North Myrtle Beach Times Serving our Community and the Grand Strand for over 50 years
By Ruben Lowman
An ongoing local partnership has completed its third major installation phase of a shoreline stabilization project, extending a series of manufactured wire reefs into a local marsh system.
On April 29, field crews from Horry County Stormwater and the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) waded into the coastal wetlands alongside student volunteers from the Loris High School Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter.
The joint workforce deployed 70 specialized wire baskets packed with recycled oyster shells near the Sanford D. Cox Sr. Community Park off Pine Avenue in Murrells Inlet, successfully bridging a geographic gap between the project’s 2024 and 2025 deployment sectors.
The student-led efforts of the Loris High FFA remain the operational backbone of this long-term environmental project, with members actively assembling and installing the reef baskets.
To date, the collaboration has placed approximately 470 natural structures across the marsh, creating an evolving, permanent reef designed to grow over several decades.
These artificial configurations provide vital structural defense for the Grand Strand’s vulnerable tidal zones by absorbing wave energy, building up native sediment and mitigating aggressive shoreline erosion.
Furthermore, the reefs function as biological sanctuaries, offering an immediate anchoring substrate for live larval oysters while creating critical habitat extensions for local marine life.
Aside from erosion control, the expansion provides immediate water quality benefits to the Murrells Inlet watershed.
Marine data indicates that a single mature adult oyster is capable of filtering two and a half gallons of water per hour, working continuously to extract excess nutrients and localized pollutants from the water column.
To sustain the long-term material demands of the Loris FFA reef builds, Horry County Stormwater is moving beyond public drop-off sites to launch a commercial Oyster Shell Recycling pilot program.
The municipal initiative is engineered to integrate into the existing dishwashing and disposal workflows of local restaurants, allowing coastal seafood venues to capture spent shells as a recyclable asset before they are permanently lost to landfills.
