1. • Partners
– New York Harbor Foundation
– Cornell University
– Hudson River Foundation
New York City
Department of Environmental Protection
Oyster Research Project
Thurston Basin
Jamaica Bay Task Force
Meeting
October 29, 2015

2. Building on Past Efforts
2

3. Learning from Past Efforts
3
Gerrittsen Creek
5-year old from the 2010
Pilot Project.
Approximately 100 live
oysters remain.
Many of similar size.

4. 4
Larvae Retention Model

5. 5
Model Results
 A total of 47,500 larvae were released from 19 reefs
 Overall recruitment success was about 16% of total release
Thurston Basin

6. 6
Project Overview
Temporary
Aquaculture
Floats and
Line
Subtidal
Reefs
• Project Site
o Head of Bay
o Within the 200-Yard Exclusion Zone of JFK
airport
• Aquaculture Line
o 900 foot longline
o 300 12” floats
o Trays of oysters hanging from longline
• Oyster Settlement Reefs
o 4 reefs, each reef (10m x 50m)
o Subtidal (10-20 ft below MLW)
• Hurricane Sandy Resiliency Funding
from DOI ($1M with $375+ match from DEP)

7. 7
Characterize Project Area
• Initial Site Surveys and
Mapping
o Bottom Type
o Benthic Community
Analysis
o Hydrodynamics (ADCP
deployed for 2 months)
• Timeline: Early spring 2016

8. 8
Oyster Nursery Construction
• Oyster Aquaculture
Line
o 600 foot longline
o 200 12” floats, 3ft
spacing
o Trays of oysters
hanging from
longline
• Timeline: Late May
2016

9. 9
Reef Construction
 Reef Base Construction
o 500 yards of clean clam shell
o 4 barge loads
 Timing: Early May 2016
o Deployed from barge over 4 days
 Oyster Shell Veneer
o 20 yards of clean oyster shell
o Deployed from barge over 2
days:
o Testing of Crushed Porcelain as
a suitable substrate

10. 10

11. 11
Monitoring Oyster Settlement
• Settlement Reef Monitoring
o Diver Quadrat Sampling,
 Timing: 2 days a month from July – November
o Oyster Tong Sampling
o Timing: 2 days in November 2016 and
November 2017
• Passive Settlement Bags
o 10 sites – 1 on each reef (4), 1 east of reefs, 5 west
of reefs

12. 12
Questions?
Questions?