{"id":6148,"date":"2016-09-21T11:16:02","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T15:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/?page_id=6148"},"modified":"2024-08-21T15:18:40","modified_gmt":"2024-08-21T19:18:40","slug":"people-and-places-story-map-reveals-oyster-treasurers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncseagrant.ncsu.edu\/coastwatch\/people-and-places-story-map-reveals-oyster-treasurers\/","title":{"rendered":"PEOPLE AND PLACES: Story Map Reveals Oyster Treasures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n
View as a PDF<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Life is a journey, not a destination. But getting from point A to point B is easier now than ever with the profusion of technology in today’s world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEveryone and their brother has a smartphone,\u201d says Jenny Holder, a geographic information system, or GIS, analyst and developer. \u201cWhat they don\u2019t realize is when you pick up your phone, you are holding GIS technology.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Holder started as an archaeology student and chose to pursue a graduate degree in GIS at North Carolina State University<\/a> as a way to explain science artistically through mapping. Looking for a full-time job, she attended a career fair where she was introduced to Jane Harrison<\/a> and the fascinating world of oysters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Harrison, coastal economics specialist with North Carolina Sea Grant<\/a>, got the idea of using story maps to explain coastal restoration activities from former co-worker David Hart, extension director for Wisconsin Sea Grant<\/a>. \u201cDave has done some nice story maps about the St. Louis River estuary near Duluth, Minnesota, to engage local community members around issues of water quality and access,\u201d Harrison explains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike traditional paper maps, story maps combine spatial information with text, pictures and multimedia through an online, interactive platform, \u201cengaging people because they have a role to play,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMany coastal restoration activities take place under the water, so unless you know where to look and own a dive suit or a boat, you would never know what\u2019s happening. A story map makes efforts like oyster reef restoration visible to people,\u201d Harrison says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wanting to narrow her focus for this first project, Harrison decided to limit the story map to oyster aquaculture and oyster reef restoration because of building interest across the state. A keystone species, oysters provide multiple benefits: they filter and clean water, provide essential habitat for aquatic animals, and support a fishery with deep ties to North Carolina\u2019s past, present and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Holder liked the oyster idea, and with funding from Sea Grant, the pair set off on a quest to crack open the secret life of oysters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With a seed of an idea rolling around in their heads, Harrison and Holder realized that before any mapping could take place, they needed to learn more about oysters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything about oysters and oyster history,\u201d Holder reveals. \u201cI didn\u2019t really eat them either,\u201d she adds, a lack of exposure and taste experiences shared by Harrison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In their research, they traveled to Sea Level, a small community on the banks of Core Sound, where they visited Millpoint Aquaculture, the only commercial oyster hatchery in the state. The tour concluded with a special treat neither anticipated: a bag of oysters fresh out of the water. \u201cWe watched YouTube videos to learn how to shuck, cook and eat them,\u201d Harrison remembers. \u201cI found a tiny, orange soft-shell crab in one of my oysters and ate it, which is supposedly good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nCHARTING THE COURSE<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n