Vol. 6 No. 1
September 16, 2016
The
Harbor
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Current
Sanguinem cæruleum portus effundimus Late Island Final
Founded 2011
Photograph: Susannah Black UA New York Harbor School Class of 2016
Photograph: Katie Mosher-Smith Rising Senior Cris Pupello checks oyster growth at planned Living Breakwaters site on Staten Island
Cronin Speaks at Harbor Graduation
Back to School with BOP
We Ate our Barrier Reefs
by Lindsay Pitts
by Heather Flanagan
by D’lylah Nazario
New York City— Harbor School is the BOP Flagship School, but BOP now works with 54 schools across the city– and all those students and teachers are now back in the classroom and back on the waterfront! A major aspect of the BOP Schools program is Billion Oyster Project Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (BOP-CCERS) It’s an initiative of BOP that aims to improve STEM education in public schools by linking classroom activities to ecosystem restoration. Through the project, middle school students engage in hands-on environmental field science during their regular school day. In addition, the project allows students to use computer science and digital tools for environmental monitoring, citizen science, stewardship, and advocacy. BOPCCERS is made up of students and teachers, professional scientists and citizen scientist
Staten Island– Can you believe it? European colonists who really enjoyed eating oysters may be one reason Hurricane Sandy affected New York so disastrously. Though that may seem bizarre, there is new scientific research to hint that this may be true. First off, you may already know oysters are pretty amazing creatures. Let me fill you in. Oysters are bivalve mollusks that are capable of filtering nutrients out of salt water, increasing biodiversity, and, as shown in this new research, decreasing wave energy from storms or tidal rises. And, of course, they taste great. Marine scientists have suspected that oyster reefs directly affect wave and tidal damage along shores for a long time, including in New York Harbor. The oyster reefs create a barrier that causes the waves to break or decrease the waves’ energy prior to crashing onto the land. It was hypothesized that oyster reefs helped to prevent erosion and damage, and they decreased sediment deposits on shore.
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Governors Island– John Cronin, the first Hudson Riverkeeper was the speaker at Urban Assembly New York Harbor School's Graduation on June 27. Appointed Riverkeeper in 1983, throughout his career, Cronin has been one of America's most influential environmentalists. Introducing him, Murray Fisher, founder of the Harbor School and co-founder of Billion Oyster Project said, "I cannot imagine a more fitting commencement speaker than John Cronin...It was while I was working for John at Riverkeeper nearly twenty years ago that I developed a passion for the Hudson River and a desire to start a school that introduced urban students to this incredible estuary system.” Since his time as Riverkeeper, Cronin has received many awards including an honorary law degree from Pace University. Today, he’s a Senior Fellow for Environmental Affairs at Pace. In his commencement address, he spoke about his unlikely journey to becoming Riverkeeper in addition to calling Harbor School students to act to make the world a better place.. For his speech, see Page 3.
BOP for NYC: Public Programs page 2
Cronin’s Speech page 3
Community Reefs page 4
BOP Schools & Symposium page 5
Shell Collection: Restos Pitch In page 6
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BOP for NYC: Public Programs Update by Blyss Buitrago
Race to Restore by Susannah Black New York Harbor– On September 16, 2016, New Yorkers will come together for the Sixth Annual New York Harbor Regatta & Regatta Bash. Guests will watch the races from aboard a spectator boat, with commentary by sailing legend Gary Jobson, emceed by Willie Geist of MSNBC’s Morning Joe, and will then head to Governors Island for the post-Regatta Bash., where an open bar and catering from some of NYC’s top restaurants will make this a night to remember. A spectacular day and night of racing and celebration will be enhanced by the presence of Harbor School students and staff who will be discussing their work. !
Harbor School students are, of course, participating in the races too! Thanks to our presenting sponsors Two Harbors & BTIG all sailors, sponsors & guests! It’s events like these that allow the students to continue the work that they do every day, and these are also the times when the whole community comes together to celebrate the work that’s being done: this is an extraordinary opportunity to see the breath of the pro. For a photo album from this year’s Regatta & to find out about sponsorship for next year, go to nyharborregatta.com. For other opportunities to support BOP and Urban Assembly New York Harbor School as you celebrate, sign up for the Billion Oyster Post, our newsletter! Go to bop.nyc, scroll to the bottom, and enter your email. And join us this February at the Harbor School Awards Dinner, the next opportunity for the whole Harbor Community to come together in support of Harbor education & restoration!
BOP's Public Engagement Program has developed dramatically in recent months. This Spring, Summer & Fall we’ve been able to offer regularly scheduled Friday Volunteer Days, to introduce waterfront communities to their local reefs, and to create an interpretive BOP exhibit to be the face of BOP for Governors Island visitors. The BOP Exhibit has drawn hundreds of Governors Island visitors excited to learn more about oysters and their role in our Harbor. Visitors have the opportunity to dive into the physiology and life cycle of oysters, to view New York Harbor from a different perspective and to uncover the impact, positive and negative, that humans can have on our impacts on our local environment. Through the end of September, we hope to continue spreading awareness of the beauty below the surface and engage visitors to take part in our efforts, by tapping into our innate sense of curiosity. BOP volunteers have been busy this season: they’ve built oyster restoration stations and reef infrastructure, and they’ve prepared recycled shells for this season's oyster reef construction. They have played a major role in our ability to plant over 3.5 million oysters in our Harbor over just the past couple of months. Our volunteers are a diverse army of individuals, who come as near as NYC and NJ and as far as Korea. They felt compelled to witness the magic of our Harbor and forge a relationship with our waterfront through hands-on restoration work. We’re eager to meet and engage the volunteers still to come. Learn about volunteering by contacting Blyss at restore @nyharbror.org. Learn more about Community Reefs on Page 4.
