Mobile Baykeeper is expanding our Oyster Keepers program in early 2026, and we need your help to bring oysters back to Mobile Bay and reach more shorelines than ever before. We need folks like you to help us revive our waters through lending us your piers or volunteering with our oyster crew.
The oysters in this program will be grown and deployed as part of a larger restorative effort to rebuild the oyster population in Mobile Bay. They are not for commercial use or consumption. Once these oysters are deployed into the bay, they will stay there for the rest of their lives.
Check out the ways you can get involved below.
You have the power to bring oysters back to Mobile Bay right from your own pier. Each participating pier plays a vital role in restoring oyster reefs that can seed hundreds of millions of larvae across the Bay. Together, we’re working toward a goal of planting 5 million oysters by 2028, and your involvement can help make it happen.
To become an Oyster Keeper, your pier must be located in our approved areas. We will conduct a site visit to make sure your location is viable to have oysters.
Please, check the map to see that your pier’s location falls within the green areas. If you’re in an approved location and Oyster Keepers sounds like something you want to participate in, fill out the form below.
When you sign up for a volunteer slot, you will select either the Bon Secour or Fort Morgan locations. After we’ve processed volunteer information someone from our team will reach out to you with the specific location details.
What do Oyster Keeper Volunteers do?
We will send out a team of volunteers along with our Oyster Keeper team to piers in Bon Secour and Fort Morgan locations for weekly maintenance of the oysters. Maintenance includes lifting the oyster cages out of the water; cleaning the cages with a power washer; checking for predators in the cages (oyster drills, blue crabs, etc.), any other problems with the oysters, seeing how the oysters are growing, etc.; splitting oysters between cages; and other tasks along those lines.
Volunteer Requirements
What You’ll Need
We will provide gloves and any other materials needed.
