Oyster Could Save the Coastal Cities From Flood

Oyster are not only known as one of the delicious seafood. The animal was apparently also has an important role for humans history as a possible savior of coastal cities threatened by flooding.

Oyster beds once protected much
of America's shoreline. (Picture from:
http://www.livescience.com/)

Point Pleasant is a community in New Jersey, the United States, that was hit by the Hurricane Sandy in October 2012, saw the potential of oyster shells as the way to reduce flood damage in the future. Piles of hard-shelled oysters on the coast could be the large fortress and useful as a natural sea wall that able to slow the storms onslaught from the sea.

"It's a solution," said Dennis Blazak, local residents and members of the Climate Action Committee of Point Pleasant Borough, on January 22, 2013. "We're trying to adapt to climate change." The idea of ​​using oysters to reduce flood damage seems to have the support of local officials. "Seems to be approved," said another committee member, Chris Leitner.

Residents of New Jersey are not the first time that consider the use of the hard shell oysters to minimize flood damage. The landscape architect from Columbia University, Professor Kate Orff, has proposed "oyster structure" as a way to protect the port of New York. "This technology does not require billions of dollars, it only need the stone, oysters, and clams," she said.

Piles of oysters that live attached to the coastal areas not only protect the coastline from the surf as the storm hit. Oysters can also remove pollutants from the water. One oyster could filter up to 50 gallons of water a day and remove pollutants, such as nitrogen and algae.

The solution bid of the oyster does not mean the oyster free from the threat. Worldwide, oyster populations are threatened by the increasing acidification of oceans. As more carbon dioxide is pumped into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, the seas are becoming more acidic — and the acid environment makes it difficult for oysters to build calcium-based shells. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | LIVESCIENCE | MAHARDIKA SATRIA HADI | KORAN TEMPO 4123]
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