BOP By the Numbers Oysters restored: 20 million Middle schools engaged: 50 High schools engaged: 4 Total NYC students engaged: >3000 Middle School students engaged: 875 Restaurants engaged: >50 Pounds of shell recycled: >300,000 Number of shells this represents: >1.5 million Reef area restored: >1.05 acres
Save the Date! Join us for the Harbor School Awards Dinner to benefit the programs of Urban Assembly New York Harbor School & the Work of Billion Oyster Project Tuesday, February 28, 2017 6 pm: Cocktails & Silent Auction 7:30: Dinner & Awards New York Yacht Club to find out more, contact cchristensen@nyharbor.org
Restoration station sites: 30
Editor-in-Chief: Lindsey Pitts Contributing Writers and Collaborators: John Cronin, D’lylah Nazario, Blyss Buitrago, Heather Flanagan,Jennifer Zanger, Libby VanderPloeg, and Susannah Black Special thanks to , Matthew Haiken, Murray Fisher, Sam Janis,Katie Mosher-Smith, Mike McCann, Pete Malinowski, Jeff Chetirko, and Aaron Singh. T: @HarborSchool @BillionOyster @harbordiving I: @billionoyster @harborschool @harbor_school_diving F: /NewYorkHarborSchool /billionoysterproject /harborschooldiving
New York Harbor Foundation Battery Maritime Building 10 South Street, Slip 7 New York City, NY 10004 newyorkharborschool.org www.vesselops.com www.nyharbor.org harborseals.org bop.nyc nyharbor.tumblr.com www.nyhsmst.org
We always welcome opinions, feedback, letters to the editor, and news tips. Reach us at newspaper@newyorkharborschool.org The HarborCurrent is an open forum for the expression of student views. The opinions expressed herein should not be taken to represent those of the administration or faculty, or of the student body as a whole.
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A Life in Restoration: Urban Assembly New York Harbor School Commencement Address 2016 by John Cronin When I was sitting where you're sitting now– at my high school graduation– I had one major question: was my name going to be called? Senior year I failed two courses. Didn’t complete my science requirement. Matter of fact, about a year ago, I asked for my high school transcript and it had notes written all over it. The long and short of it is, I was a social promotion from high school. That’s when they promote you because it will be socially bad for you to keep you back. I’m not sure they did me a favor. But, I managed to get out of high school. I didn’t even look at my final report card. I was afraid to. My parents were in the audience and I didn’t know if my name was going to be called. My entire view of my future was frozen in that moment. I managed to get into a university and flunked out a year later. I’ve had a fortunate career none the less. I’ve been an environmental activist, a congressional aide, the Hudson Riverkeeper, a founder of a research center at Clarkson University, and now a senior fellow at Pace university. I’ve been an author and a filmmaker, successfully lobbied three Hudson River-related state laws. I’ve brought scores of prosecutions against environmental lawbreakers. I won a lot of awards, including an honorary law degree, but when I look back on that career, which is now over forty years, there is no way I could have imagined when I sat where you sit what my accomplishments would be. I didn’t know that the Hudson River would become a major part of my life. I grew up in a city next to the Hudson– Yonkers, New York, and there was only one thing that we actually understood about the Hudson River growing up in Yonkers New York, and that was that the good Lord put it there to separate us from New Jersey. And no, this is not a slam on New Jersey. I have to be careful when I say this. The people of New Jersey feel the same way. But I did know one other thing, which is that you weren’t supposed to swim in the Hudson River. So you had a great advantage on me. I grew up with no connection to the river right outside my door. You have had the benefit of the single greatest classroom on the planet, which is New York Harbor. I grew up in a generation that was taught that you stayed away from New York Harbor, that you stayed away from the Hudson River estuary, that it was dangerous, it was no place for people. It may be hard for you to imagine today, but that was what it was like. But New York Harbor and the urban Hudson are where people and the environment meet with profound consequences for each and the most important part of that equation, in my point of view, is people. You must never forget about people. Our planet is designed particularly for people, and the environment, whether urban or rural, must always be safe for us to live in. What can you do to make sure that that’s so? You can change the world in your own backyard, if you ignore the people who tell you you cannot do it. You have to always heed that inner voice that imagines you are capable of great things because all great things begin with one simple thing, an act of imagination. The New York Harbor School began with an act of imagination. Every great book, every great piece of music, every piece of art, every great accomplishment in history in the world began with an act of imagination. Some synapse firing, some cellular change in somebody’s brain, that said “I can imagine a different future.” But then, they were fearless enough to take action on what they imagined. That is the story of the Harbor School. That’s the story of the Hudson River. That’s the reason why you can actually go out and dive in the harbor. There’s a reason you can plant oysters. Because someone imagined a generation that could do so. And Murray Fisher is one of those people. I became Hudson Riverkeeper in 1983. I was hired by fishermen to patrol the river and protect it. For seventeen years, I listened to that little inner voice. One of my first cases was against the Exxon Oil Company. We were told that Exxon was rinsing its oil tanks out into the Hudson River.
