2 years ago local students were asked to come up with a name for a new flat deck barge the Florida Division of Aquaculture was building to help restore oyster bars along Florida’s gulf coast. The name that was chosen was “the Oysterhog” which was submitted by a 6th grader at the time, Ashley Butler who attended the Apalachicola Bay Charter School. Miss Butler got a model of the barge as a reward for the winning entry and this week she and 18 other students from her class got a chance to try out the real thing. On Wednesday Miss Butler and her fellow ABC school 8th graders were taken out on the 120 foot oysterhog to plant some shell in the Apalachicola Bay. The students were able to use the high velocity nozzles on the barge to shoot oyster shell into the bay just off Hotel Bar in the summer oyster harvesting area. Oyster spat will soon attach itself to the shell and if all goes well in about 18 months the site will be a new site for oystermen to harvest from. Now that local students have helped break in the new barge, it will be used to help restore oyster bars not just in the Apalachicola Bay but in waters around the state.
http://www.oysterradio.com
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