How to VOG: Students Create Unique Vertical Oyster Gardens on the RWU Waterfront

August 5, 2024By Matthew Milotakis '25

Members of the RWU community take part in an experiential learning opportunity with the Oysters Boys Conservation, a nonprofit that seeks to clean up ocean waters using natural filtration methods.

BRISTOL, R.I. -Within steps of the university's shellfish farm in Mount Hope Bay, Roger Williams University undergraduates prepared to learn how to build vertical oyster gardens (VOGs), a sustainable design by the Florida-based nonprofit Oyster Boys Conservationthat enables oyster spat to grow and throughout their life cycle to help filter and improve the quality of surrounding waters.

Students and faculty from the Feinstein School of Social and Natural Sciences teamed up with staff from RWU's Center for Economic and Environmental Development(CEED) for this experiential learning opportunity on July 16. Led by Oyster Boys members, the students sifted through buckets of recycled oyster shells and strung together a dozen, one on top of the other, on an 18-inch stainless steel wire to create each VOG. After assembling 100, the group trekked down to the bay shore to install these natural water filtration systems under the RWU Learning Platform, which already houses several large-scale upwellers containing countless oyster seed that started in the university's shellfish hatchery before they ultimately grow out alongside the dock in the shellfish farm.

Faculty and students are joined by staff from RWU's Center for Economic and Environmental Development and the Florida-based Oyster Boys Conservation to create vertical oyster gardens.

CEED connected with Oyster Boys thanks to conservationist and philanthropist Elizabeth Moore, who received an honorary degree at RWU's Commencement in May. Moore, a resident of Sarasota, Fla., who is originally from Massachusetts and has known RWU President Ioannis Miaoulis for 25 years, said she wanted to bring the two groups together.

"Roger Williams University really prides itself on its marine science initiatives in all different ways, including environmental science. The Oyster Boys Conservation team is one of many efforts to bring a natural solution to water quality and coastal restoration," said Moore, who saw a connection between the efforts of both organizations. "Coastal restoration is so important no matter where you are."

Oyster Boys Conservation Co-Founder and Field Operations Director Vince Marino, center, combs through hundreds of oyster shells alongside fellow staff on RWU's learning platform overlooking the Mount Hope Bay.

How do VOGs Work?

Vince Marino, Co-Founder and Field Operations Director for Oyster Boys, explained the process of creating VOGs, including how his team repurposes discarded oyster shells from local restaurants, while Abby Hendershot, Research and Outreach Coordinator for Oyster Boys, spoke about the environmental benefits and how VOGs work to improve the health of waterways.

"The oyster shells (in the VOGs) provide a great habitat for juvenile oysters to settle on," Hendershot said. "They will grow into mature adult oysters who will be able to filter water, and create reef structures that are home to so many different animals - both small and large - that swim around them."

According to the team, a single mature oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water per day to remove excess nutrients and sediment from the water. Not only do the oysters help with filtration, Hendershot said, but making these small habitats allows for the growth of a more diverse and healthier waterway - a goal that both Oyster Boys and CEED share.

"For more than 20 years, CEED has played a major role in oyster restoration efforts in the state of Rhode Island. This collaboration with Oyster Boys Conservation furthers this mission, and I am thrilled at the community engagement that it encourages," said Timothy Scott, Officer of Special Projects, Grants and Innovation at CEED and Professor of Biology at RWU. "I haven't seen any local use of vertical oyster gardens, but I think it's well worth a try in our local waters. A healthy oyster population is key to a healthy ecosystem."

Oyster Boys Conservation staff assemble the vertical oyster garden under RWU's learning platform.

Real-World Learning Prepares Students for Blue Economy Careers

Students who participated in the VOG workshop said they learned valuable skills including how to solve environmental problems by bringing together the community - knowledge that will set them up to soar in their careers.

"At RWU, we are proud to include a wide range of experiential learning opportunities for our students, and at CEED, our mission prioritizes training for students who are looking to join Rhode Island's growing Blue Economy workforce," said Koty Sharp, Director of CEED and Associate Professor of Marine Biology at RWU. "Our collaboration with Oyster Boys Conservation allows us to keep expanding our RWU student offerings to include more hands-on experiences in the fields of oyster farming, oyster restoration, ecosystem conservation, scientific communication, and entrepreneurship."

Megan Harrington, a rising senior Biology and Environmental Science double major from Northborough, Mass., and president of the Sustainability Club, has been on campus this summer, working as a coral microbiology research lab assistant and as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship program. While working with oysters and the shellfish hatchery isn't her specialty, she said participating in the workshop was a valuable experience.

"It's great to be exposed to all these different types of scientists so you get a more holistic interdisciplinary knowledge about all the stuff that's going on here, and you can take that into your field and apply it," she said.

For Konnor Collins, a rising senior Marine Biology major from Broken Arrow, Okla., the VOG workshop was a fitting learning experience that ties into his position as a supervisor in RWU's Aquatic Diagnostics Lab and Shellfish Hatchery. "This is really relevant to what I do in the lab where we work with oyster diseases," he said. "These vertical oyster gardens are great because they're reusing shells from restaurants and farms and they're giving them a use. It's a really cool thing to be a part of. I'm actually interested in oyster farming research; it's what I've been working on at school, so this will help me network with people in that area."