Oyster Restoration In the

Hudson-Raritan Estuary

Meredith Comi, Oyster Restoration Program Director

NY/NJ

BAYKEEPER®

The 5th Annual Sustainable Raritan River Conference June 11, 2013

Baykeeper’s Mission

PROTECT, PRESERVE, RESTORE

Advocacy, Policy, Acquisition, Restoration

Clean Water!!

Passaic River, Hackensack River, Newark Bay

Hudson River

Kill van Kull

Arthur Kill

Raritan River & Bay

Navesink & Shrewsbury Rivers, Sandy Hook Bay

Upper/Lower NY Bay

Jamaica Bay

The Hudson-Raritan Estuary

Benefits of an Oyster Reef

Keystone Species

• Improve water quality

• Increase species diversity

• Enhance benthic habitat

• Stabilize shorelines

• *Buffer against acidity

A keystone species helps to determine the types and numbers of various other species in a community.

Causes of Oyster Population Decline

• Historical

▫ Overharvest

▫ Lack of knowledge of oyster life cycle (replacing

shells for substrate!)

• Modern

▫ Pollution

▫ Dredging/Siltation

▫ Disease

Urban “Restoration”:

• The Hudson-Raritan Estuary is extremely urban and altered. ▫ Landfills and Fill Materials:

Organic Pollutants

Heavy Metals

▫ Altered Surface and Tidal Water Flows

▫ Storm Runoff and Combined Sewers: Fecal Coliform Bacteria

Oyster Reintroduction: •No reef system •No larvae •No substrate

Baykeeper’s Oyster Restoration Program

• Phases of the Program

▫ Oyster Production

Volunteer Oyster Gardening Program

(NY Only)

Oyster Aquaculture Center

▫ Reef Building

Structure, Supply, Monitoring

▫ Research & Collaborations

Rutgers University, Hackensack Riverkeeper, NJ and NYC Universities, UANYHS, HRF, NOAA, NWS Earle, Federal and State agencies and many more…

▫ Education and Community Outreach

Baykeeper’s Oyster Reefs

• Liberty Flats (NJ)-1999

• Keyport Harbor (NJ)-2001, 2009

• Navesink River (NJ)-2003

• Soundview Park (NY)-2010, 2013

DEP Shellfish Ban, June 2010 No research, restoration, or educational projects using

commercial shellfish species in “contaminated” waters

of NJ.

• NO oyster gardening in NJ

• Keyport Reef oysters removed and destroyed

• Loss of funding, research, and jobs

• Shrewsbury River Oyster Reef Permit denied

• Affecting projects and programs in Barn. Bay and S. Jersey as well

• Decision is not affecting NY projects

Reef Construction in High-Energy Systems

• Keyport Harbor Reef,

▫ In September 2009 Keyport Reef was re-built

▫ Experimental set-up with different alternative structures: Reef Ball, Reef Block, Rutgers Arch Design

Reef Ball with Spat Reef Block Rutgers Arch

Benefits to using structures:

•Addresses restoration needs in urban estuaries •Reduces attractive nuisance issues

-Enclosed -Hard to remove

•Easy to monitor •Provides stabilization in high energy systems •Keeps oysters off the bottom

-Helps in heavily silted systems -Reduced disturbance to existing habitat

•Reduces pathways of exposure

Oyster Restoration Research Project (ORRP)

• Partnership led by the Hudson River Foundation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York/New Jersey Baykeeper, the New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program and the Urban Assembly/New York Harbor School •Part of the Comprehensive Restoration Plan (CRP) for the Hudson-Raritan Estuary

Photo by: USACE

•6 reef sites: Staten Island, Hastings, Governors Island, Soundview (Bronx River), Jamaica Bay, Bay Ridge Flats • Approximately 15 feet by 30 feet are designed to mimic natural reefs as much as possible.

Photo by: Vince Elias USACE

Photo by: Ildiko Reisenbigler USACE

NWS Earle, October 2011 • Mortality and survivorship study

• Over 90% survivorship and good growth.

• Biodiversity

Fall 2012 • Survey of Site done, plans produced and

• Permit for 10.7 applied for and granted by DEP Jan 2013

• Superstorm Sandy-destroyed Aquaculture Center at Mobys

▫ Generous support from Bamaworks/DMB allowed for rebuilding at NWS Earle

The goal of restoring native oysters to the HRE is to improve habitat and

water quality, rather than to restore a commercial fishery in the

historically contaminated estuary.

NWSE Research Site

NWSE RESEARCH SITE-10.7 acres

View of area between piers, looking northeast. View of area between old and new piers, looking south toward

shore.

Typical view of area between the old and new piers, looking

northeast.

EXPERIMENTAL OYSTER SUPPORT STRUCTURES

OYSTER (REEF) BALL

REEF BLK™

CARGO PALLETS

• Baykeeper and Rutgers University CUES; volunteers • Survey of the shoreline of Raritan Bay • Data will be used to make maps that can help guide potential shellfish restoration activities, among other things. • Maps generated will be current!

Shoreline Mapping Project: 2011/2012

Data Collected:

1. Presence of any existing shellfish species

2. Presence of sea grass species

3. Presence of bulkheads or docks

4. Water quality parameters (dissolved oxygen, turbidity, salinity, pH)

http://www.arcgis.com/explorer/?open=1158cd088e0

b405fa83730598067db59&extent=-

8274489.36180625,4923189.43996227,-

8213376.57631873,4953382.06612575

Ranking of Potential Oyster Locations, Raritan Bay 2011/2012

ID sites with potential to support oysters

In sites that oysters cannot survive identify obstacles

Earle research and restoration

Consensus with regulators on how to move urban restoration projects forward

Mapping of natural populations and shoreline

Tissue analyses and larval transport research

Expansion of Soundview Reef site in the Bronx R.

Possible Community Gardening Reef at Soundview

Programming, 2013 and Beyond….

Acknowledgements NWS Earle

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

National Park Service/Sandy Hook

Bahr’s Landing Restaurant

NY/NJ Harbor and Estuary Program

Hudson River Foundation

National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey/CUES

NYS DEC

NJ DEP

EPA

United States Army Corps of Engineers

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

Reefball Foundation

Urban Assembly New York Harbor School

If you have any questions,

please contact:

Meredith Comi

NY/NJ Baykeeper

52 W. Front Street

Keyport, NJ 07735

732.888.9870

meredith@nynjbaykeeper.org