How recycled oyster shells are helping save Louisiana’s dwindling coastline

Amna Nawaz:

In the last century, more than 2,000 square miles of Louisiana's coastline have been lost to see.

Tribal lands in the state 's southeast are among the most affected.

As our New Orleans communities correspondent Roby Chavez reports, one volunteer-led effort is gaining attention in the fight against coastal erosion with an unlikely tool, recycled oyster shells.

Roby Chavez:

A boatride through the marshes of Southeastern Louisiana is a painful reminder of the state's quickly disappearing coastline.

It's a swathe of land that includes important cultural sites. Trees anchor tribal mounds, some older than Stonehenge. By some estimates, the state is losing at least two mounds per year.

Theresa Dardar is a member of the Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe. For years, she felt helpless watching parts of the tribe's sacred land fall in the water. To help protect the land from rapid erosion, the tribe partnered with the nonprofit coalition to restore coastal Louisiana and used recycled oyster shells from local restaurants to build artificial reefs.

Theresa Dardar, Pointe-au-Chien Indian Tribe:

They're helping us to try to save what we want to save. It makes you feel so good to see that people do care, that they're not just here to see what's happening. They're here because they care.

Roby Chavez:

The coalition used nearly 400 tons of shells to create oyster reefs that now cover 800 feet of coastline near the tribal mounds. So far, their project is working. The coalition's reefs have withstood Hurricane Ida in 2021 and slowed shoreline erosion by as much as 50 percent.

James Karst, Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana: We take a product that used to get sent to the landfill, but is very useful in slowing coastal land loss, and we put it back into the water, where it belongs.

Roby Chavez:

James Karst works with the coalition. He says the artificial reefs are designed to mimic nature, providing coastal protection for years to come.

Once these reefs are in place, tell us what happens to them just organically.

James Karst:

Life begins to grow on them. Baby oysters are attracted to the old oyster shells, and they attach to them, and they begin to grow. And that is why they are considered to be living shorelines.

To me, it is sort of the ultimate sustainable seafood. It's really a win-win-win, because oysters also filter the water. They can help to minimize storm surge during hurricanes and tropical storms, and they slow the rate of erosion by a significant amount.

Roby Chavez:

In one of the largest shell recycling programs in the nation, the coalition has so far built five oyster reefs protecting 8,000 feet of disappearing shoreline.

In all, 13 million pounds of shells have been recycled. Louisiana is the nation's top oyster producer, and nearly 50 restaurants now participate in the recycling program that keeps their oysters out of landfills.

James Clesi is the co-owner of Clesi's Seafood Restaurant. He says signing up for the program was a no-brainer.

James Clesi, Co-Owner, Clesi’s Seafood Restaurant:

We go through a lot of oysters. I want to say thousands and thousands of pounds. And it's really cool to know that they're going right back to the water to help the oyster lifestyle.

It gets really easy just to order the oysters, cook them, shuck them, serve them, and not really know where they came from. And it gave us an opportunity for us to learn the whole life cycle of the oyster, how important it is to the Louisiana coastline and the way of life for everybody that lives down there.

Roby Chavez:

Back on the water, Theresa Dardar and her husband, Donald, know the oyster reefs won't be a cure-all. They're also fighting to backfill oil and gas exploration canals that cut into the marsh.

But, for now, it no longer feels like they are alone in the fight.

For the "PBS NewsHour" in New Orleans, I'm Roby Chavez.