Oyster Restoration in NJ: Promoting Biodiversity and Clean Water

1. Eastern Oyster: NJDEP ban Ashley Herbolich

2. Crassostrea virginica • Key species in brackish marine habitats • Decline of populations in harbor: • over harvesting • pollution • amassing of sediment • Promote biodiversity

3. Water filtration • Filter feed phytoplankton out of water column • One oyster can filter 30-50 gallon/day • Fixate bacteria (fecal coliform) and heavy metals (copper, lead, mercury, PCBs) in cells • Remove them from the environment • Improve clarity of water • Increase in vegetation because of increased light penetration into water column

4. Ecosystem Engineers • Horizontal and vertical stacking creates crevices • Crevices serve as microhabitats/niches for many organisms: • Grass shrimp, sand shrimp, small clams, blue mussels, ribbed mussels, green crabs, mud crabs, spider crabs, and variety of worms, amphipods, and anthropods • Draws predators: • Blue crabs, starfish, clam worms, and flatworms • Fouling organisms (symbiosis or mutuality): • Sponges, barnacles, mussels, and sea anemone

6. NY/NJ Baykeeper • 500 acres by 2015; 5,000 acres by 2050 • Feasibility of reestablishment of oyster reefs in harbor • Pilot studies: • Liberty Flats • Keyport Harbor in Raritan Bay (Rutgers University) • Oyster Point in Navesink River (American Littoral Society and Restore America’s Estuaries) • Hackensack River

7. Pilot studies • Monitor several factors affecting establishment: • rate of growth • reproduction timing • major die-offs • influx of predators • fouling organisms

8. Gardening • Oyster gardening: • growing very small oysters in nets or cages suspended off pilings, docks, or boats to minimize predation and keep them off the bottom where silt and sediment could smother and kill them • Started in 1999 • Now 100+ gardens in 75+ locations • Environmental educators, non-profits, institutions can participate • Engage public awareness and stewardship

9. Gardening: monitoring • Participants must periodically: • Clean nets and cages of sediment and debris • Monitor/remove fouling organisms • Measure oysters to determine growth rate and check for mortality

10. Research to Commercial • Oysters are also popular in shellfish industry • NJ shellfish industry worth $790/annually • Oysters, clams, shrimp, and mussels • B.P. oil spill added pressure to NJ industry • FDA targeted NJ • Requirements not met; inadequate patrols of beds • Budget cuts decrease patrols

11. Poaching • 60 arrest every year • mostly in lower New York Harbor in Raritan Bay • commercial oysters in unrestricted waters • FDA and NJDEP fear that research oysters could be targeted • need to protect vulnerable, productive industry • must prevent health issues from possible contamination

12. NJDEP Research Ban • June 7, 2010 • shortly after threats from FDA in spring about insufficient patrols • only 10 trained personnel on marine unit • threatened to close down shellfish industry • economic stability • NJDEP commissioner Robert Martin responded by shutting down research beds • targeted NY/NJ Baykeeper projects

13. NJDEP Offers to Baykeeper • Move research plots to Maurice River Cove in Delaware Bay • Switch from commercial species to non-commercial species for valuable educational research • NY/NJ Baykeeper refused offers • filed appeal in state Office of Administration

14. Baykeeper Reactions • Meredith Comi, Director of the Oyster Restoration Program • Ban counterintuitive to cleaning harbor for industry and biodiversity • Debbie Mans, Executive Director • Low-cost green infrastructure • methods to slow erosion and clean water • Should utilize, not ban

15. Tamper-proof Design • Reefs and cages tamper-proof from poachers • fixed to permanent structures like cement or steel • locations not disclosed to public • all research oysters are sub-tidal • submerged at low tide • oysters too small consumption • Not commercially valuable