NY/NJ BAYKEEPER®

Oyster Restoration In the Hudson-Raritan Estuary

Meredith Comi, Oyster Restoration Program Director

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 Hudson River Bay

Kill van Kull Jamaica Bay

Arthur Kill Upper/Lower NY Bay

Navesink & Raritan Shrewsbury Rivers, River & Bay Sandy Hook Bay

The Hudson-Raritan Estuary Benefits of an Oyster Reef • 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. Keystone Species 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 CARGO PALLETS

REEF BLK™ Shoreline Mapping Project: 2011/2012

• 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! 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)

Ranking of Potential Oyster Locations, Raritan Bay 2011/2012

http://www.arcgis.com/explorer/?open=1158cd088e0 b405fa83730598067db59&extent=- 8274489.36180625,4923189.43996227,- 8213376.57631873,4953382.06612575

Programming, 2013 and Beyond…. 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

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 [email protected]