WEBVTT 00:00.479 --> 00:03.799 Ok . Hi , I'm Norm Lister . I've been 00:03.809 --> 00:06.320 living in my house now for 23 years . 00:06.329 --> 00:09.069 This July , uh , my wife and I bought 00:09.079 --> 00:11.190 this property , built a house on this 00:11.190 --> 00:13.135 property . It's our dream location 00:13.135 --> 00:15.246 because we love living on the water . 00:15.246 --> 00:17.468 Uh , we've always been water people and 00:17.468 --> 00:19.690 that's , we live on Bay Island and it's 00:19.690 --> 00:21.690 just been one of the most wonderful 00:21.690 --> 00:21.579 experiences to wake up and just be able 00:21.590 --> 00:23.812 to look out over the bay and just every 00:23.812 --> 00:27.360 morning just feel it . Ok . So I'm also 00:27.370 --> 00:29.592 a retired naval officer . I used to fly 00:29.592 --> 00:32.220 the A six intruder . I did that for 00:32.240 --> 00:34.296 almost 15 years and they retired the 00:34.296 --> 00:36.351 aircraft and they asked me to retire 00:36.351 --> 00:38.240 early too , which was awesome . I 00:38.240 --> 00:40.518 worked in it and mostly in health care , 00:40.518 --> 00:42.740 doing software development . And I like 00:42.740 --> 00:41.950 health care just getting back to the 00:41.959 --> 00:44.540 community right now . I'm currently 00:44.549 --> 00:46.771 retired even though maybe I'm too young 00:46.771 --> 00:48.716 to retire . Who knows , looking at 00:48.716 --> 00:50.549 other areas of volunteer and I'm 00:50.549 --> 00:52.771 actually looking into maybe teaching at 00:52.771 --> 00:55.105 O D U as a professor in business school . 00:56.259 --> 00:58.426 So when my wife and I first moved in , 00:58.426 --> 01:00.537 we were primarily focused on building 01:00.537 --> 01:00.500 the house . Obviously , that's a huge 01:00.509 --> 01:02.565 project . And when we finally got to 01:02.565 --> 01:04.787 move in the water , when we first moved 01:04.787 --> 01:07.040 in was super cloudy all the time year 01:07.050 --> 01:09.328 round . I didn't really worry about it . 01:09.328 --> 01:11.550 I love water skiing . That's one of the 01:11.550 --> 01:13.550 main things I love to do in the Bay 01:13.550 --> 01:13.309 area . It's water skiing , tubing , 01:13.319 --> 01:15.375 knee boarding , all that fun stuff . 01:15.375 --> 01:17.597 But water skiing is significant to me . 01:17.597 --> 01:19.541 I'm not a fisherman , but over the 01:19.541 --> 01:21.875 years , honestly , as the years went by , 01:21.875 --> 01:23.819 I started noticing oysters growing 01:23.819 --> 01:25.763 along the bulkhead here across the 01:25.763 --> 01:27.875 water from us on their bulk ending as 01:27.875 --> 01:29.763 well on the rip raft . And what I 01:29.763 --> 01:31.597 noticed was the water is getting 01:31.597 --> 01:31.050 clearer and clearer . And then in 01:31.059 --> 01:33.169 September , about two years after we 01:33.180 --> 01:35.402 moved in , so that would have been like 01:35.402 --> 01:37.402 2002 , the water is as clear as any 01:37.402 --> 01:39.513 lake I've ever seen . And because the 01:39.513 --> 01:41.736 boating traffic had slowed down and the 01:41.736 --> 01:43.847 oysters had a chance the oysters were 01:43.847 --> 01:46.013 becoming more , more frequent . Like I 01:46.013 --> 01:45.209 said , I saw them growing on the 01:45.220 --> 01:47.680 bulkhead . I , I just assumed that was 01:47.690 --> 01:49.634 normal . I did not see any oysters 01:49.634 --> 01:52.709 anywhere nearby for a long time . And 01:52.720 --> 01:54.720 as the oysters are filtering in the 01:54.720 --> 01:56.664 water , the water would stay clear 01:56.664 --> 01:58.831 literally from September through about 01:58.831 --> 02:00.776 May . And then the boating traffic 02:00.776 --> 02:00.760 picks up and the water clouds up and 02:01.440 --> 02:03.662 then obviously , the oysters can't keep 02:03.662 --> 02:05.718 up . What I've noticed though is all 02:05.718 --> 02:07.829 the bulk heading . All the pylons for 02:07.829 --> 02:10.139 the piers have lots of oysters on them . 