Jazmyn Bernard, an undergraduate student in the School of Renewable Natural Resources, dredges oysters in Sister Lake, Louisiana

Jazmyn Bernard, an undergraduate student in the School of Renewable Natural Resources, dredges oysters in Sister Lake, Louisiana. Across coastal areas of the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill resulted in significant ecological injury and over $8 billion directed to restoration activities. The eastern oyster is valued as a commercial fishery and as an ecosystem engineer, was identified specifically as being negatively impacted by the event. Oyster restoration projects were implemented with regional goals of restoring oyster abundance, spawning stock, and population resilience. This work measured outcomes of oyster restoration projects to assess impacts and inform future oyster restoration projects funded in this region. These data provide insight into project specific results and outcomes, suggesting an overall enhancement in oyster abundance from restoration, but fall short of informing outcomes at the regional level that incorporate cumulative effects on adjacent and connected reef populations, or resiliency of the overall oyster resource.