PALMETTO — Nearly two centuries ago, what we now know as the Manatee River was commonly known as the “Oyster River.” Maps from the 1800s referred to it by this name, but as the decades passed, the feature that once defined the river—the oysters—disappeared.
Multiple factors led to the oysters’ decline, including the commercial oyster trade. The mullocks were even utilized in early roadway construction—Manatee Avenue is said to have gotten its stinky beginnings being “paved” with oysters from the Manatee River.
Besides the overharvesting of oysters and the disruption to the reefs and beds where they once colonized, development along the shoreline, stormwater runoff, and decades of environmental impacts led the river bottom to become covered by a soft muck, which suffocated seagrass and destroyed once-healthy marine life habitats…