SHELL-A-BRATION CAPTURED ON VIDEO BY LOCAL PRODUCER

Delaware Bay's Shell-A-Bration! from Kathleen Poliski

A record number of Red Knots were counted on New Jersey's Delaware Bay this year, in part because of innovative restoration projects like our South Reeds Beach oyster reef.

Over 130 volunteers and veterans worked alongside American Littoral Society and Conserve Wildlife Foundation of New Jersey to establish a near-shore whelk shell bar at South Reeds Beach in Cape May Court House on the Delaware Bayshore in early April. 

Shorebirds, like the federally listed Red Knot, depend on an uninterrupted supply of horseshoe crab eggs when they stopover in Delaware Bay during their migration. In recent years, countless horseshoe crab eggs have been lost because of the devastating storms that swept away the beaches they depend on.

The oyster reef was built to prevent sand loss from wind-driven waves. The approximately 200-foot project will test whether the reef bars help reduce beach erosion and create calmer water for spawning horseshoe crabs.

Learn more about the project and our "Shell-a-Bration" event in the video above produced by Kathleen Poliski of K. Productions, LLC!

The South Reeds Beach Oyster Reef is one of the many projects that American Littoral Society and Conserve Wildlife Foundation are working on to restore the ecology and economy of the Delaware Bayshore, thanks to generous funding by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. To learn more, visit RestoreNJBayshore.org.