On Governor’s Island in New York City, a nonprofit is turning wasted oyster shells into new oyster reefs that filter pollutants from the harbor, absorb wave energy, and supply the city’s restaurant industry.
Called the Billion Oyster Project, the objective is to restore some 100 acres of lost, historic oyster reefs using the waste streams from dozens of partner restaurants.
To date, the project has achieved 20% of the eponymous aim, the project has nevertheless seen incredible results. Staff estimate the 200 million live oysters they’ve raised on 3.2 million pounds of discarded shells have filtered tens of trillions of gallons harbor water across 19 acres of restored reefs.
“Oysters are what we call a keystone species, meaning if the oysters are thriving in an environment all other biodiversity is thriving in that environment,” Bela Altman, Volunteer Coordinator for the Billion Oyster Project, told Reuters.
The project runs a hatchery on the southern part of Governor’s Island. Here, some 75 NYC restaurants divert oyster shells from municipal landfills to a very special dump.
“We take the oyster shells from restaurants and bring them to our shell pile,” Agata Poniatowski, education outreach coordinator for the project, told ABC News. Over time, the shells cure. “Once there’s no bacteria and no invasive species, no disease, we bring them to our hatchery.”
There, oyster larvae are released to populate the old shells, acclimatize to New York water, feed and mature. 10 million baby oysters can be raised at once, before being trucked by the bag out into the harbor and dumped into the reef sites to begin their new lives.
It’s been a long road to get to this point of efficiency and scale. ABC reports that the Billion Oyster Project was launched in 2008, with the 10-figure end point predicted to come by 2035.
DOING GOOD WITH OYSTERS:
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1 billion oysters would make a major difference to the city. Not only would it bring down the cost of oysters to the delight of restaurant goers, 100 new reefs would refresh the entire water volume of New York Harbor every 3 days.
In a world where climate change could amplify storm intensity, oyster reefs would help disperse the energy of incoming waves, reducing the risk of severe flooding.
WATCH the story below from Reuters…
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