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September - October 2018
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Disponible en línea en español.
Hudson/Raritan Estuary there are no known oyster
populations that are reproductively self supporting
except what has been discovered near the Tappan
Zee Bridge. This is based on my data on the
annual production of oyster babies (larvae that
settle on hard shoreline substrate) showing that
the Tappan Zee population regularly reproduces
to fill the upper river with oyster larvae, but no
other region of the estuary benefits from this
annual procreation. Tappan Zee oysters are the
remnant population that we need to expand if we
want to return biodiversity to the lower estuary.
The Thruway Authority effort is focused on making
the Tappan Zee population stronger and larger,
by adding habitat for oyster babies (larvae) to
settle on. It was my genomic data, produced here
at Cornell by contract for AKRF, that provided
a comparison of Tappan Zee oysters with other
populations and helped convince the Oyster
Working Group that Tappan Zee restoration should
focus on adding habitat, NOT planting hatchery-
produced oysters (because there is an existing
population with plenty of reproduction). Much still
needs to be done to understand why larvae from
Tappan Zee oysters don’t naturally move down
river with the Hudson current and repopulate
the lower estuary. That has been the focus of my
research, studying oyster growth, survivorship
and reproduction in habitats throughout the
estuary (by outplanting and studying experimental
oysters at multiple sites to understand where
oysters can thrive, where they can’t, and why).”
There is another group, the River Project, located on
Pier Forty that has been studying the procreation of
oysters in New York Harbor as well. Led by Kathy Drew
they to have the same objectives as the others.
Actually it was one of their divers that discovered the
11 inch oyster shown in the photo on the first page.
Designing Reef
Structures
for the Hudson River
Reprinted from the Billion Oyster blog
.
As we work toward our goal of restoring
1 billion oysters to NY Harbor, designing
and redesigning the underwater
structures that encourage oyster reef
habitat is integral. Billion Oyster Project
sent 422 oyster reef structures from
our headquarters on Governors Island,
where they were designed, welded, and
assembled, to a staging area where they
await installation into the Hudson River. Once in the Hudson, these oyster reef
structures will combine to create the largest reef system in Billion Oyster Project
history—covering more than 5 acres of the river. Let’s take a closer look at the
gabion reef structures deployed in the project and how they’ve evolved from
conception to today.
The Hudson reefs are part of a joint project managed by the NYS Thruway
Authority, to restore wild oyster habitat accidentally displaced in construction
of the Governor Mario M. Cuomo (formerly Tappan Zee) Bridge. The reef is
also expected to create healthy marine habitat for years to come. Billion Oyster
Project was selected by the NYS Thruway Authority to construct the gabions.
AKRF, Inc., is project and engineering lead, and the Hudson River Foundation
and the University of New Hampshire are research partners.