GULF SHORES — A recent oyster gardening event resulted in just under 100,000 oysters being harvested by Little Lagoon Preservation Society (LLPS) members.

At the Oct. 16 meeting, Dennis Hatfield, LLPS president, said the 92,000 oysters collected were about 2-3 inches in size on average.

He said according to PJ Waters, who is conducting oyster restoration along the Gulf Coast and has helped LLPS run its oyster gardening program, there were enough oysters gathered to populate about 4.5 acres of reef with a restoration value of about $140,000.

"My numbers may be a little off, but that's real close," Hatfield said at the meeting.

Though that was a big update, the feature for the meeting was for members to hear from Chase Katechis, marine biologist with the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Marine Resources Division, on recent conservation efforts in Little Lagoon.

He said testing and data collection conducted by his team throughout the region's waterways review the different factors that impact population numbers, including dissolved oxygen, temperature and salinity.

Main species Katechis focused on are shrimp, blue crabs and Southern flounder. Each of the species has seen fluctuations over time corresponding with weather events such as hurricanes or dry periods.

Hurricane Ivan caused a drop in average population numbers in just about every species across the Gulf Coast region. Each species was also affected by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

After the spill, confidence in eating fish dwindled, and the Gulf Coast saw significantly less fishermen on a recreational and commercial level. Because of this, population numbers skyrocketed. A few years after the spill, when confidence in edible fish was restored, population numbers plummeted.

Southern flounder, specifically, have been in lower-than-average levels of population over the past decade. Katechis said recent efforts to improve repopulation seem to be successful.

"They have good years, and they have bad years, just like everyone else," he said. "But, overall, we're seeing good indicators of a gradual increase in population."

On the shrimp and blue crab populations, he said what makes an "awesome quality habitat" for these species in the lagoon is shallow waters covered with vegetation.

Katechis said projects like oyster gardening are great for improving these types of habitats.

He also encouraged LLPS members to install living shorelines along their waterfront properties to provide "prime habitat" for many animals. Living shorelines are also a natural solution to erosion caused by waves bouncing off hardened shorelines, like bulk heads.

"That's always a little tough for some folks to part with," he said on bulk heads, "but it looks a lot prettier when you get it right."