There was a time when the oyster was a key part of local bays. Baymen harvested wild oysters to eat and sell to restaurants. Oyster reefs were plentiful. Visitors to LBI loved the briny taste and the bivalves were exported to regional cities. But the local oyster’s bounty did not last. For the last 30 years, wild oysters were all but gone to overharvesting, pollution and disease. Only a few local families around Great Bay still cultivated oysters until a few years ago.

But last week, Manahawkin Bay’s potential oyster population got a whole lot greater as the Tuckerton Oyster Reef…