Photograph:Susannah Black John Cronin Addressing Harbor School’s Class of 2016 We pulled up our boat right next to the oil tanker, got on the radio and said to the captain, “What are you doing?” and he said “Under what authority are you asking me this question?” It was my first day on the job as Riverkeeper. I had never called myself the Hudson Riverkeeper. It was the first time anyone had come up with the job. The fishermen were the ones who imagined this job. Somebody would just go out, no badge, no warrants, no official position in government –just go out and hunt down polluters. And when he asked “Under what authority are you asking this question,” I had an NBC news crew aboard the boat. They were curious about this job and I totally embarrassed myself. I said “I’m the Riverkeeper.” 20 million people were going to watch this on the news. And they said “yes, Riverkeeper, what do you want?” I said “What are you discharging into the Hudson River?” And he said seawater, but you could smell the oil and the chemicals. It wasn’t seawater. They were rinsing out their tanker. And he said to me again, “Under what authority are you asking me this question.” And I thought, “He can't’ talk to me like that! I’m the Hudson Riverkeeper!” I said “I’m the Riverkeeper. I want to know what you’re doing. Under what authority are you discharging into the river?” And that's when he said “Under the authority of Exxon International.” Well, within four months, Exxon pulled all its tankers off the river. They paid two million dollars for what they did and they've never come back. They were not just rinsing out their oil tankers in the Hudson River. They were taking Hudson River freshwater and taking it down to Aruba to run their refinery. It was quite an operation. And who was I? I was just some guy from Yonkers who called himself the Riverkeeper. With a couple of fishermen behind me who said, “Yeah he’s the Hudson Riverkeeper.” But we imagined. We imagined that we could defeat even the biggest oil company in the world. We never doubted that we could do that. During that time, almost 20 years ago, we had a young intern named Murray Fisher. He had the unenviable job of, during a sweltering heat wave, having to paint the inside of the Riverkeeper boat. While we were outside painting the hull, he was in the cabin, scraping and painting.And while he was down in that cabin, began his dream, that today is the New York Harbor School. There are over 280 Waterkeepers on six continents, and we’re in the tenth year of the New York Harbor School for one simple reason. People who trusted the idea they imagined had the fearlessness to act on that imagination and to do it for the greater good. They imagined a different world.
right here in New York Harbor, right here in the Hudson Estuary, nine miles from where I grew up. Absolutely unimaginable when I was sitting where you are sitting, So let me tell you a little lesson in law. This is not just abstract. We have a right to do what we are doing. You have a right to restore oysters. You know why? Because there’s an legal doctrine called the public trust doctrine that reaches back to ancient times that is a central part of environmental law today. It says there are natural resources such as the tidal waters of New York Harbor that belong to all of us. The government can hold it in trust, but it belongs to us. It is probably the single largest thing you or I will ever own in our lifetime: our piece of that trust of New York Harbor. I don’t think there’s anybody here who’ll stand back and watch that taken away from them. It belongs to us, it belongs to you. And you’re going to go forth from the Harbor School with that lesson in mind. Do you know what captures my imagination now? It’s not catching another oil tanker, no matter how fun as that is. It’s not even increasing the number of Waterkeepers around the planet. What captures my imagination today, more than any other idea I’ve heard, probably in my professional career is a billion oysters in New York Harbor. What captures my imagination today is thousands of young New Yorkers restoring one of the most fascinating ecosystems in the world, right here in your own backyard. What captures my imagination today is the New York Harbor School turning the tide in environmental history and reclaiming a cultural, economic and ecological birthright. That’s the dream I want to be part of. Can you imagine it? Because if you can imagine it, it’s going to happen. When you go out from here, whether you become a scientist or a stay-at-home parent, an attorney or a boat captain, a writer or a printer, an architect or a carpenter, a Riverkeeper or a fisherman, you are part of an army changing the world with what you learned at the New York Harbor School. One day at a time, one place at a time, you will plant your feet. I’m asked often, because I have so much experience on the river, what my favorite species in the river is. And there’s a lot to choose from. There’s Atlantic sturgeon, 250 million years old. The largest one ever found in the Hudson Estuary was over 11 feet and 400 pounds. Prehistoric, has no bones inside of its body. I love sturgeon. Blue Crab, love blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, which means beautiful swimmer. You put them on a deck and they clamber around, but you put them in the water and they do a beautiful sidestroke. Continued on Page 7
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A Brooklyn Adventure By Lindsey Pitts Brooklyn––We unloaded the truck quickly, trying to get the oysters into the water as fast as we could. Even though they had been sprayed with water several times before leaving Governors Island, the hour on the truck driving to Brooklyn had dried them out, and they were desperate for water. Soon enough, 80 files of oysters were in the water as the rising tide slowly started to fill the lagoon. The files, wire cages filled with oysters, had rebar running through the top. In the water, the files would hang from rebar frames, ten feet long, two feet wide, and two feet tall, like files in a filing cabinet. This way, they would be off the floor of the harbor and protected from predators, but still submerged in the shallow water at low tide. We were at Bush Terminal Piers Park. If you looked to the left, you would see warehouses and other industrial-looking buildings. If you looked to the right, you could see Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Right in front of us was a long rocky pier and, of course, eighty files of oysters and a group of both oyster experts and volunteers. As we finished carrying everything down, the tide started coming in. Despite arriving at low tide, by the time we had finished unloading, the water was already coming in quickly. The path that we had carried the oyster files down was now almost underwater. Sixteen files went into each frame. Twelve of the files were filled with live oysters, two were only shells, and the final two were spat on shell — babies. Most of the files slid into the frames almost effortlessly. A few lacked rebar or didn’t fit into the frames. We left these on the side, planning to transfer the oysters to other files. The tide kept rising. I kept backing up, standing on sandy patches within beds of grass in order to keep the water from coming into my kneehigh rubber boots. Only those who had waders, or didn’t care if their clothes got wet, could go any deeper. I was holding the camera along with a radio, a pair of wire cutters, a watch, a pair of glasses, and several pens. All the things that didn’t belong in the water were entrusted to me. As most of the group finished installation, I watched and took pictures of them passing the files from the shore out to the frames. The path that we had walked on two hours before was submerged in at least a foot of water, forcing me to cut through a thick bed of grass to get back to the truck. The frames, now full of oysters, were moved out where they would we safe from low tide. Though not in their final locations, millions of oysters were now in the water, ready to filter the water and for the reef to grow.
