Updated Wild Oyster Reef Mapping

Advanced Research: University of South Carolina, SC Department of Natural Resources, SC Sea Grant Consortium, and the College of Charleston

Mapping Oyster Reef Habitat to Support Resilience Planning and Wild Oyster Harvest in South Carolina

Wild oysters in SC grow as reefs in intertidal zones, providing valuable support to commercial fishery and ecosystem services on coast. To sustain oyster resources under the pressure of accelerating climate change and sea level rise (SLR), managers and industry practitioners must have up-to-date knowledge about current oyster reefs and suitable growth areas. Currently, they are using a statewide reef map created from the 2003-2005 aerial survey that has become outdated. The state lacks good understanding of oyster suitability projection responding to SLR.

Interacting with CORE SC’s key resilience sectors (WE CAN), especially Water, Agriculture, and Natural Hazards, this proposal aims to develop a protocol for fine-scale assessment of South Carolina’s wild oyster habitat and harvesting using advanced remote sensing and GIS technologies. Serving the 1st step to resilience actions – understand exposure, this project will address two objectives:

1) Map the current distributions of oyster reefs via deep learning of the 2020 6-inch aerial imagery.

2) Develop an elevational suitability model by integrating the oyster reef map with the new NASA SWOT water level, elevation, and expert knowledge.

The experimental site for this study is a 5,000-hectare shellfish management area near Folly Island, Charleston. Project findings will be published as web maps at the SC Sea Grant Toolkit platform via the established partnership. A protocol with written workflows will be reported, which could be adopted in other management areas. Project outcomes can be directly accessed by coastal managers, shellfish industry, and recreational oyster harvesters for exploring their interested areas.