TIMES RECORD • September 7, 2021
Volunteers and local organizations want to grow a natural oyster reef in a portion off the coast of Phippsburg, but these tasty shellfish won’t be for eating. If successful, the group believes an oyster reef will bring a slew of environmental benefits to the area to fight “the immense amount of change we’re seeing in our waters,” said Marissa McMahan, a senior fisheries scientist at Manomet, a Brunswick-based conservation nonprofit involved in the project. The group of roughly 14 volunteers from Manomet, the Phippsburg Conservation Commission, Bates-Morse Mountain, local residents, oyster farmers and shellfish harvesters is growing the oysters in a protected area of the New Meadows River off the coast of Phippsburg.