![]() Sound technology offers a relatively inexpensive way to help speed up the recovery of oyster reef habitats. Using acoustic technology to broadcast ocean music in the form of snapping shrimp crackle presents an opportunity to lead animals along highways of sound, all the way to coasts where we are trying to restore healthy habitats. The surprising benefits of oysters (and no, it's not what you're thinking) This means animals such as the baby oyster are becoming lost at sea, not knowing where to find healthy habitats to settle and live in. At the same time, human-made ocean noise is on the rise, from activities such as shipping, sonar and offshore pile-driving. The sounds produced by marine animals, such as the snapping shrimp, are fading due to habitat loss and climate change. Sound can be heard by animals from afar and act as a beacon for them to follow. More than visual and chemical cues, sound is a useful sensory cue for marine animals in their day-to-day lives, because it travels a long way underwater. ![]() Like many marine animals, fur seals have broad vocal repertoires. A soundscape filled with snapping shrimp crackle indicates to marine animals a healthy place to live, with plenty of food and habitat. ![]() These sounds, combined with those of waves, wind and rain, create the marine soundscape. Fish honk, drum and pop whales whistle and moan and seals groan, grunt and growl. Marine animals have broad vocal repertoires. For example, ibises have more sex when their vocalisations are played to them. Just as music can reduce depression and increase the mood of humans, playing sound can change the behaviour of a diversity of animals. When we used these speakers in places with little background noise, we attracted high numbers of baby oysters.īy contrast, places with high levels of human-made background noise, such as from outboard motors and shipping, made our speaker sounds harder to hear, resulting in fewer baby oysters being attracted. To conduct our research, we built affordable underwater speakers with engineers at the non-profit environmental organisation AusOcean to broadcast the snapping shrimp crackle in the ocean. See the details of this program below.Oyster larvae can swim using tiny hairs called cilia. These oysters have much lower mortality rates than brand-new spat. Each May, growers provide tens of thousands of year-old oysters, having grown to about 1 inch size, to sanctuary reefs. It only takes a few weeks for oyster-based aquatic wildlife like mud crabs, scuds, blennies, and gobies to find their way to the oyster cages. In early fall, the growers pick up their spat on oyster shells recovered from restaurants from designated locations. This provides some filtration and micro oyster-reef habitat in the creeks. The Federation coordinates around 100 oyster growers near the rivers who care for square cages of oysters that they hang from their piers. Learn more about the oyster sanctuary reef on the South River here. Partnering with the Chesapeake Oyster Alliance, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Marylanders Grow Oysters, the Oyster Recovery Partnership, Project Oyster West River (POWeR), and nearly 100 waterfront oyster growers, the Federation places millions of oyster spat (baby oysters) into sanctuary areas in our rivers each year. Sadly, the number of oysters in the Bay is less than 2% of historic levels. ![]() A mature oyster filters 30 to 50 gallons of water each day and their reefs provide habitat for other aquatic life. Oysters are an important natural resource.
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