Photograph: Lindsey Pitts Carrying a Cabinet
Photograph: Lindsey Pitts Down Under the Manhattan Bridge: Installing the Reet at Brooklyn Bridge Park
Community Reefs: BOP in Your Neighborhood By Susannah Black Brooklyn-— Billion Oyster Project is coming to a waterfront near you. The ambitious attempt to restore one billion oysters to New York Harbor has kicked off a new Community Reefs program, which will bring BOP closer to the fulfillment of its long-range plan to restore the Harbor’s keystone species and the ecosystem it fostered, and in the process, to reshape New Yorkers’ relationship to their Harbor. Several new reefs have been built this summer, to join the existing reef off Governors Island, which has been the major learning platform for oyster restoration efforts in the city since 2010. These reefs, placed at strategic locations throughout the Harbor, will be sites for restoration and community education. Katie Mosher-Smith, BOP’s Reef Construction and Monitoring Manager, says that community reefs will allow New Yorkers “to see what restoration looks like..to get up close to the work that’s happening under water. They can walk up to it, they can wade up to it, they can float up to it, they can touch it. And it’s the beginning of a very large scale ecological shift that will improve the ecological stability of the Harbor— adding to the richness of each of these areas.” Two of the new reefs are located off the shores of Brooklyn Bridge Park and Bush Terminal Park; other sites are in development. They’ll do what reefs always do-filter the Harbor’s water and provide habitat for marine life such as crabs, blackfish, and sea squirts-- but they’ll also serve as ways to bring the public into the work of BOP.. Volunteering, citizen science workshops, and other forms of public engagement will bring neighbors down to the shoreline and get them involved in the hands-on work of restoration and reef monitoring. Sunset Spark, for example, has pioneered this new model of community engagement by organizing community oyster monitoring events for locals near Bush Terminal Park. An organization dedicated to helping kids and families with immigrant backgrounds learn science and technology skills, Sunset Spark is a natural local partner for the Community Reefs program. Over the course of the summer, BOP staff and Harbor School interns positioned so-called “oyster cabinets” in the protected waters of the BTP lagoon and at the base of the Manhattan Bridge in Brooklyn Bridge Park.. These welded rectangular structures were designed and built by students of Urban Assembly New York Harbor School, and the installation staffers
included several program associates who, having graduated from Harbor School, spent their summer back at work on BOP. Workers then waded out with the oysters themselves, contained in hanging “oyster files” to be slotted into the cabinets. The BTP oysters, which were deposited earlier in the season, have grown at a rate. of .5 mm/day: they quintupled their size in their first week in the Harbor’s water. Says Mike McCann, The Nature Conservancy’s BOP scientist in residence, “Community reefs are an opportunity for nonscientists to learn about their waters… The Bush Terminal Park site is great, because Sunset Park is a coastline community but doesn’t have a lot of points of access to the coast. These reefs are a way to help neighborhood people understand that they live on a waterfront, that they are a coastal community.” The Brooklyn Bridge Park site is also an exciting addition to the community reefs program. Says aquaculture intern and rising Harbor School Junior Cris Pupello,“You wouldn’t expect a beach to be right in the city, but it’s totally accessible-- we walked right down to it, right under the Manhattan bridge. I like the lab, but I love the field. It’s really cool to be hands on-- to restore the harbor, not just to prepare for restoration.” The BBP Conservancy’s many years of collecting data on water quality and fish populations in the waters surrounding the park will provide a valuable baseline to help BOP understand the changes that the new reef will bring to the ecosystem. The park has also had oyster “restoration stations”–cages with live oysters– in its waters for nearly a decade: data from these stations provides strong background information to the new reef. B O P ’s c o m m u n i t y r e e f s p r o g r a m emphasizes the fact that while success will involve restoring the Harbor’s ecology by bringing back selfsustaining reefs, it will also involve renewing New Yorkers’ relationship to their waterfronts. Community reefs are a way for local groups to partner with BOP, reactivating local waterfronts as community members of all ages take part in the hands-on work of restoring their own estuarine neighborhoods. “What kids respond to,” says Mosher-Smith, “is the sheer excitement of what’s happening under the water maybe just feet from their apartment-- you pull out an oyster cage and there are twenty different organisms, all growing in different directions, all different colors, moving, eating, pulsing, wiggling— and kids can see them, kids can touch them. That’s what’s exciting. And it’s all just outside their front doors, just down at the waterfront.”
