The document summarizes plans to expand an oyster pilot study in Jamaica Bay. The original study placed oyster habitats at two locations but had limited success due to small scale and lack of protection from disturbances. The expansion will create a larger "donor" oyster bed and four "receiving" beds near the head of the bay, which modeling suggests could better retain oyster larvae. The expanded pilot aims to establish a self-sustaining oyster restoration and measure its ability to improve water quality and habitat in Jamaica Bay. It received $1.375 million in funding from the Department of Interior and NYC Department of Environmental Protection.

1. Expansion of Oyster Pilot Study
within Jamaica Bay
John McLaughlin
October 15, 2014
Jamaica Bay Task Force

2. 2
Jamaica Bay Watershed Protection Plan
• Original Watershed Protection
Plan identified 127 Strategies
intended to improve water
quality, ecology and public
access to the bay
• 2014 Update released on
October 1st
• http://www.nyc.gov/html/dep/p
df/jamaica_bay/jbwpp_update
_10012014.pdf

3. Original and Expanded Oyster Pilot Locations
3
Oysters
Eelgrass
Oyster Project Scale-up
under DOI Grant

4. 4
Project Goals
GOALS:
• Demonstrate effectiveness of water quality and ecological benefits from
oyster habitats
• Demonstrate effectiveness of safeguards to avoid “attractive nuisance”
• Develop information to restore a significant habitat type that once thrived in
Jamaica Bay
o Measure growth
o Survival
o Reproduction and Recruitment
Under real environmental conditions (e.g., predators, environmental
stressors)

5. 5
Dubos Point
Dubos Point - Reef Bed
 10’ X 15” near-shore
 Spat on Shell (SOS) over surf
clam shell
 2 feet off bottom at 4 foot MLW

6. 6
Gerritsen Creek
Gerritsen Creek - Reef Balls
 12 reef balls placed together
 2.5 ft width x 1.75 ft height
 Spatted in separate tank (CCE)
 Near shore, on bottom at 5 foot MLW

7. 7
Pilot Conclusions
 Generally adequate conditions for life
functions
 Extensive predation observed (drills &
crabs)
 Percent survival > on reef balls vs. reef
bed
 Low incidence of Disease
 Growth rates comparable to east coast
estuaries
 Gonadal development found
 Reproduction not directly observed
 No recruitment observed

8. 8
Oyster Growth
DP & GC 2012 avr & max shell height

9. Improved Habitat
Baseline 6 months
Post Construction
12 months
Post Construction
9 Frequently Observed Macrobenthic Species

10. 10
Lessons Learned
 Scale
 Although provided, difficult
to actually measure water
quality improvements -
made more difficult due to
small scale
 No buffering capacity from
disturbances
 Reef Balls very successful
 Reef Bed not stable
 Requires lower energy,
greater depth and/or
structural protection

11. 11
Oyster Pilot Expansion
• Building on the research
already done, the expansion
will create a functional oyster
spat “donor” bed and four
smaller oyster “receiving beds”
to ultimately determine
whether or not oyster
restoration can be self-sustaining
within Jamaica Bay.
• Based on oyster larval
modeling results (Fitzpatrick,
2012), modeling suggests
that Head of Bay provides a
greater potential degree of
larva retention.
• A larger oyster bed would also
provide a greater degree of
resilience to disease and
predation.
Received $1M in funding from the
Department of Interior Hurricane
Sandy Coastal Resiliency Grant
Program and $375K from DEP

12. 12
Location of Larva Release Points
Slide credit: HDR

13. 13
Recruitment Results
Spat Release Locations near
Head of Bay
Slide credit: HDR

14. 14

15. Partners
15
Design/Installation
• New York Harbor School
• Cornell University Cooperative Extension
• Hudson River Foundation
Permitting
• NYSDEC
• USACE

16. 16
Thank You
John
Mclaughlin
NYCDEP
718-595-4458
jmclaughlin@dep.nyc.gov
www.nyc.gov.dep