Abstract:
Disease, overharvesting, pollution, poor water quality, and habitat destruction have caused the Eastern oyster to decline over 90 percent in the state during the last century. Concern for the oyster's future has brought together state agencies like the North Carolina Department of Marine Fisheries and other state conservation groups to chart a course of action. There is now a statewide plan to save North Carolina's oysters by building hatcheries and recycling oyster shells.