Restoring Oysters to New York Harbor
Gansevoort Peninsula Project
Billion Oyster Project staff and volunteers fabricated 227 gabions and filled each gabion with cured shell; 144 of the gabions were set with oyster larvae and almost all of the remaining 83 gabions were topped with adult oysters.
That’s a Wrap on Soundview Reefs
This year, we designed and installed a piling wrap beneath the Domino Park esplanade along the East River in Williamsburg. Studies suggest that piling wraps enhance marine biodiversity, and may protect pilings from erosion.
Shell Collection & Fabrication
In 2022, we collected approximately 335,000 pounds of shell from 63 restaurants in New York City. That means each week, we collected between 5,000 lbs to 7,000 lbs of shell.
Billion Oyster Project introduced our 100 millionth juvenile oyster to New York Harbor in August 2022!
Updates around the Harbor
Remote setting at Red Hook Terminals: The 2022 setting season brought us to a huge milestone of 100 million oysters deployed since 2014. Using piloted setting structures and setting in a new location, we were able to gain valuable information about how to continue improving our setting system.
Aquaculture students deploying oysters at the EcoDock: This summer, Billion Oyster Project Aquaculture Interns deployed newly set oyster spat from the MAST Hatchery on the Governors Island Ecodock. These oysters will be used in restoration-related school-based programs.
Dive monitoring at Bush Terminal Park: Billion Oyster Project interns and recent graduates of the New York Harbor School diving program collected underwater oyster growth and mortality data and performed video surveys of our bagged shell reef and deep water cabinets across a 3-day period.
Brooklyn Bridge Park reef cabinet replacement: Ambassadors, interns, and volunteers removed oysters from deteriorating structures and placed them into new structures where they can continue to live and grow!
Headed back to Head of Bay!
Imagine a jump from 40,000 oysters to 40 MILLION oysters at one site!
This year, our team at Billion Oyster Project is proposing an ambitious new restoration project on the other side of the Harbor — at Head of Bay. This effort would expand on the oyster population that we established, with the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Hudson River Foundation, Cornell Cooperative Extension, and HDR Engineering, between 2016 and 2018.
Through a series of installations, our hope is that the scale of this project can overcome local environmental challenges to create a self-sustaining breeding population for Head of Bay and support an increase in natural oyster recruitment in Jamaica Bay.
Living Breakwaters Project on CBS Saturday Mornings!
CBS News Correspondent Tanya Rivero joined Billion Oyster Project’s Katie Mosher and SCAPE Studio’s Brad Howe for a visit to the active construction site of the Living Breakwaters Project. The segment aired on Saturday, October 22, on CBS!
Your support will help us bring more oysters, sustainable structures, and acres of reef habitat to New York Harbor!