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BOP Hosts Camp RESTORE
Back to School With BOP—cont’d from p. 1
by Jennifer Zanger
Governors Island–For the fourth summer in a row, middle schoolers from Good Shepherd Services became immersed in The Billion Oyster Project through Camp RESTORE, three days of hands on, experiential workshops at the Harbor School and beyond in the New York waterways that they all now consider their front yards! Four GSS sites participated: Brooklyn’s MS 442 and Summit Academy and Bronx programs, Beacon 45 and MS 206B. Over the three day period, campers came out to Governor’s Island to get an introduction to the Harbor School, went kayaking through one of the many boating operations on the Harbor, took a trip to the Norfolk Aquarium and more. There were so many highlights. Ocean Engineering workshops on Governor’s Island with the incredible Harbor School teacher Rick Lee, challenged participants to put their heads together to build an underwater robot. Healthy competition brought cheers and shouts as they operated their robots in the lab pool in Rick’s classroom raising the level of interest and enthusiasm about potentially attending the Harbor School for high school. Campers also built oyster cages, went on a fantastic tour of the aquaculture lab, heard a short talk about the SCUBA diving program, and, thanks to Captain Aaron Singh, had the wonderful experience of using the Vessel Operations program's bridge simulator to "drive" a simulated boat. They also went for a four hour sail on the schooner Lettie G. Howard! They came off the boat exhilarated accomplished, and enthusiastic about the prospect of attending Harbor School. If they do, sailing aboard Lettie G. Howard and building underwater robots may not be a once-in-alifetime experiences after all! Field trips-- kayaking, visiting the Aquarium, sailing aboard the Lettie G. Howard-all reinforced students' learning and gave them exposure to New York Harbor in a unique way. These are the experiences that leave an impression on young people: these students understand why Billion Oyster Project is so important, and they understand that they can have an impact on their environment. . Camp RESTORE is a perfect complement and amplifier of the BOP learning that is happening with mentors and STEM instructors at the sites through the BOP – CCERS grant. As participants get their hands dirty, play and think and work in all of these experiences, they are understanding themselves as the young scientists that they are and as stewards of the Harbor that is vital to where they live. They’re also learning that a career in maritime STEM is a real option for all of them. As with all of BOP, Camp RESTORE is a powerful way to introduce students to their city, to their potential as participants in the Maritime economy, and to their own ability to make a difference in the restoration of their harbor and world. An enormous THANK YOU to Sam Janis and Matthew Haiken who have been incredible partners in making sure that Camp RESTORE happens. Thank you to Robina for being such a fantastic host and leader to us and for hopefully being a partner in the future as we continue to think about how to create effective pipelines from underserved areas to careers in marine STEM and in the maritime industry, and thank you to Principal Jeff Chetirko for helping to realize this vision!
Right: Students at BOP House during Symposium Photograph:: New York Harbor Foundation
Sam Janis with students at the BOP Symposium
Second Annual BOP Symposium by Heather Flanagan and Lindsey Pitts Student-driven research, a scavenger hunt of Governors Island, oyster tastings, a keynote from renowned author and environmentalist Paul Greenberg, and an original oyster restoration musical were all highlights of the second annual BOP Symposium. The culminating event of the school year for students participating in BOP Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science (BOP-CCERS), the Symposium was an amazing experience for all of us at BOP and for the hundreds of students, teachers, scientists, and partners who joined us. 168 teachers and their students from 56 schools all over the city have spent the past year engaging in hands-on restoration education through inclass lessons and visits to their Oyster Restoration Stations (ORS). The annual Symposium is their opportunity to develop and present original research and celebrate their hard work and commitment to environmental stewardship. Teachers, students, and scientists arrived on Governors Island off the 10am ferry and gathered for a giant icebreaker on Fort Jay field, splitting off into groups and competing to answer oyster trivia delivered via megaphone by BOP Schools and Citizen Science Program Manager Sam Janis’ Schools then split up to set up their tables and presentations in the historic Admiral’s House. These poster presentations were an incredible testament to the students’ engagement with restoration science and their connection to New York Harbor. In addition to visiting the Symposium, schools rotated through scavenger hunt locations like Fort Jay, the BOP Public Exhibit House, the shell pile, and BOP’s eco-dock at Pier 101. In the afternoon, students headed to a big tent by the water to listen to a keynote address from Paul Greenberg and a performance of the one-act oyster musical Salty Folk by Super Hero Club House. Continued on page 7
volunteers, schools,universities, businesses, and community organizations, working together to conduct restoration-based scientific research in New York Harbor. Participants adopt an Oyster Restoration Station (ORS), and place it in one of thirty approved areas along NYC’s waterfront. After participating in a training session, participants have all the supplies and knowledge they need to monitor their ORS. Groups are responsible for monitoring their ORS at least four times per year and submitting their data to the BOP Digital Platform, which allows groups to compare their data to other stations. We believe that schools and communities can and should play direct, active, and authentic roles in the ecological restoration and stewardship of the planet, especially in places where local habitats and species have been damaged by human activity. When this happens, school becomes more meaningful and student learning is enhanced as students are able to participate in research that concerns their local ecosystem. As a result of generous support from National Science Foundation-DRL, this project has contributed to the development of an educational model known as “Curriculum and Community Enterprise for Restoration Science” (CCERS). BOP Schools and Citizen Science serves as the local anchor project of CCERS. Our ten core partners are responsible for development of the CCERS model and its five programmatic pillars, and for helping to chart the course of the BOP Schools and Citizen Science Program. Ultimately, the goal of BOP-CCERS is to contribute to both social and environmental justice, and to benefit the students and schools involved as well as New York Harbor. By participating, historically underserved schools gain thriving STEM education programs. With improved water quality in New York students and families in historically marginalized communities gain access to the Harbor for recreation, education, and economic advancement. And the Harbor itself is ecologically revitalized through increasing biodiversity and the return of stable populations of local keystone species – such as the Eastern Oyster! BOP-CCERS is a research-based partnership between New York Harbor Foundation, Pace University, New York City Department of Education, Columbia University Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, New York Academy of Sciences, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, New York Aquarium, The River Project, and Good Shepherd Services, and is funded by a threeyear educational research grant from the National Science Foundation’s Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (NSF-DRL Grant No. 1440869).
