CARLSBAD, Calif. — Outdoor advocates believe oysters may be the solution to coastal erosion in California.

What You Need To Know

  • The Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation is using oyster shells to create a more sustainable version of a wattle

  • A wattle is used to control sediment and prevent erosion

  • They collect the oysters from different restaurants around San Diego County

  • AHLF says it also keeps the oyster shells out of the landfill and removes more plastic from the environment

Mike O'Tousa is a volunteer at the Agua Hedionda Lagoon Foundation. They are using oyster shells to create a more sustainable version of a wattle, something used to control sediment and prevent erosion. 

"It's the same principle as what you might see along the freeway under construction, but there, the burlap and the straw wattles rot. And we're trying to get something that's more permanent, natural, and won't get into the lagoon and spoil it," O'Tousa said. 

According to AHLF, the Agua Hedionda Lagoon in Carlsbad is a 400-acre lagoon that is one of the threatened coastal wetlands on the Southern California coastline, as well as an ecological reserve protected by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife.

O'Tousa collects oysters from different restaurants around San Diego County. 

He carefully rinses each batch and adds them to handmade cages. 

With the help of other volunteers, the oyster wattles are placed along the Hubbs Trail to help prevent erosion.

Chef Aidan Owens says they save all the oyster shells used at Herb and Sea in Encinitas and donate them to the project.

"This is a restaurant and we do care about the food; we also care about the people that we're serving," Owens said. "This was a way for us to kind of put our money where our mouth is."

As a sustainable seafood-focused restaurant, Owens says this partnership allows Herb and Sea's impact to spread outside the restaurant's walls.

"It gets us out of that mentality of just like serving food every day and like puts it into a bigger aspect of like our community and giving back to the people that we serve," he said. 

O'Tousa says it also keeps oyster shells out of landfills and removes more plastic from the environment. 

So far, they've made dozens of oyster wattles to be used around natural spaces, and they hope to replace more of the old wattles with their more sustainable version.

"Environment. Animals. Carlsbad. It's a no-brainer," he said. 

The AHLF recycles oyster shells in a partnership with Michelin-starred restaurant Jeune et Julie and its sister restaurant Campfire in the Carlsbad Village weekly, as well as Herb & Sea in Encinitas of the Puffer Malarkey Collective.