“The importance of this cannot be overestimated”

A retired microbiologist has invented a unique way to clean waterways and reduce his carbon footprint using an unexpected source: oysters.

According to AL.comretired microbiologist Andy Depaola and University of South Alabama’s Ben Raines have created a Shellevator that could help increase oyster production locally and globally and reduce the labor required to farm oysters.

“Oysters are probably the oldest carbon sink in the world,” Raines said.

The device can hold 96 oyster bags, each holding up to 500 oysters, and retrieves oysters from the water in just minutes, saving labor and energy costs. It can be moved and scaled up and down depending on how much you want to produce. The creators say the device could allow one person to grow millions of oysters a year.

“The importance of this cannot be overstated,” Depaola said. “I can grow about 20 times more per hectare than with conventional (hand) methods.”

The group’s goal is to repopulate and regenerate oyster reefs that have been destroyed by humans in recent decades.

Reigns is evaluated that 1.8 billion oysters have been harvested from Mobile Bay over the past century, but their numbers have declined dramatically in recent years. In 2010, the bay harvested 142,359 pounds of oysters, but in 2015 only 33,586 pounds were harvested.

According to Raines, three hundred oyster shellers can remove 1,000 tons of carbon from the carbon cycle in just seven months. In addition, oysters are a keystone species because they have a disproportionately positive impact on the ecosystem—they filter water, use carbon to make shells, and help build reefs.

DePaola and Raines are trying to find ways to lower the cost of the system, which will cost between $10,000 and $20,000 to manufacture, but the potential for technologies gives them hope.

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“You can give people a technologies where you make the protein,” Raines said. “We think we can revolutionize oyster production globally.”

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