Since 1950, more than 80% of Mobile Bay’s oyster population has vanished. That absence was once staggering, but now, Mobile Baykeeper has a plan to restore Alabama’s coastline by 2028.
The Oyster Keepers Program works with locals to turn residential piers into beacons where oysters grow, reproduce and help strengthen the bay. What started in 2023 with a handful of oyster reefs has turned into an initiative to return 5 million oysters to Mobile Bay in the next few years.
By signing up for the program, local private homeowners are able to get involved with large-scale oyster restoration. Each pier “garden” consists of 10 cages with 50 recycled oyster shells per garden, according to Mobile Baykeeper…