How Oysters Can Protect Houses From Hurricanes

By Svati Kirsten Narula/ The Atlantic

“A new study shows that bivalves can make dynamic and cost-effective sea walls, a potentially valuable tool for protecting coastal communities from rising sea levels, said Narula, reporter for The Atlantic. After Hurricane Sandy, researchers realized that natural creations, “next-generation” sea walls, aided in keeping homes in New Jersey stable, when they could have been wiped out from rising sea levels during the storm.

Storms, like Sandy, are predicted to happen again and more frequently in the future. Cities are spending enormous amounts of money to create man made sea walls. Although, Researcher, Antonio Rodriguez, from the University of North Carolina, found in a recently released study that “… over the years, these reefs [bivalve sea walls] have grown at a pace that would match any future sea-level rise. One could end up with a reef that will help protect the shoreline from erosion, filter water, provide fish habitat, and be able to keep up with sea-level rise,” Rodriguez says. “No rock sill can do those things.”

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