Community Reefs–Continued from Page 4 Says BOP Public Engagement coordinator Blyss Buitrago, “New Yorkers have lost their relationship to their waterways, even though we’re never far from a body of water. We hope to restore this relationship and to empower our youth to explore and experience the wonders found in our Harbor. The best way to mend this relationship is to get New Yorkers out to the water's edge. The communities near Bush Terminal Park, Brooklyn Bridge Park and elsewhere throughout the City will have the opportunity to experience their local waterfront and bear witness to the beauty of our Harbor below the water's surface through water quality monitoring and citizen science investigations . We hope through this direct in-water interaction with our coastal environment that a broad cross-section of the NYC community will be empowered to influence change in their local communities, and that these activities will foster a deeper sense of responsibility for our marine and terrestrial environments.”
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BOP’s Shell Collection Project
The joint endeavor serves as the next phase of the Living Breakwaters Project, which will provide critical defenses against coastal erosion and grow the natural habitat for finfish, shellfish and crustaceans on the South Shore. With GOSR providing $160,000 to the Harbor Foundation to support the effort, BOP has been able to double the volume of discarded shells collected from restaurants per week, moving the project closer to its ambitious goal Aside from regular collection at restaurants, the Shell Collection Program also collects shells at events such as New York Oyster Week and the Billion Oyster Party. These events have both many shells and many people in attendance, which is beneficial for both the Shell Collection Program and the Billion Oyster Project as a whole. Over 300,000 pounds, of oyster shells have been collected since the program launched in May 2015.. If 20 oyster larvae settled on each shell, then a total of more than 50 million oysters will grow as a result of the Shell Collection Program’s work. With this many shells already collected, and rates of shell collection expected to continue to increase, the Billion Oyster Project is well on its way to achieving its goal of introducing one billion oysters to New York Harbor by 2035.
by Lindsey Pitts BOP’s Shell Collection program has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year. Now serving more than 50 of New York City’s top restaurants, the SCP has just passed the 300,000 lb mark in the amount of shell collected. What does it do with all this shell? Here’s how it works. One of the best places for oysters to grow is on other oysters. At the Billion Oyster Project, each discarded oyster shell becomes the habitat for 10-20 smaller oysters. These shells, which come from over fifty restaurants around New York City, play an integral role in the development of oyster reefs. The BOP Shell Collection Program collects oyster shells from New York City restaurants in order to reuse them as part of their reef building efforts. Earth Matter, a Governors Island based composting group, has partnered with BOP to manage the physical shell collection and is responsible for the curing process. Four days a week, shells are collected from restaurants throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn and brought to a depot in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. About once a month, when the storage container is filled, the shells are transported to an Earth Matter-run site on Staten Island where they are able to cure. The curing site is located on the campus of the NRG Energy company’s Staten Island power plant; NRG has allowed BOP to use the site at no cost. During the curing process, which takes at least one year, rain and high temperatures clean the organic matter from the shells, making them ready to be reused. Some of the shells are used to grow smaller oysters, known as spats, on, while others are used as fill for the oyster reef. Since it started in May 2015, the Shell Collection Program has grown rapidly. A wide variety of restaurants have joined the program. Some serve shellfish almost exclusively, while others have a single oyster dish. Some produce thousands of shells per week, while others produce very few. By participating, restaurants can make an impact on their community, as well as help improve the harbor of their city. Many restaurants have joined because they want to contribute to the restoration of their local waterways. In addition to helping restore New York Harbor, restaurants also are able to reduce their waste and keep thousands of pounds of oyster shells out of landfills. The shell collection program also allows BOP to reach thousands of oyster lovers who eat at these restaurants. Every restaurant that participates helps increase awareness of the role of oysters in cleaning New York Harbor and their importance in the ecosystem.
Billion Oyster Party 2016 by Maddy Wachtel On May 19th, The Billion Oyster Project hosted its third annual Billion Oyster Party. The sold out event was hosted at Pioneer Works, in Red Hook, Brooklyn. With over eight hundred guests and $225,000 raised, the event was a huge success. The funds raised will go to support BOP's oyster restoration efforts as well as transporting BOP's newest vessel, the Virginia Maitland Sachs, to New York Harbor. A highlight of the Billion Oyster Party was the debut of the Billion Oyster Saison. This beer is brewed by Brooklyn Brewery and uses whole Fisher’s Island Oysters in the brewing process. Over forty oyster farms supplied oysters and seventeen restaurants supplied additional food BOP would like to thank all of the oyster farms, restaurants, and other sponsors that made this event possible.
