Tampa Bay Volunteers Return 311K Pounds of Oyster Shells

A chain of volunteers stands in ankle-deep water at MacDill Air Force Base, passing 30-pound bags of oyster shells hand to hand. When a bag tears, someone shouts "Hole!" and the line adjusts to keep precious shells from spilling back into Tampa Bay.

These aren't just any shells. They're recycled from local restaurants through Tampa Bay Watch's "Shells for Shorelines" program, giving seafood waste a second life as reef-building material.

Tampa Bay has lost 90% of its oyster reefs since the 1940s. Construction companies once dredged them for road materials, and overharvesting did the rest. Only 217 acres remain of the original 2,000 acres that once thrived in the bay.

Those lost reefs matter more than most people realize. Eastern oysters filter millions of gallons of water daily, helping seagrass grow and keeping the bay healthy. Their reefs slow waves and prevent shoreline erosion. They create habitat for fish, crabs, and birds that fuel Tampa Bay's tourism industry.

Now those ecosystems are coming back, one restaurant bucket at a time. Servers at places like The Tides Market in Safety Harbor collect shells in pale green buckets instead of tossing them in the trash. Volunteers like Karen Mastenbrook pick them up weekly from her nearby Island Grille location.

"I live right down the road, so there's no excuse not to do it," said Mastenbrook, 55, who has hauled shells since 2022. "I love being able to help out."

The shells sit at Fort De Soto for 90 days, where sun and rain disinfect them naturally. This prevents diseases or exotic organisms from entering Tampa Bay, since most restaurant oysters come from elsewhere.

Here's where nature gets clever. Baby oysters can actually "taste" recycled shells in the water. The shells send chemical signals that tell two-week-old oyster larvae to settle down and attach for life. These tiny "spat" grow for 18 months until they reach adult size.

The Ripple Effect

Over three years, the program has collected 311,000 pounds of shells from local restaurants. That's the weight of 30 elephants, all diverted from landfills and transformed into 1.7 miles of restored coastline.

The Tides Market alone contributed more than 28,000 pounds last year, roughly 200,000 individual shells. The restaurant now runs an annual countdown to motivate staff and guests to increase donations.

In 2025, volunteers recovered and installed more than 93 tons of recycled shells. Each one becomes a potential home for future oysters, which will filter water, feed wildlife, and protect shores for generations.

Program manager Rick Radigan puts it simply: "When you take an oyster out of the water to consume it, you're actually taking the home for future oyster populations." Now those homes are coming back, thanks to happy hour customers and volunteers willing to stand in ankle-deep water on weekend mornings.

Tampa Bay's oysters are returning, one shell at a time.