Library

Aquacultured Oyster Products

Brian Perkins (July, 1995)

Summary

Oysters played other important roles in the cultures of both groups. Oyster shells were used by the Paleo Indians for tools, jewelry and currency, and shell middens were sometimes used as burial sites. Seventeenth Century European settlers used oyster shells as construction materials for buildings and roads.Today in Alabama, oysters are harvested by the old-fashioned method of tonging, which is carried out from small boats by using tongs. Much of the oyster tonging in Alabama is conducted on public oyster reefs, but increasing numbers of oysters are cultured in waters adjacent to privately owned land.