A look at some oyster restoration programs around the US

State has restored coastal habitat including oyster reefs since 1994 through a grant program, has built 11 reefs throughout Florida panhandle and recycles shells from 28 restaurants; 900 oyster reefs established along 2 miles of shoreline in Santa Rosa County over past 20 years; MacDill Air Force Base installed half-mile oyster reef; volunteer groups restored 42 oyster sites since 2005.

State completed 10 restoration projects from 2008-14, funded in part by state fishing license fees; state manages eight shell recycling facilities

Six 200-acre oyster plots built from 2011-2014; oyster reefs installed as shoreline protection in Cameron and Vermillion parishes; Lake Athanasio, among other spots.

Towns of Barnstable and Wellfleet launched their own oyster restoration projects; nonprofit groups seeking to restore oysters in Boston Harbor.

Numerous programs, including one by University of New Hampshire involving restaurants and volunteers that has added more than 18 acres of oyster reefs and more than 3 million oysters to the ecosystem in the past six years.

Numerous restoration projects in Narragansett Bay, including one in which volunteers grow bags of oysters attached to their docks until they grow enough to be transplanted to reefs in the bay, in coastal salt ponds and on Block Island.

Planted 150,000 bushels of oyster shells from 2002-2006 at 34 sites covering 9 acres; since 2001, more than 400 reefs built at 44 sites from Hilton Head to Murrells Inlet.