See the Clear Results on Lake Worth

A grassroots restoration initiative is catching traction in Palm Beach County.

October 06, 2025 By Brenton Roberts

Oysters. A favorite habitat for various inshore species and favored by the anglers who fish around them for this very reason. Of course, we also enjoy a dozen with a cold libation at the local watering hole from time to time, as well.

Oysters serve many purposes, but often overlooked is their ability to clean water as they filter feed. One oyster can filter up to 50 gallons a day! That’s impressive. As they filter this water, they use their gills (yep! oysters have gills) and mucous membrane to filter, trap and ingest suspended particles found in the water. These are small bits of algae, detritus (decaying plant matter) and other microscopic material. This helps process excess nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus found in the water.

These nutrients are often introduced to the ecosystem by runoff and the dumping of freshwater from spillways, contributing to water quality troubles. Excess nutrients throughout an estuary can cause various issues such as detrimental algal blooms, turbid water and sediment buildup along the bottom, smothering things like seagrass, reducing sunlight needed for photosynthesis.

Woman angler holds a croaker fish. — Thanks to habitat restoration such as oyster “gardening,” Lake Worth yields nice catches such as this croaker caught by Joella Callaway.

Oysters Key to Lake Restoration

The short of it is this: more oysters, more water being filtered, a cleaner and healthier ecosystem. Oyster restoration in various forms is well-established around the U.S. coastline. The Palm Beach County Fishing Foundation (PBCFF), charitable affiliate of the West Palm Beach Fishing Club, recently embarked on a strategy of adding vertical oyster gardens to the Lake Worth Lagoon, one of the most important bodies of water in the county.

I got to chat with Tom Twyford, Executive Director of the Fishing Foundation, who filled me in on this movement they started. Since the club’s founding in 1934, the West Palm Beach Fishing Club has been integral partners on various conservation efforts throughout the region, working with the Enviromental Resource Management of Palm Beach County, Coastal Conservation Association, FWC and others. “These projects only work when multiple parties are involved,” Twyford said. He broke down the steps and logistics central to the oyster garden initiative.

Simply, a vertical oyster garden is a group of dead oyster shells, usually 50 to 60, with a hole drilled in the center, and strung on to a line, a stainless cable in this case. You don’t want to use a poly line, as this can break down and introduce microplastics to the water. But first, to make these in any volume, shells needed to be sourced. But we are trying to produce more live oysters, why are we putting out dead ones? Dead oyster shells are very hard, making for the perfect substrate for larvae to attach to. Why vertical, though? Remember the sediment talk from above, suspending these reduces the chance of sedimentation to settle in the shell.

This is where the first party comes into play. The Palm Beach County Fishing Foundation worked out a mutualistic relationship with Breakers Palm Beach, who have 10 restaurants on site, as well as Cod and Capers Seafood, a wholesale distributer, market front and café in Palm Beach. “Just the Breakers estimates that they sell 600,000 oysters a year! That’s a lot of shell, and all of them go to the landfill,” said Twyford. “We now take them, saving landfill space, recycling these valuable shells, and involving the community in the process.”

The leftover oyster shell can’t be immediately introduced into the ecosystem, though; these shells have come from around the country and need to be cured for three to six months, avoiding introduction of any foreign organisms to the ecosystem. This is where the second party comes into play. Working with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, PBCFF was able to build a curing station at John D. MacArthur Beach State Park, on the north end of the Lake Worth Lagoon. Without this, no shell could be deployed.

The third party involved is you, the people. With all the materials in hand, the gardens need to be assembled. “We are so fortunate that the Fishing Club’s 1,600 members pretty much gives us a built-in volunteer base,” said Twyford. “It also gives great opportunity to work with clubs, schools and other organizations.”

They’re ready to hit the water, where do they go? Fishing Club members and residents throughout the Lagoon have embraced the vertical oyster gardens, suspending these from docks, seawalls and pretty much anywhere they can put them. Twyford also stated, “Being suspended, a permit does not need to be pulled to place these. If they were on the bottom, we would need one for every place deployed.”

There’s a method behind the deployment. “It’s critical we place these where oysters are already growing,” said Twyford. The oyster gardens are placed where they are completely submerged on the high tide, but where they can handle the exposure on the low. Tom explained how people have become enamored of these reefs hanging off their docks, som sharing video of thriving deployments and multiple organisms interacting around the new oyster growth. “It’s really inspired others to join in after they saw these in action,” said Twyford.

So, what is not to love? Multiple facets of the community coming together for clean, clear water and ultimately a healthier ecosystem. Grassroots-managed projects like this seem like a no-brainer for every county in the Sunshine State and some have already taken advantage of this opportunity. If not, there’s no better time than now to do so.