Volunteers install 70 oyster baskets in Garden City as students observe reef restoration

Presenter 2 said volunteers deployed 70 manufactured wire reefs (MWRs), also called oyster baskets, at Pine Avenue in Garden City as part of the project's third installment. Presenter 2 described prior deployments at Atlantic Avenue and Cypress Avenue and said the new site lies between those earlier locations.

The deployment was presented as an educational opportunity: Presenter 1 said the project is “very important for our students to be involved in,” noting that students who learn about oysters in class can now witness restoration work hands-on and “see it evolve and develop.”

Organizers said they built an additional 200 baskets this year with local partners. "This year, we built another 200 baskets at the help of Loris FFA and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR)," Presenter 2 said, naming the fabrication partners. Presenter 2 added that, over time, the baskets will become indistinguishable from natural reef: "Eventually, you won't even be able to see this basket. It will just be a clump of oyster shells that will continue to grow for many, many decades."

Presenter 3 highlighted ecological benefits in measurable terms, saying that once oysters settle, "one adult oyster can filter 2 and a half gallons of water in an hour," a point organizers used to explain water-quality benefits.

To sustain the program, Presenter 2 outlined plans to collect oyster shell from restaurants and reintroduce it to local waters. "We're gonna be able to capture the oyster shell from restaurants," Presenter 2 said, calling the approach a 'reef to table to reef restoration project' and noting the group's goal of returning shell material to Merrell's Inlet.

Presenter 3 framed the effort as a broader cultural shift: "We're trying to really change that paradigm of oysters and make them be seen as a recyclable, very valuable asset." The speakers said the project combines volunteer labor, student involvement, and partnerships to scale reef restoration locally.

No formal votes or regulatory actions were recorded in the transcript of the event. Organizers said further deployments and shell-recycling logistics remain part of the project's next steps.