The Billion Oyster Project is about to celebrate its 15th year on Governors Island this year 2018. What is the Billion Oyster Project any way? At beginning of the 21st Century after 100 years of being too toxic to support marine life that changed because of monumental environmental legislature like the Clean Water Act the waters of New York Harbor were finally safe enough to sustain many species of marine life. Most folk don’t realize when Henry Hudson went up the river that bears his namesake on the Half Moon he had to navigate it around 220,000 acres of oyster reefs which were a primary sustenance for the Lenape that inhabited the area when he arrived back in 1609. So when the Europeans moved in to what became the oyster capital of the world, with their larger and larger fleets of bigger and bigger boats, unfettered dumping of toxic waste and sewage from the industrial age and over harvesting of oysters for dietary needs the outcome was by turn of the 20th Century the oysters were gone and the waters were so riddled with toxins that almost no marine life could survive. The harbor was a watery toxic dump and standing down by waters on the New Jersey side the waters smelled horribly. Starting with the Clean Water Act of 1972 and subsequent legislation, it took another 30 years for conditions to be right. The goal of the Billion Oyster Project is simple, a billion oysters and 100 acres of reefs by 2035 to restore what once was and make the New York Harbor amongst the most productive waterbodies in North America. billionoysterproject.org/ @bheventspace @eugenemarrerojr @governorsisland @billionoyster @timeoutnewyork #bhportdev #billionoysterproject @nycgo @nycityworld @nybucketlist @newyork_instagram @newyork_world_ @ny1 @city_of_newyork
