Subject: Lafayette Revisited-Reef Ball Update
Hello everyone!
Tommy, Jackie, and I were finally able to head back to the site of our first reef ball planting in the Lafayette River. We've been anxiously wondering how the oyster spat fared over the summer and didn't quite know what to expect once we got back. We were amazed at the size of the oysters!!! In four months they have grown from baby spat to near market size!! They are significantly larger than we anticipated and cover the reef balls to near 100%!!! We put in a couple of reef balls without spat and were pleased to find a natural set growing quite nicely on those as well. Here are some photos. The reef ball we planted without spat is easy to recognize: smaller oysters and fewer in number...but they got there all by themselves!!
Happy day for the oyster team!
Laura Engelund
