A Community Effort with Lasting Impact: Sink Your Shucks™ Celebrates Restoration Success
Volunteers of all ages help rebuild oyster reefs and foster a culture of coastal stewardship
ROCKPORT, Texas — Amid the clatter of shovels and the clank of oyster shells filling stainless steel buckets, another sound stood out on a mild Wednesday morning at Goose Island State Park — children’s laughter and exuberance.
Students in third through 12th grades were doing their part to help restore oyster reefs in St. Charles Bay in the Mission Aransas Estuary, and they diligently bagged and placed recycled oyster shells, enjoying the chance to make a difference.
“It shows that we care for the ecosystem and that we want to make it better than what it already is,” said Corpus Christi Moody High School junior Precious Noland, who was participating in Sink Your Shucks™ for a second time. “It feels refreshing seeing the impact we are trying to make for this ecosystem we live in.”
Sink Your Shucks™, part of the Coastal Conservation and Restoration lab at the Harte Research Institute (HRI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, was Texas’ first oyster shell recycling program started in 2009, and 16 years later it continues to make a difference along the Gulf Coast.
This year, students from three different school districts in the Coastal Bend participated in the program’s first student event sandwiched between the two annual volunteer community restoration events at Goose Island State Park in early May.
In 2025, more than 400 volunteers participated in three bagging events (May 3, May 7, May 10), filling over 2,900 bags — an estimated 37 tons of recycled shell — demonstrating the continued growth of the program and the community’s commitment to restoring oyster reefs along the coast.
“Engaging students in hands-on oyster reef restoration not only helps rebuild critical habitat but also fosters a lifelong connection to conservation,” said Sink Your Shucks coordinator Stephanie Tierce. “The success of this year’s event highlights the strength of community collaboration and the enduring impact of restoration efforts along our coast.”
The reclaimed shell is currently provided by 14 restaurants, three oyster festivals, and six oyster farms in the Coastal Bend, San Antonio, and Austin areas. For a full list, visit sinkyourshucks.org. These partners are committed to keeping oyster shell out of the landfill. Each week, the Sink Your Shucks employees transport the shells to a property provided by the Port of Corpus Christi, where the shell is quarantined and cured for at least six months.
During the events, volunteers work at various stations to shovel and bag the shell in biodegradable bags, then place bags in a reef formation off the shoreline.
“I think it’s really satisfying to pick up (the oysters) and put (them) in a bucket and then pour it down and put it over there,” said Colton Contreras, a Fulton Elementary fifth grader as he pointed to the pile of bagged shells. “I don’t know … it just feels so good.”
These new reefs provide valuable substrate (or foundation) for juvenile oysters, habitat for various bottom-dwelling organisms and fish, improve water quality, and protect shorelines from erosion. The program has collected more than three million pounds of shell and constructed nearly 45 acres of reef in the Mission-Aransas estuary.
Emilee Castillo, a Flour Bluff Intermediate School sixth grader said: “It helps us connect with other people and learn some responsibility of how to take care of our wetlands and bays, so when we grow up, we don’t trash them or disrespect them and know they are very important to our community.”
The student event offered a chance for conservation-minded elementary, middle school, and high school students to experience the program with their friends as part of the various classes and school-sponsored programs they participate in where the focus is on conservation and outdoors.
The students represented Rockport-Fulton Independent School District’s Fulton Elementary junior naturalist program, Rockport-Fulton High School’s maritime program, along with the sixth-grade wetlands ambassadors from Flour Bluff Intermediate School and Moody High School’s Work Industry Training and Go Green Clubs.
Around 75 students attended the event and put together 372 bags of oyster shell they later helped place into St. Charles Bay in a long line that stretched from the shore into the bay.
“You’ve got to start them young … with social media, video games, You Tube … you’ve got to get them out early,” said Martha Mcleod, a STEM Enrichment Teacher at Fulton Elementary who also leads the junior naturalist program. “We’ve got to get these kids’ hands dirty, and you’ve got to get them in a real- world situation.
“I can talk until I’m blue in the face in my classroom about oyster restoration and the importance of restoring habitat,” Mcleod continued. “But until they touch and smell those shells, they see them, they feel the wind in their face, they feel the bay out there, they are not going to get the full effect of it.”
The opportunity to make a difference is what inspires the volunteers and students to take part in Sink Your Shucks’ restoration events each year and is what will continue to grow the program’s impact for years to come.