Over the years, the New York port has suffered from pollution and depleted marine life. New Yorkers have had to embark on water purification, cleaning and restoration of the marine ecosystem here. And their filtering “technology” is… the oysters.
With the goal of restoring coral reefs in the waters of New York City (USA), since 2014, the water purification project “Billion Oyster” (One Billion Oysters) aims to take advantage of the natural water purification ability of the species. oysters began to be deployed.
The project collects oyster shells from more than 70 restaurants in New York and then brings them to Governors Island – a small island located to the east of the Statue of Liberty.
People clean oyster shells by drying them in the open air for at least 1 year. Clean oyster shells are transferred to New York Harbor School – a maritime high school on Governors Island. Here, the students of the school will take samples of oysters to check the size and health condition. Water safety indicators were also analyzed to assess the positive changes brought about by oyster reefs.
Students at New York Harbor School measure an artificial reef sample on recycled oyster shells. (Source: Billion Oyster Project).
The baby oysters will be grown in the laboratory until they reach the right size, then attached to existing shells, before being transplanted into the biological dike. Thanks to this unique method, the “One Billion Oysters” project has restored about 12 oyster reefs off the coast of New York, forming a 3.2 km long dike.
According to scientists, each adult oyster can purify more than 227 liters of water per day. Not only that, the oysters placed side-by-side will form “oyster reefs”, providing habitats for other marine life such as crabs, shrimp, fish, etc., and helping the New York coast to resist extreme weather .
In addition to helping to create an ideal habitat for shrimp, crabs, and fish, bio-dykes made from oysters also help break waves and protect coastlines, while reducing the risk of large waves to human life.
Project leader Pete Malinowski said: “If there are coral reefs created by oysters, the entire coastal ecosystem will certainly be restored. Oyster reefs make an important contribution to an integrated plan that both cleans water and helps proactively respond to climate change.”
Since its inception, the “One Billion Oysters” project has restored approximately 30 million oysters to New York City waters. Although this is only the first step in the process of restoring the diverse ecosystem that once thrived in this city, Team Leader Pete Malinowski said that the project has achieved positive results in 2018 when the number of Wild oysters cling to the growing ridges of man-made oysters.
Thanks to its high feasibility, the “Billion Oyster” project has attracted many participants, especially young students. The group works with more than 75 public schools in 5 New York City boroughs. Students have been on numerous field trips to reef sites or research stations to learn how to measure water quality and monitor oyster growth.
The group also attracted the interest of many organizations and individuals in New York. In addition to the main funding source from the US Government, recently, the group has continued to be extended by the US National Science Foundation and provided a $ 4.5 million grant over the next two years. After completing the goal of cleaning up the port in New York, the project will be implemented in other states in the US such as Virginia and Maryland.
To expand the scope of cooperation, recently, the “Billion Oyster” project has also “joined hands” with another research group called “Living Breakwaters” to create artificial coral reefs. more than 3km long along the coast of Staten Island, southwest of New York City. In the future, billions of oysters could cling to this man-made dike and create natural reefs on a larger scale and at a faster rate.
Project leader Pete Malinowski hopes that this project will continue to inspire city people, especially students, to become more involved in environmental and ecological issues. “People will become more and more aware that the reason New York Harbor is polluted is because of human waste, including garbage and plastic. In addition, many people are also beginning to understand the important role oysters play in cleaning up the ocean,” said Malinowski.
Scientists say that, to reach the goal of breeding one billion oysters and fully restoring the marine environment by 2050, there is still a long way to go, but if it is done, the United States will certainly achieve these goals. great environmental benefits.