This oyster was grown to rebuild a reef, not to be eaten. | Photographs courtesy of Mass Oyster Project

Bringing Back the Bivalves: On Piers from Newburyport to Gloucester, a Small Nonprofit is Growing the Oysters that Could Help Clean Up North Shore Waters

Danielle Evans-ColeSeptember 25, 2026

Earlier this year, a 42-inch sewer force main ruptured at the City of Haverhill’s main pumping station, discharging millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into the Merrimack River. Days before the Fourth of July, North Shore beaches closed to swimming because of poor water quality, and shellfish beds were temporarily closed to harvesting. Liv Woods, executive director of the Massachusetts Oyster Project, worried first about the safety of her volunteers working in those waters. But she also knew her organization’s oyster restoration work was part of the solution. “One of the reasons we want to plant oysters in prohibited waters i

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Bringing Back the Bivalves: On Piers from Newburyport to Gloucester, a Small Nonprofit is Growing the Oysters that Could Help Clean Up North Shore Waters

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