Baykeeper Oyster Restoration Program

by NY/NJ Baykeeper
Posted 09/07/2005

Baykeeper’s Oyster Restoration Program

Oysters are vital to the ecological wellbeing of our Estuary. That’s why Baykeeper has been working to restore oyster beds in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary since 1999.

Our volunteer-driven oyster gardening program, combined with a Baykeeper, Bahrs Landing Restaurant, Brookdale Community College, and government partnership program called remote setting, has resulted in the restoration of hundreds-of-thousands of oysters to the Estuary ecosystem – allowing this keystone species to begin playing its natural role in cleansing our waterways.

When Henry Hudson first explored our region in 1609, oyster reefs covered 350 square miles of Estuary, from Sandy Hook north to Ossining on the Hudson, to Raritan Bay, the Navesink and Shrewsbury Rivers, the Arthur Kill and Newark Bay. Up until 1900, these tasty bivalves also supported an extensive commercial fishery that kept much of the New York and New Jersey metro area populace fed with oysters.

Like coral reefs, these oyster reefs also provided habitat for commercially and recreationally important fish, such as striped bass and flounder, and for other marine organisms. Oysters also clean their ecosystem, acting as a natural water filter. As they feed they remove suspended sediments and algae, improving water clarity and enhancing conditions for underwater grasses to grow.

Unfortunately, the oyster population fell dramatically after 1900, due to overharvesting, pollution, disease, and siltation. As the thousands of oysters placed by Baykeeper on newly created beds begin to naturally reproduce, it is hoped that the Hudson-Raritan Estuary will see this keystone species fully restored, allowing Estuary health to dramatically improve.

Baykeeper utilizes a two-prong strategy to achieving oyster restoration:

Oyster gardening:
Oysters aren’t cute or cuddly, but Baykeeper volunteers become surprisingly attached to them as they raise them each winter at bayside locations around the Estuary. School groups, scout troops, marinas and fishing clubs, families, and civic organizations care for small (3/4 inch) “seed” oysters for a year in floating cages. Each summer, volunteers from select locations join with Baykeeper in a release of their oysters (grown to about one and a half inches long) on oyster reefs around the Estuary. The oyster gardening project isn’t just good for oysters and ecosystems. It also gets people involved at the water’s edge and creates an intimate relationship with estuarine ecology. The project helps people look at the Estuary in a new way, seeing it as a vital living resource and becoming Estuary advocates.

Baykeeper will provide training and materials.
For more information, please contact Meredith Comi, Oyster Program Manager at 732-888-9870 or
meredith@nynjbaykeeper.org

Remote setting:
Baykeeper is utilizing “remote setting” technology to grow oysters in support of our restoration efforts. Remote setting is the attachment and metamorphosis of hatchery-raised oyster larvae to shell substrate. Microscopic oyster larvae are released into 450 gallon tanks of saltwater that also contain volunteer-made mesh bags full of shell. The larvae attach themselves to the shell and grow in this protected environment, safe from predators. Once the oysters have “set” on the shell, and grown for about two months, they are ready for release onto newly established oyster beds around the region.

The facility was built in partnership with Bahrs Landing Restaurant, Brookdale Community College Sandy Hook Field Station, and the NOAA Restoration Center.

More Oyster Program Info

For more information about the Oyster Restoration Program and about other Baykeeper Volunteer and Restoration efforts we offer PDF versions of the documents listed. Just click on the document you want to see to download it.

Spring 2006 Special Edition 15th Year Anniversary Issue of The Estuarian An entire edition dedicated to the Oyster Restoration program and other Baykeeper Volunteer programs.

The Baykeeper Oyster Restoration Program Annual Report for 2005.

Baykeeper Oyster Program Planning Document.

Oyster Restoration in the Hudson/Raritan Estuary: What are the challenges? What are the solutions?: A 16 page Conference Summary.

the Oyster Program brochure.