02:10.149 --> 02:12.260 Now , they didn't when we first moved 02:12.260 --> 02:14.316 in literally 20 years ago , which is 02:14.316 --> 02:16.482 pretty cool because obviously the work 02:16.482 --> 02:18.705 they're doing is making the water super 02:18.705 --> 02:22.639 clean , super clear for all of us . Ok . 02:22.649 --> 02:24.869 So some of the influences on the water 02:24.880 --> 02:26.991 quality , obviously , of the presence 02:26.991 --> 02:29.047 of oysters and the presence of man , 02:29.047 --> 02:31.102 the boating traffic , the jet skis , 02:31.102 --> 02:33.269 all that stuff is churning up the silt 02:33.269 --> 02:35.324 during the summer time and makes the 02:35.324 --> 02:37.658 water again cloudy , less clean looking , 02:37.740 --> 02:39.907 which is maybe ok to most people , but 02:39.907 --> 02:42.184 it's a lot more fun to jump into water . 02:42.184 --> 02:44.296 You can see the bottom of whatever it 02:44.296 --> 02:46.407 is . You're swimming in . The oysters 02:46.407 --> 02:48.518 clearly are the reason that the water 02:48.518 --> 02:50.462 is as clear as it is now . And the 02:50.462 --> 02:52.573 evidence is the presence of oysters . 02:52.710 --> 02:54.488 The fact that they're obviously 02:54.488 --> 02:56.850 proliferating along the rocks and the 02:56.860 --> 02:58.990 bulk heading , as I mentioned 02:59.000 --> 03:01.399 previously , when the boating or 03:01.410 --> 03:03.410 boating traffic picks up , then the 03:03.410 --> 03:05.632 water becomes more cloudy . And then as 03:05.632 --> 03:07.799 soon as the boating traffic drops down 03:07.799 --> 03:10.021 again , the oysters have cleaned it out 03:10.021 --> 03:12.077 and I see it remaining more and more 03:12.077 --> 03:14.243 clear and longer and longer because of 03:14.243 --> 03:16.354 the presence of oysters . Just like I 03:16.354 --> 03:18.577 was talking earlier . I've also noticed 03:18.577 --> 03:20.410 a reduction in the population of 03:20.410 --> 03:22.577 jellyfish , which I understand to mean 03:22.577 --> 03:24.743 the water is clearer because jellyfish 03:24.743 --> 03:26.743 don't like clear water and which is 03:26.743 --> 03:28.854 pretty , I never really put those two 03:28.854 --> 03:31.021 together because I , again , I like to 03:31.021 --> 03:33.188 water ski out here in the Bay area and 03:33.188 --> 03:32.770 when I'm water skiing , I don't like 03:32.779 --> 03:35.320 jellyfish , those little suckers sting . 03:35.839 --> 03:37.880 So that's another benefit . Um I've 03:37.889 --> 03:40.759 seen a lot more dolphins back here in 03:40.770 --> 03:42.770 the recent years . The dolphins are 03:42.770 --> 03:44.492 obviously feeding on . There's 03:44.492 --> 03:46.548 something they obviously want to eat 03:46.548 --> 03:48.770 back here . So that's pretty cool . The 03:48.770 --> 03:50.826 dolphins were not here . Initially , 03:50.826 --> 03:53.048 I've seen more skates , just a lot more 03:53.048 --> 03:54.770 marine life . We have a lot of 03:54.770 --> 03:56.992 migratory waterfall that come down from 03:56.992 --> 03:58.881 Canada as well . Buffle heads mer 03:58.881 --> 04:00.937 dancers and they love this place . I 04:00.937 --> 04:02.992 don't know what they're eating , but 04:02.992 --> 04:02.149 they're always just so happy when 04:02.160 --> 04:04.216 they're diving into the water . It's 04:04.216 --> 04:08.179 pretty cool . So improve water quality . 04:08.190 --> 04:10.357 We all benefit from it , cut and dry . 04:10.630 --> 04:13.350 Like I said , nobody likes to , I'll 04:13.360 --> 04:15.416 just speak from my childhood fears . 04:15.416 --> 04:17.471 Nobody likes to dive into an area of 04:17.471 --> 04:19.638 water where you can't see the bottom . 