Billion Oyster Party, 2016
Photograph: Ryan Muir
BOP Partner Restaurants Aquagrill 210 Spring Street, Manhattan Bagatelle 1 Little West 12th Street, Manhattan Bar Boulud 1900 Broadway, Manhattan Bar Sardine 183 West 10th Street, Manhattan Blue Ribbon Brooklyn 280 5th Ave, Brooklyn Blue Smoke Flatiron 116 E 27th Street, Manhattan Blue Water Grill 31 Union Square West, Manhattan BOBO 181 West 10th Street, Manhattan Brooklyn Crab 24 Reed Street, Brooklyn Brooklyn Lighthouse 145 Borinquen Pl, Brooklyn Brooklyn Oyster Party, Brooklyn Crave Fishbar 945 2nd Avenue, Manhattan Cull & Pistol 75 9th Avenue, Manhattan DBGB 299 Bowery, Manhattan Dock’s 633 3rd Avenue, Manhattan Dover 412 Court St, Brooklyn
Eataly 200 5th Avenue, Manhattan Ed’s Chowder House 44 West 63rd Street, Manhattan Eleven Madison Park-11 Madison Avenue, Manhattan Épicerie Boulud 1900 Broadway, Manhattan The Fat Radish 17 Orchard Street, Manhattan Fedora 239 West 4th Street, Manhattan Gramercy Tavern 42 East 20th Street, Manhattan Grand Army 336 State Street, Manhattan Grand Banks Pier 25, Hudson River Park, Manhattan Grand Central Oyster Bar 89 East 42nd Street, Manhattan Jack The Horse 66 Hicks Street, Brooklyn The Green Table 75 9th Avenue, Manhattan Jeffrey’s Grocery 172 Waverly Place, Manhattan L&W Oyster Co. 254 5th Avenue, Manhattan The Leadbelly 14 Orchard Street, Manhattan The Lobster Place 75 9th Avenue, Manhattan
Maison Premiere 298 Bedford Ave, Brooklyn Marea 240 Central Park South, Manhattan The Mercer Kitchen 99 Prince St, Manhattan Mermaid Inn 570 Amsterdam Ave, Manhattan Navy 137 Sullivan Street, Manhattan NoMad 1170 Broadway, Manhattan Ocean Prime 123 W 52nd Street, Manhattan Oceana 120 W 49th Street, Manhattan P.J. Clarke’s 915 3rd Avenue; 250 Vesey Street; 44 West 63rd Street, Manhattan Raoul’s 180 Prince Street, Manhattan Sel Rrose 1 Delancey Street, Manhattan The Smith 956 2nd Avenue, Manhattan The Smith NoMad 1150 Broadway, Manhattan Triomphe 49 West 44th Street, Manhattan Virgola 28 Greenwich Avenue, Manhattan
Cronin: continued from page 3 When their body gets too big, they crawl out of their shells and grow a new one. They’re gorgeous to look at. Love blue crabs. Oysters! Love oysters. One of the reasons why I love oysters is because they live in neighborhoods. They build communities. What a great metaphor for all of us. My favorite species by far, however, are you. Homo Sapiens. They’re the most interesting, they're the most resilient. There’s a bigger reason why, because inborn in us, hardwired in our physiology, our minds and souls is compassion, is the desire to do good. We are the only species on the planet that will run into a raging fire to save a perfect stranger. We are the only species on the planet who will organize our communities to help a community on the other side of the world we may never even visit. We are the only species on the planet that will consciously make personal sacrifices to save another species. We are unique. There’s a lot of bad news out there. But evil is a tiny percentage of our world. The rest of the world is about that person who wants to do good for each other. That is one of the lessons you should take from New York Harbor School. I was asked, back in 2000, to write a letter to the children of 2100. It was buried in a time capsule in Seattle. If they ever remember to dig it up, I’m not going to be around when it’s read. It’s short. I’m going to read it to you.. “There’s a very popular saying of the last thirty years of the century from which I am writing you. Here’s how it went. “If we can land a man on a moon, why can’t we…” Then we would fill in the blank with something else that society should accomplish. For example, If we can land a man on the moon, then why can’t we stop the pollution of our rivers?
