Associate Professor of Earth and Oceanographic Science Michèle LaVigne and her collaborators at Colby College were awarded a grant from the Maine Community Foundation‘s Fund for Maine Coastal and Climate Action for their project titled Social and Ecological Feasibility of Oyster Reef Restoration in Maine.
LaVigne said her role grew out of a research project she started with her class in spring 2021, when they were invited to join the Basin Oyster Project, a community-led initiative in nearby Phippsburg, where shellfish harvesters, concerned about recent declines in productivity, were looking at ways to rehabilitate the local bivalve population. The project has since expanded, said LaVigne, and is now a case study site for using oyster reefs as a coastal resilience strategy against erosion—a strategy that could potentially be utilized in other locations.
The overarching question, she explained, is: What makes a site suitable for oyster reef development? “This has a lot to do with substrate, water flow, temperature, and other water quality parameters,” explained LaVigne. With the help of three Bowdoin seniors—Henry Zucco, Caroline Vauclain, and Eli Franklin—she is doing chemical analyses of the waters in the Basin to determine how the carbon conditions and acidity compare to other coastal locations. “These two parameters could play an important role in shell development and stability of reefs. They could also indicate whether this location is vulnerable to future ocean acidification, which can impact long term stability.” LaVigne and her team, which also includes students from Colby College, are taking water samples biweekly through the summer, with the help of Bowdoin marine resources staff.
