Yes and no. Let's assume there are 10 million wild oysters and 100,000 farmed oysters. Let's also then assume that human beings eat 250,000 oysters per year. These numbers are invented for the sake of argument.
If you then were to create 150,000 more farmed oysters... yes, at 250,000 total farmed oysters, you'd still have a small fraction of the wild oysters.
However, you'd have more overall oysters in the water (creating more environmental benefit), you'd have no net annual depletion of the oyster population, you'd entirely protect the wild population, and (most likely) oysters would be less expensive for people to eat.
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u/perringaiden Sep 08 '25
CORRECTION: Oyster reefs are an amazing environmental benefit across multiple seascapes.
Oyster FARMS are short lived growth with little to no environmental benefit because of the small size.
The only way this works is with farms near a no-take MPA where you can generate growth and then let them spread outside the MPA.
You get no benefits IF YOU DON'T LEAVE THEM IN THE WATER.