"After more than a century, these shellfish have reappeared along the Damariscotta River. Their return is a boon — and a warning of climate change."
"The tidal waters of Maine tell stories that go back thousands of years. Along the Damariscotta River, a short tidal river carved out by retreating glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age, the story of the wild oyster is told through heaps of bleached-white oyster shells discarded by prehistoric people The Whaleback Shell Midden, in the town of Damariscotta, is one of the most remarkable: 1,000 feet wide and 30 feet tall, it is a tale of bygone abundance.
While wild oysters were an important part of an Indigenous diet in what is now Maine, by the 1900s they had all but disappeared. Most people considered them functionally extinct, in fact, until this spring, when researchers from the University of Maine published a study confirming their return, often in close proximity to the oyster farms that have populated the waterfront over the last few decades.
“When we think about the emergence of wild oysters, it’s bringing back a part of the ecosystem that has been a part of who we are as people in this place, part of Indigenous people’s connections to this place,” says Heather Leslie, a marine conservation scientist who took part in the study. “It foregrounds the question of not just restoring the non-human parts of the ecosystem but also enabling the Native people to reconnect with coastal ecosystems.”"
Kirsten Lie-Nielsen reports for Civil Eats October 14, 2025.
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