team is working to install oyster reefs in the Murrells Inlet watershed. The effort is made possible with Coastal Carolina University, the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources and the Coastal Conservation League.
Between Atlantic Avenue and Cypress Avenue in Garden City, oyster reefs will soon be installed to help improve water quality and prevent erosion.
“People usually think of oysters they think of yeah they’re yummy or gross,” Michael Hodges, a wildlife biologist with SCDNR said. But he added, they aren’t just for eating.
More than 20 years ago SCDNR started SCORE, or the South Carolina Oyster Recycling and Enhancement program.
Since then, it’s installed multiple oyster shell recycling bins and reefs along the Grand Strand. These recycled shells are used to create the reefs.
“People think oh, what is one or two bushels you know like I’ll just throw them away,” Hodges said. “Well, those one or two bushels from thousands of people can add up really quickly.”
Hodges said oysters naturally help filter water and can process around two and a half gallons per hour.
The reefs are built up in the marsh and provide habitats for species and naturally help prevent erosion.
“That is a greener way of protecting our shorelines from erosion,” Hodges said. “That boat wake or those wind driven waves hit that reef instead of hitting that bare marsh or mud-based marsh system.”
Hodges says through oyster donations from CCU, Horry County’s stormwater team and the three involved organizations will create manufactured wired reefs in the coming weeks.
He says the reefs are wired cages that almost look like crab pots.
In the spring or summer this year, the reefs will finally be installed along the marsh.
“And then next year we’ll get a whole new crop of oysters that land on those oysters and that’s how we get these self-sustaining reefs is oysters continue to land on the existing structures and grow vertically,” Hodges said.
Hodges says the SCORE program wouldn’t be possible without local community help and advocates along the Grand Strand.
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Adrianna Lawrence is a multimedia journalist at News13. Adrianna is originally from Virginia Beach, Virginia, and joined the News13 team in June 2023 after graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University in May 2023. Keep up with Adrianna on Instagram, Facebook, and X, formerly Twitter. You can also read more of her work, here.
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