Oysters play a vital role in protecting the ocean’s ecosystem. However according to the 2011 study "Oyster Reefs at Risk and Recommendations for Conservation, Restoration, and Management" many oyster reefs are on the brink of complete extinction. Michael Beck, lead marine scientist for The Nature Conservancy as well as research associate at the Institute for Marine Science questions how fast oyster reefs are becoming extinct and how they can effectively be conserved and restored. Michael Beck claims that oyster reefs have been pushed to nearly the brink of extinction almost worldwide. His research included studying and examining 144 bays as well as forty-four ecoregions. From Beck’s research, he concluded that ninety percent of the oyster reefs in the study went extinct in a bay area. In making the claim that oyster reefs are at the risk of becoming extinct he opens the door to the question, how would this affect our ecosystem both in the ecological way as well as chemical? Beck’s research is important because if oyster reefs go extinct the metal toxins in the ocean will rise due to the fact that there will be no oysters to filter the water.
Sophie Buisson, life scientist, addresses the questioning of whether higher amounts of toxins in the ocean and warmer water temperatures were the main factors of increased oyster mortality over the past decade. In the 2008 study "Level of Contamination and Impact of Pesticides in Cupped Oyster, Crassostrea Gigas, Reared in a Shellfish Production Area in Normandy (France)" Buisson argues that over the past ten years, oysters in the Bay of Veys have seen substantial summer mortalities due to both intrinsic and extrinsic forces. While conducting her research she studied both artificially exposed oysters and conducted field studies at two different sites. Buisson’s studies included testing ocean water for fifteen specific herbicides