Evaluation of the fisheries benefits of oyster reef restoration along a bio-physical gradient in Mobile Bay, Alabama

Recognition of the many ecological services oyster reefs provide to estuarine ecosystems has resulted in increased efforts to restore and/or enhance the spatial extent of oyster reefs. As part of a large-scale restoration effort in Mobile Bay, AL, we designed a field project to address the following questions: how does the design of a habitat influence the relative value of the ecosystem services it provides and how does this relationship change over environmental gradients? Oyster abundance was site dependent (Cedar Point > Sand > Shellbank) and there was a trend for oyster numbers to increase with higher reef elevation. Overall, our restoration efforts successfully established oyster and/or mussel populations to varying degrees, reefs were colonized by resident fish and invertebrate species, and reefs were utilized by several finfish species. Reef design did not affect the early benefits of the reef restoration; however, reef location did affect restoration benefits.