INFORMATION ABOUT OYSTERS Oysters are filter feeders—meaning they remain stationary and just filter water through them to collect food floating by. They consume both phytoplankton (including Pseudo-nitzschia) and zooplankton (larger, non-photosynthetic microorganisms). Oysters are really important to estuarine and coastal ecosystems like Narragansett Bay because of this filtering. They can filter out pollutants and improve water quality, which helps other organisms to survive. Oysters are harvested from both wild populations and aquaculture in Narragansset Bay. Aquaculture is essentially farming of oysters, where juvenile oysters are "planted" on structures in the bay, grown, and harvested.