When shellfish season opens on Oct. 1, seafood lovers will have a new place to seek oysters, and it won’t be inside a supermarket.

On Sept. 27 and Oct. 4, Mattapoisett Shellfish Department officials hope volunteers will step forward to measure and release roughly 50,000 town-grown oysters into Pine Island Pond.

For 20 years, the town has raised oysters in an upweller and released the seeds. This is the first year the town attempted to boost the number of oysters available for recreational shellfishermen by raising the oysters from seed to three inches in length, the legal size for harvest.

“The goal of the project is to get as many harvestable oysters in the pond as possible,” said Kevin Magowan, an assistant natural resource officer for Mattapoisett. “Hopefully, not all of the oysters will be harvested and some will reproduce for the following summer.”

Volunteers are asked to meet at Pine Island Pond at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 27 and 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 4. Magowan noted that oysters must be released in the water. Volunteers should dress accordingly in gloves and protective footwear as the oysters are sharp.

Parking is available on Island Street or Angelica Avenue.

“There’s going to be a lot of measuring and a lot of releasing,” he said.

More release dates will be added if needed.

Magowan said aside from offering shellfishermen an opportunity to catch more oysters, the project will improve water quality at the pond.

“We will reap the benefits of the filtering capabilities of these oysters to remove nutrients from the water column while feeding in Pine Island Pond, which will help to maintain high water quality,” Magowan said.

The seed oysters were placed in “grow out” bags in the pond this June. The bags protected the seeds from predators as they grew. Generally, oysters grow best in water warmer than 50 degrees and stop growing if the water temperature reaches 80 degrees or higher.

Magowan said a cool summer led to lower than average temperatures and allowed the oysters to grow all season long.

There are still some oysters that haven’t grown to the legal length for harvest. Those oysters will be saved for release the following year.

Magowan said the Shellfish Department would monitor the pond’s oyster population next year.

“We want to get an idea of how many will be out there following the shellfish season,” he said. “It’s something we’re going to track to see if the project is worth the efforts.”

For more information on volunteering, email kjmagowan@yahoo.com.