11-04-2016
One Billion Oysters for Sustainability
A group of FXFOWLE staff took a trip out to Governors Island, where students of the Harbor School shared the important mission of the Billion Oyster Project (BOP) and gave a tour of the facilities. BOP is an ecosystem restoration and education project aimed at restoring one billion live oysters to New York Harbor and engaging hundreds of thousands of school children through restoration-based STEM education programs.
Oysters were once the keystone species and original ecosystem engineers of New York Harbor, but are today functionally extinct as the result of overharvesting, dredging, and pollution. Oysters provide valuable ecosystem services to the region by filtering water, providing habitat for other marine species, and attenuating wave energy. The loss of oysters and their reefs has impaired our estuary's ability to clean the water and absorb excess nitrogen, reduced protective habitat, destabilized the sea floor, and left our shoreline vulnerable to destructive wave action.
Bringing oysters and their reef habitat back to New York Harbor will, over time, restore the local marine ecosystem's natural mechanisms for maintaining itself, resulting in cleaner water and greater biodiversity. Moreover, BOP's engagement of students and the general public in this work will build a culture of stewardship and a more robust understanding and appreciation of the Harbor for future generations.
The tour was a great opportunity to visit a truly positive and unique initiative in the city which touches on education, sustainability, restoration, resilience, youth engagement, and environmental justice.
For more information, visit the Billion Oyster Project.
Oysters were once the keystone species and original ecosystem engineers of New York Harbor, but are today functionally extinct as the result of overharvesting, dredging, and pollution. Oysters provide valuable ecosystem services to the region by filtering water, providing habitat for other marine species, and attenuating wave energy. The loss of oysters and their reefs has impaired our estuary's ability to clean the water and absorb excess nitrogen, reduced protective habitat, destabilized the sea floor, and left our shoreline vulnerable to destructive wave action.
Bringing oysters and their reef habitat back to New York Harbor will, over time, restore the local marine ecosystem's natural mechanisms for maintaining itself, resulting in cleaner water and greater biodiversity. Moreover, BOP's engagement of students and the general public in this work will build a culture of stewardship and a more robust understanding and appreciation of the Harbor for future generations.
The tour was a great opportunity to visit a truly positive and unique initiative in the city which touches on education, sustainability, restoration, resilience, youth engagement, and environmental justice.
For more information, visit the Billion Oyster Project.