John described how McKay Bay had a calm atmosphere that allowed fishing for oysters and other organisms. It was easier back then than it is now, although phosphate mining and shipping always affected the ecosystem as early as 1900. "The shorelines, which I used to see had plenty of oyster beds, no longer contain this diversity." Hurricanes and mining have caused this dramatic decrease in the diversity and abundance of organisms on and off shore, including in the oyster community which is a core to the ecosystem.
"I have visited the Tampa St. Pete area since I was a kid. I have fished all my life, and the amount of fish available and the diversity of the on-shore and under water sea life has dramatically decreased." The distribution and abundance of oysters have decreased because oysters are confined to a limited range of salinity. Urban run-off and the destruction of natural estuaries in Tampa Bay have increased salinity levels and limited oyster habitats." The observer also described how urbanization and some hurricanes like Elena and Kate in the 1980's destroyed natural reefs where oysters lived. Tampa Bay is unique because phosphate mining on beaches and with dredges continued until the 1980's, destroying oyster beds. The miners use a dragline with a bucket the size of a truck to scoop up the top 30 feet of earth and dump it to the side of the mine. Then the dragline scoops out the underlying section of earth, which contains phosphate rocks mixed with clay and sand.
John has been fishing all his life in and has visited McKay Bay since he was a child. He used to go fishing but has now recently turned to helping foster new habitats for these organisms.
Through the creation and enhancement of new, man-made oyster habitat in Tampa Bay, John is helping to restore the oyster population and habitat. Adding oyster habitat increases the surface area for attaching organisms like barnacles, anemones, and sea sponges. This diversity increases productivity and hopefully will restore the biological diversity of Tampa Bay. Oysters also increase water filtration, cleaning the bay one oyster at a time. Volunteers like John work on creating barriers with sea shells that allow the oysters to grab on to these man made habitats and grow.
Adair: My name is Adair Maxwell, I’m a sophomore studying Science, Technology and Society, and I interviewed my father, John Maxwell, about his experiences with McKay Bay, which is part of Tampa Bay, Florida. How did this place look before, and how do you think it’s changed?
John: A good number of years ago, 15, 20 years, I always kind of enjoyed the calmer atmosphere, and you could fish and you could get oysters and quite a number of things. It was very easy to do. McKay Bay was one such place, but there were a number of them. And what happened over the years, aside from a couple of hurricanes back in the ’80s, was the industrialization. It’s a big shipping port and there’s a few phosphorus companies and nitrogen would get in the water and make it inhospitable to oysters.
Adair: What are some of the things you used to do here, and how is it compared to the things you do here now?
John: And so what we’ve done is create barriers out of old seashells that enable the oysters to grab on and grow. All right, these are the bags volunteers, and they take two boats out, loaded as you can see, and they will drop it into the bay where it forms a stag. Now, what it looks like underwater, I don’t know if you can see that well, these little jewels at the bottom. Across the water there, where there’s a bank they’re building up. So, it used to be, once upon a time in the ’60s, they did a lot of dredging and that just wiped out a lot of the colonies. They finally figured out that doing that was causing a problem and so they’ve kind of moved away from that. So now we’ve got replenishing the supplies of habitat. They’re dumping the bags over to have…it’s a shoreline or sorts. It’s more of a mangrove type thing. They’re building it up because the oysters will pop up.