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September - October 2018
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Disponible en línea en español.
There is no better sign of the tremendous improvement in the quality of the
Hudson River than the dramatic return of Oysters!
The Hudson River has reached a point of cleanliness that oysters, once in the
river by the millions, are being brought back in a big way.
I have lived in, on and around the Hudson River all my live. One of the first
things you recognize while fishing in Haverstraw Bay is the remarkable amount
of ancient oyster shells that still exsist on the bottom.
No matter where you anchor from Stony Point to the north and Croton Point
five miles away to the south, you will pick up an oyster shell on your anchor or
hook. At Croton Poiint Park there is an Oyster “dig” that has found 4000 year
old oysters.
Oysters, once established, can, and will filter enormous amounts of water
that will help clean the Hudson River even further. (Actually the oyster projects
described here are designed to do exactly that, Oyster Reefs create a huge
biodivesity of marine life that ehances all Hudson River eco systems!)
Sadly there is a serious threat to the oysters as well as to the economic
vitliity of the Hudson River Silt washed into the Hudson River through its main
arterial rivers such as the Roundout in Kingston, the Espous in Saughteries
and other rivers. This was dramaticly emphasized when Hurricane Sandy
and Irene dumped so much water on the Catskill Mountains it washed fields
of pumpkins, watermelons, corn and other rich farmlands into the Hudson
River. The River did not settle down for at least 6 months. That is probalby
the most serious threat that an oyster reef system of more than
5 acres will have in the Tappan Zee Bridge area where the latest Oyster
Reefs are being installed.
Be that as it may the Harbor School on Governors Island has started and is
maintaining a very dynamic Billion Oyster Project that has so many benefits
to it that it is hard to see how it can fail, especially in New York Harbor.
The quotes below are from Dr. Hare of the Department of Natural
Resources at Cornell University -
“If this native oyster population increases to the size of an
ecologically meaningful population, it will filter and clarify lots of
river water, help cycle nutrients, and provide habitat for hundreds of
species (including juveniles of some commercially fished species).
Restoration in the Hudson/Raritan Estuary is not about making tasty