Orr's Island
Basin Oyster Project
In partnership with Quahog Bay Conservancy (QBC) and the Schiller Coastal Studies Center at Bowdoin College, we are excited to welcome Assistant Professor Cait Cleaver from Colby College to present on the Basin Oyster Project. Originally started by The Nature Conservancy in 2017, the Basin Oyster Project, based in Phippsburg, is a collaboration of community members, aquaculturists, shellfish harvesters, nonprofit organizations and research institutions working to understand the ecological implications of building a pilot-scale oyster reef. American oysters are a foundation species that provide a number of ecosystem services including improving water quality and increasing biodiversity. They can also be used as living shorelines to mitigate storm surge. This project is also exploring the social factors important to siting oyster reef projects in coastal Maine. Cait will share project results to date.
The lecture will be held in the Living and Learning Center at the Schiller Coastal Studies Center, and QBC will be serving Snow Island Oysters before and after Cait’s talk. This program is free and open to all, but registration is requested for planning purposes. When you arrive, drive past the farmhouse and down the hill to the right, then look for visitor parking signs. Click here for a map of the center.
Cait Cleaver is an assistant professor in the Environmental Studies Department at Colby College. Her interdisciplinary research supports coastal communities in responding and adapting to climate change with a focus on commercial fisheries, aquaculture and coastal habitat restoration. Her current research includes projects related to understanding the social and ecological factors important to siting oyster reef restoration projects, salt marsh restoration, understanding the distribution of larval sea scallops to inform scallop management and documenting the culture of the Maine lobster fishery. When not doing research, she enjoys spending time outdoors with her family.
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