NY HARBOR NATURE
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Welcome to NY Harbor

Oysters to grow on old toilets in Jamaica Bay, NYC

9/22/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
50K Oysters to Grow in Jamaica Bay on Beds Made From Old ToiletsBy Ewa Kern-Jedrychowska | September 6, 2016 4:52pm
https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20160906/jamaica/50k-oysters-grow-jamaica-bay-on-beds-made-from-old-toilets
Recycled toilets are being transformed into a home for 50,000 Jamaica Bay shellfish in what officials are calling "the largest single installation of breeding oysters in New York City."

The $1,375,000 initiative, led by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) in partnership with the Billion Oyster Project, seeks to restore healthy oyster populations in the bay, which was once blanketed in bivalve mollusks.
Harvesting, dredging and pollution led to their "functional extinction" in the area decades ago.
But now the city wants to restore oysters which experts say are a key element in the bay's ecosystem as they filter pollutants from the water, help to protect wetlands and shoreline from erosion and provide a home for fish and other sea dwellers, according to the DEP.

Since 2010, the DEP conducted two oyster reintroduction pilot studies within Jamaica Bay — in Dubos Point in Queens and in Gerritsen Creek in Brooklyn — which showed that oysters can survive in the area, the city said.
“This vital species naturally filters the waters of the Bay while providing unique habitat for fish," said Dan Mundy of Jamaica Bay Ecowatchers, a group dedicated to protecting the 31-square-mile bay.
"The restoration of oysters back into the waters of Jamaica Bay is one of the key remaining goals to fully restore this great and unique ecosystem."

The installation will include a central bed and four smaller beds composed of clam and oyster shells as well as broken porcelain that has been recycled from nearly 5,000 old toilets, according to the DEP.
The city used to discard the toilets, but since porcelain seems to be as productive for oyster growth as shells, experts decided to reuse them for the project.
The DEP expects that the initiative will improve water quality in the bay in terms of dissolved oxygen, nitrogen removal and cleanliness.
The project is being funded with a $1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Interior, and $375,000 from the city’s DEP.
In 2014, two years after Hurricane Sandy damaged New York City's shores, the federal government also allocated a $60 million grant to the state to create a wall of oysters off the shore of Staten Island to help the area avoid future devastation. 
1 Comment
assignment writers uk link
1/9/2019 05:20:50 pm

Oysters are one of the most intriguing sea creatures in my opinion. I mean, I do not even understand how they repopulate themselves. I think that we might have learned about this in elementary school, it is just that I am not really a man of science. I do not really have any interests in any topics regarding science. I cannot really seem to understand why, but it is what it is. However, oysters seem to have piqued my interest.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Picture
    STOP THE WILLIAMS FRACKED GAS PIPELINE THROUGH NY HARBOR!
    MY TOP 5 FAVORITE BOOKS ABOUT NY HARBOR

    1. Field Guide to the Neighborhood Birds of New York City by Leslie Day

    2.Heartbeats in the Muck by John Waldman

    3. The Fisheries of Raritan Bay by Clyde L. MacKenzie Jr. 

    4. Waterfront: A Walk Around Manhattan by Phillip Lopate

    5. The Bottom of the Harbor by Joseph Mitchell
    Picture
    Picture

    Archives

    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact
  • Welcome to NY Harbor