Oyster shells from Clear Lake-area restaurants helped build two acres of new reef in Dickinson Bay between mid-July and late August.

The Galveston Bay Foundation completed 10 large rectangular reef mounds during the six-week project, using a rip-rap base topped with recycled oyster shell, according to a Sept. 10 post on the foundation's website. Restore America's Estuaries and NOAA funded the construction.

Those shells came from the same plates Clear Lake diners cleaned off at places like Tommy's Restaurant and Oyster Bar. The foundation's shell recycling program, running since 2011, has collected more than 2,200 tons of shells from restaurants across the Houston, Clear Lake and Galveston region, as Houston Public Media reported Oct. 2. Sally Clark, the foundation's director of habitat restoration, said the program works with about 40 restaurants.

Tom Tollett, owner and CEO of Tommy's Restaurant and Oyster Bar, helped launch the recycling effort. Through Tommy's alone, more than one million pounds of shells have gone back into the bay, according to the restaurant's website. Tollett has also served on the Galveston Bay Foundation's board and co-chaired the building committee for its Gessner Center for Environmental Education.

Clark said staff picks up shells from partner restaurants two to three times a week. The shells sit in quarantine for six months to kill off pathogens and food remnants before they go back in the water.

"We're very proud of what we're able to accomplish, especially because it uses the shell that we have collected with our restaurant partners, but it is still small in terms of the scale and the pace of what needs to be restored in the bay," Clark told Houston Public Media.

Hurricane Ike smothered up to 60% of Galveston Bay's oyster reefs in 2008. Before the storm, the bay produced about 90% of Texas's oyster harvest, roughly six million pounds a year. It has not topped 3.5 million pounds since, according to the foundation.

In February, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department closed another harvest area, leaving just two of eight designated zones open. In 2024, Galveston County Judge Mark Henry issued a disaster declaration for the area's oyster industry after flooding devastated oyster numbers.

The Dickinson Bay reef sits where Dickinson Bayou empties into Galveston Bay. It is non-harvestable, meaning oysters there can grow to full size and reproduce. Monitoring on earlier reef mounds at the site has recorded oysters reaching 6.5 inches.

The foundation built its first four mounds there in 2018 and 2022, covering about 0.4 acres with 750 cubic yards of recycled shell. The new mounds use a different design, with a 12-inch rip-rap base topped by four to six inches of shell. Years of monitoring data showed the approach helps the shell last longer.

Volunteers play a role, too. Each spring, the foundation trains bayfront residents to grow baby oysters on recycled shells suspended beneath docks. By fall, those juveniles are transplanted onto restoration reefs.

The commercial and recreational oyster harvesting season in Galveston Bay begins in November. Residents interested in volunteering can visit galvbay.org or call the Galveston Bay Foundation at (281) 332-3381.