This document provides an overview of an oyster research project in the Thurston Basin of Jamaica Bay. It involves partnerships with several organizations to construct temporary aquaculture floats and subtidal reefs, and monitor oyster settlement. The project will characterize the project area through surveys and mapping, construct the nursery and reefs in spring 2016, and monitor oyster settlement on the reefs through diver sampling and passive settlement bags from July 2016 to November 2017. The goal is to build on past efforts to restore oysters to the basin and learn from previous pilot projects.

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
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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

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Questions?
Questions?