04:19.638 --> 04:21.860 It's just more comforting to be able to 04:21.860 --> 04:24.082 see clear , clean water , clean , clear 04:24.082 --> 04:26.082 water . We can see it's just more , 04:26.082 --> 04:28.249 it's more inviting . I mean , I walked 04:28.249 --> 04:28.119 into my pier now and I can see the 04:28.130 --> 04:30.241 bottom and it , it , it's better than 04:30.241 --> 04:33.339 just a cloudy mass of water . All of us 04:33.350 --> 04:35.572 are benefiting from it . They obviously 04:35.572 --> 04:38.739 the oysters effectiveness and filtering 04:38.750 --> 04:40.694 the water the way they do makes it 04:40.694 --> 04:43.459 super just much better for all of us 04:43.470 --> 04:47.470 again . I , I 04:47.579 --> 04:49.709 just falter by any other words to 04:49.720 --> 04:52.529 describe how nice it is . Again , 04:52.540 --> 04:54.540 growing up in upstate New York with 04:54.540 --> 04:57.309 fresh water all the time and having 04:57.320 --> 04:59.320 coming down here , initially seeing 04:59.320 --> 05:01.570 cloudy water and salt water and now 05:01.579 --> 05:03.523 seeing clear water where I can see 05:03.523 --> 05:05.690 through it , it's better . So I'm also 05:05.690 --> 05:08.649 a scuba diver . I've never scuba dove 05:08.660 --> 05:10.604 in Virginia Beach because it's not 05:10.604 --> 05:13.160 worth my time if this project continues 05:13.170 --> 05:15.114 to work and these oysters continue 05:15.114 --> 05:17.170 their job . You can have some pretty 05:17.170 --> 05:19.226 decent scuba diving here because you 05:19.226 --> 05:18.799 can actually see what you're doing . 05:19.089 --> 05:21.200 That's a big , big deal . Any kind of 05:21.200 --> 05:23.367 water recreation , skin diving , scuba 05:23.367 --> 05:25.589 diving , anything is going to be better 05:25.589 --> 05:29.299 with clear water , I would hope and 05:29.309 --> 05:31.087 dream that we would have enough 05:31.087 --> 05:33.380 artificial reefs , enough oysters here . 05:33.450 --> 05:35.394 So that year round , regardless of 05:35.394 --> 05:37.394 man's influence because it is man's 05:37.394 --> 05:39.561 influence that clouds , the water that 05:39.609 --> 05:41.690 obviously stirs up the hill that the 05:41.700 --> 05:43.922 water would remain clear , regardless . 05:43.922 --> 05:46.529 That would be amazing . You'd have the 05:46.540 --> 05:48.651 crystal blue water that the Caribbean 05:48.651 --> 05:51.459 has because now you've got , it's clear 05:51.470 --> 05:54.420 and you can see better . That would be 05:54.429 --> 05:56.670 a hope and a dream for me is have 05:56.679 --> 05:59.980 enough oysters around here , thriving 05:59.989 --> 06:01.890 and surviving and procreating and 06:01.899 --> 06:04.059 spreading that the water remain clear 06:04.070 --> 06:06.126 regardless of how much we eat in our 06:06.126 --> 06:08.014 boating activities , stir it up . 06:09.799 --> 06:12.260 So , one of the things that I've 06:12.269 --> 06:15.859 noticed is the 06:15.869 --> 06:17.980 primary barrier where all the oysters 06:17.980 --> 06:20.147 are and one artificial reef is already 06:20.147 --> 06:22.313 present and we want to put another one 06:22.313 --> 06:24.591 in . God willing is this area is clear . 06:24.591 --> 06:26.313 The other side of the island , 06:26.313 --> 06:28.536 literally right across the road from me 06:28.536 --> 06:30.591 is not clear . It's still cloudy and 06:30.591 --> 06:32.536 they don't have the oysters , they 06:32.536 --> 06:34.758 don't have the reef and the oysters are 06:34.758 --> 06:36.591 doing a good job here , but they 06:36.591 --> 06:38.925 obviously can't reach out . And perhaps , 06:38.925 --> 06:41.147 maybe as the oysters , you know , begin 06:41.147 --> 06:43.202 to expand , they'll be able to clean 06:43.202 --> 06:43.010 the entire bay , including both sides 06:43.019 --> 06:45.241 of the island . But the far side of the 06:45.241 --> 06:47.352 island , the north side of the island 06:47.352 --> 06:49.463 is still cloudy because it's , it's a 06:49.463 --> 06:51.463 straight channel . There's no reefs 06:51.463 --> 06:50.070 there .