The Impact of Oysters in Tampa Bay

Name: The Impact of Oysters in Tampa Bay
Start: 2025-09-11T18:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-09-11T20:00:00-04:00
Location: 4556 S Manhattan Ave Suite E, Tampa, FL, United States, Florida 33611

Schedule

Thu Sep 11 2025 at 06:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

4556 S Manhattan Ave Suite E, Tampa, FL, United States, Florida 33611 | Tampa, FL

With environmental issues like hurricanes, red tide, erosion and more, it’s more important than ever to learn about how to combat these disasters from reaching our shoreline, depleting our wildlife, entering our drinking water and more. One of the ways to combat these problems is through living coastlines.
Discover how oysters keep Tampa Bay's waters clean! Olivia Blondheim, a doctoral candidate with the University of South Florida College of Marine Science, dives into her research on oyster water filtration, discusses ongoing restoration efforts, and shows how vertical oyster gardens may be a useful tool in restoring oyster populations to the region. Come to learn how you can join and help make a difference!
Join us Thursday, Sept. 11 at 6 PM at Adventure Outfitters located at 4556 S Manhattan Ave. Ste E, Tampa, FL 33611 for a free informational guest lecture series with Olivia!
Olivia’s research aims to improve estimates of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) water filtration, a valuable ecological service in estuaries. She is also experimentally evaluating whether oysters can diminish the severity of harmful algal blooms. Olivia is the Scientific Outreach Coordinator at the Gulf Shellfish Institute (GSI), a non-profit organization that supports and encourages increased shellfish production in Florida and the Gulf region through cooperative, industry-driven research and outreach. She is currently leading GSI’s vertical oyster garden program.
Zendog Divers is an informal dive club for all divers, snorkelers and advocates of the ocean / waterways. Our mission is focused on local Florida diving including: safety, marine conservation and continuing dive education. We try to have a guest speaker once a month join us. If you are interested in participating in our monthly guest lecture series, please reach out to us at [email protected] or give us a call at 813-832-6669.