Developing success criteria and goals for evaluating oyster reef restoration: Ecological function or resource exploitation?

Abstract Habitat restoration encompasses a broad range of activities, emphasizing very different issues, goals, and approaches depending on the operational definition of ‘restoration’. This is particularly true for many shellfish (molluscan) dominated systems (e.g. oyster reefs, mussel beds, vermetid gastropod reefs). In contrast to other well-studied biogenic habitats, such as seagrasses, mangroves, or salt marshes, bivalves are directly consumed as a resource. Hence resource extraction has direct consequences for habitat health. Restoration objectives have typically included reduction of public health risks through improved water quality to increase harvest. Restoration or enhancement of populations of commercially exploited shellfish depressed by overharvesting and/or reduced environmental quality remains the principal motivation behind most shellfish ‘restoration’ efforts. Direct and indirect ecosystem services (e.g. filtering capacity, benthic–pelagic coupling, nutrient dynamics, sediment stabilization, provision of habitat, etc.) derived from oyster habitat have been largely ignored or underestimated. Only recently, the restoration of lost ecological function associated with shellfish communities has been included in our discussions and related research examining habitat development and function through a scientific approach. The former area has been reviewed extensively and will not be our focus here. In this review, we examine some of the restoration efforts made in the name of fisheries enhancement, address their effectiveness, and discuss some of the issues associated with realizing the broader goal of ecological restoration. We note the importance of linking success criteria to specific goals and make the case for a greater need in clarifying the ecological functions of shellfish and shellfish habitats. We recognize the limitations of existing datasets and summarize ongoing attempts to address oyster habitat restoration throughout the broad geographic distribution of the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin). In many ways this topic parallels the ongoing debate over ‘attraction versus production’ associated with artificial reef management. We consider how local conditions (e.g. tidal range, bottom topography, turbidity, salinity) and resulting habitat traits affect restoration strategies. We also discuss the underappreciated value of shellfish populations from those areas designated as closed to harvesting due to their intrinsic worth as habitat/larval reserves. The necessity of ecosystem (adaptive) management strategies emerges from this discussion. Finally, this overview supports our contention that shellfish habitat should be included in discussions of ‘essential fish habitats’ (or EFH).