the R/V Conservationist

Historic Lugger Continues Enhancing Oyster Population

The Mississippi Gulf Coast has had a long and storied history as a producer of fresh, succulent seafood for many generations. In addition to this, the area’s shipbuilding industry has also become a vital part of the local culture. Throughout the years, the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) has been an integral part of this cultural fabric in its efforts to enhance, protect and conserve the state’s marine resources. One of MDMR’s most prized assets, and serving as the agency’s flagship, the research vessel (R/V) Conservationist is at the very center of this nexus with the seafood industry, boatbuilding tradition and the public benefit provided by the MDMR’s Shellfish Bureau to preserve our natural resources and our way of life.

Built in 1972 by the regionally acclaimed Covacevich Shipbuilding company in Biloxi, Miss., the R/V Conservationist is a 65-foot steel hull oyster lugger that has served the state agency well for more than 50 years. Like most contemporary oyster luggers found in the industry today, the R/V Conservationist is a shallow draft, single screw (one engine), diesel-powered workboat designed to ply the shallow waters of the Mississippi Sound and look good doing it. The graceful, iconic lines of the R/V Conservationist convey a sense of timelessness here on the Gulf Coast with its form etched into our subconscious as what one would expect a fishing boat to look like in coastal Mississippi. With a capacity to carry well over 1,000 sacks of oysters, this vessel has been an indispensable tool in the state’s endeavor to maintain and build oyster reefs from the mouth of the Pearl River in the west to the Pascagoula watershed in the east.

One responsibility of the R/V Conservationist is promoting new reef growth, primarily through cultch planting and reef cultivation. This is the process of enhancing existing oyster reefs by deploying materials that will promote the settlement of oyster spat (juvenile oysters) on clean substrate across the reef. Oyster spat generally spend a few weeks navigating the water column before settling to the bottom and attaching themselves to an existing oyster or another piece of hard material on the reef. As oysters are harvested from their natural oyster beds, the shell material is removed from the reef when the oysters go to market. Without replenishing the reefs with fresh material, eventually, the oyster spat in the water column would have no place to settle and attach; an essential process that insures the growth of the next generation of oysters. Using materials, such as oyster shell, crushed concrete or even limestone, the R/V Conservationist, for decades, has been loaded with tons of cultch material and sent to every corner of state marine waters to help maintain and grow the oyster resource. Once at the designated deployment site, the material is either shoveled overboard or blown off the boat using large water cannons, similar to those found on a fire truck. Any experienced hand on an oyster boat who has had the pleasure of shoveling cultch material for a full day truly knows the value of a lugger’s water cannon system.

Another responsibility appointed to the R/V Conservationist in its state service, is reef cultivation, the process of turning over existing oyster reefs, much like you would till the ground before planting a garden. To cultivate a reef, the R/V Conservationist is outfitted with large commercial oyster dredges with removed catch bags. When deployed to the bottom, the dredges will rake across the reef, flipping and turning oysters and shells to clean the silt and debris that has settled on the reef over time. This provides for a cleaner, more acceptable surface for oyster spat to settle and attach. Reef cultivation is most effective when done just before the annual oyster spawning cycle. Typically, in Mississippi waters, late spring to early summer is the best window of opportunity for cultivation in advance of a July spawning cycle. Cultivation also aids in breaking up large clusters of oysters and spreads them more evenly across the reef. Another benefit of reef cultivation is the control of the hooked mussel population. Hooked mussels are a variety of bivalve that grows on top of reefs, choking the oyster population off from needed space and nutrients. Their purplish-black shells are relatively thin and fragile and are easily destroyed when encountered by an oyster dredge weighing as much as 115 pounds.

However, the R/V Conservationist’s duties are not limited to cultch planting and reef cultivation. Oyster relays are another common assignment of this celebrated vessel. An oyster relay is a process of dredging living oysters from the waters of one area and redeploying them in another. This may be done to provide oyster brood stock to a particular reef area or to relocate market-sized oysters from areas with poorer water quality to areas of greater water quality. Because oysters are filter feeders, they will, in a relatively short time, purge themselves of impurities once placed in cleaner waters and could eventually be harvested for consumption if all regulatory conditions are met. This self-cleansing process is known as oyster depuration and is commonly used in states with an oyster industry.

The R/V Conservationist is also used at the MDMR to deploy spat-on-shell and Oyster Gardening materials in areas along the Gulf Coast. The MDMR spat-on-shell program consists of growing oysters in a controlled environment, such as large holding tanks. Within these tanks, repurposed oyster shells are used as a setting material to grow oyster spat that were spawned in an oyster hatchery. Once the oyster spat reach a certain size, the holding tank contents are transferred to the deck of the R/V Conservationist and deployed on Mississippi’s oyster reefs. The Oyster Gardening program is similar in that spat is grown on repurposed shell, but they may be grown out before deployment in bags or containers off a pier or dock. This program is unique as it involves participants, such as Mississippi residents or high school science programs, to grow and monitor these oysters before handing them over to the MDMR for deployment. Both involving the public and utilizing the program as part of an educational curriculum have helped to inform the community and the next generation of the importance of a healthy, balanced ecosystem.

For many years now, the R/V Conservationist has played a key role in the development and maintenance of Mississippi’s oyster resources, and employees past and present have delighted in the opportunity to serve on this esteemed vessel. From its construction at the Covacevich shipyard in Back Bay Biloxi to its years of faithful service along the Mississippi coast, the R/V Conservationist has become an iconic symbol of the MDMR's dedication to oyster conservation and a beloved part of Mississippi's maritime heritage.