If we can land a man on the moon, then why can’t we cure cancer? If we can land a man on the moon, why can’t we land a woman on the moon? Perhaps these things seem quaint to you. Perhaps pollution has ceased, diseases have been eradicated, and society has eliminated all forms of prejudice and bigotry. Perhaps you are exploring new worlds with technology that we can’t even comprehend. We hope so. These were some of the things we dreamed to do. This has been a popular preoccupation from the century in which I live: our dreams for the future. We are not unanimous about them. Many times, our behavior makes it seem like we care only about the present, but the dreams of some have changed history, and you stand on their shoulders. Do me a favor. Please read, or better yet watch, the I Have a Dream Speech, delivered by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on August, 28, 1963. It is the most famous speech from the twentieth century. King’s words gave courage to a generation of activists, such as myself, who believed that the individual destinies of people on earth were also a shared destiny. The struggle for a clean healthy environment is proof of this cherished principle. As I write this, it occurs to me that instead of that saying “if we can land a man on the moon,” it should say “if we can dream a man on the moon.” Whether it be crossing the divide of space, or crossing the divide of prejudice, the most difficult part of the journey, is daring to imagine its first step. So dream. I won’t pretend to know or predict what your dreams are or should be, but I am certain there are things you would like to change. Have the courage to predict how they might be different and dare to turn your dreams into action. I wish you a life that does honor to your children's’ children, that the bridge you build to their lives is constructed with dreams for a better world for them, as well as yourself. They will be a very happy generation indeed. So dream. Your friend, John Cronin
7 It is the policy of the Department of Education of the City of New York to provide equal employment opportunities without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, age, marital status, partnership status, disability, sexual orientation, gender (sex), military status, unemployment status, prior record of arrest or conviction (except as permitted by law) predisposing genetic characteristics, or status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual offenses and stalking, and to maintain an environment free of harassment on any of the above-noted grounds, including sexual harassment or retaliation. It is the policy of the New York City Department of Education to provide equal educational opportunities without regard to actual or perceived race, color, religion, creed, ethnicity, national origin, alienage, citizenship status, disability, sexual orientation, gender (sex) or weight and to maintain an environment free of harassment on the basis of any of these grounds, including sexual harassment or retaliation.
Barrier Reefs: Continued from first page Research existed before to strongly support this model of what reefs can accomplish, but this new study provides evidence of a local example of how this may have worked in the past. This hypothesis has been recently been given major support with a newly published study: “Increased Vulnerability Following Oyster Bed Disturbance,” led by Jonathan Woodruff of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. In this study, the team looked at the sediment deposited in slightly inland coastal ponds on Staten Island, and showed that before European settlement, there was very little sediment deposited on the bottoms of these ponds— i.e something was stopping large waves from bringing sediment far enough inland to leave its mark. And that something was most likely oyster reefs. Now, you may be wondering ‘okay so what about those Europeans and why don’t we have any oysters anymore?’. The cause is simple; overharvesting. Overharvesting is a big issue for many species all over the world. Generally, the greatest risk is disruption of the food chain,, but in the case of the oyster much more is at risk because of its role . Prior to European settlement in New York, its’ harbor was populated with abundance of oysters. Because the oyster was, so accessible, easy to harvest and so tasty, it quickly became a popular meal. So popular, demand far exceeded the available supply. Throughout the years, oyster populations declined. No more reefs. This new research is very important for the Living Breakwaters Project associated with the Billion Oyster Project, because it strongly supports the usefulness of reefs in attenuating wave energy and thus potentially mitigating damage at a local level. This research is essential in supporting the benefit of these projects in protecting New York’s vulnerable urban coasts against the extreme weather events that are becoming increasingly common in this era of climate change.
BOP Symposium: Continued from page 5 Greenberg is the James Beard Award winning author of Four Fish and American Catch. He opened by telling the students that being a fisherman makes you think about “what was, what is, and what can be.” He pointed to environmental restoration efforts including the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the recent NYC plastic bag tax as effective positive changes, and encouraged the students to keep up their stewardship of aquatic life, brimming with enthusiasm as he reminded them that it is up to their generation to bring change to marine industries. The final event of the day was the eagerly anticipated performance of Salty Folk! It tells the story of a young oyster who, “fresh from the hatchery… attempts to combat a storm and the resulting sewage
She is sent out on her restoration mission by a scientist named “Henrietta Hudson”, who explains the history of New York Harbor from before the explorer’s arrival to present day through song. The audience then learned about the key players in the harbor’s water quality, from New York’s combined sewer system to storms to humans. Next, the audience was transported to the ecological “paradise” of New York City at the time of Henry Hudson’s arrival, before overharvesting and pollution decimated the local oyster populations.Inspired by visions of oyster reefs, the musical ends with the young oyster encouraging the other oysters in her reef to team up
and start filtering water again to face the storm, making way for new organisms to show up at the reef. We’re so glad the BOP-CCERS students and community came out to share research and celebrate our project! We look forward to continuing to work together building the curriculum and BOP as a whole, and most importantly, to support more outstanding student-led restoration research in and around New York Harbor! Thanks again to the students, teachers, scientists, and partners for all their help and contributions to a very successful Second Annual Billion Oyster Project Research Symposium!
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BOP Events Sunday September 11
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River Project Wetlab Look-in
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River Project Wetlab Look-in
NY Harbor Regatta
Brooklyn Oyster Riot Brooklyn Bridge Park Rockaway Oyster Festival
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October 1
River Project Wetlab Look-in
Merroir+Terroir
River Project Wetlab Look-in
Volunteer Day ShuckEasy
Oystoberfest NYS Marine Education Association Conference
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River Project Wetlab Look-in
Heroes of the Harbor Awards Dinner & Parade of Boats The Lighthouse, Pier 61
River Project Wetlab Look-in
Volunteer Day Restoration Station Basic Training
Big Gay Oyster Brunch Lot 45, Bushwick
BOP House Open Atlantic Antic
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River Project Wetlab Look-in
Cocktail Oysters Dorlan's Tavern
River Project Wetlab Look-in BOP House Open Nat’l Parks of NY Harbor Conserv. Gala
Volunteer Day BOP House Open Shellebration Lot 45, Bushwick
BOP House Open Old Seaport Oyster Revival Submerged Festival
River Project Wetlab Look-in open every Tuesday and Thursday 2-5 pm, located at Pier 40
Graphic by Libby VanderPloeg September 16-October 22: It’s an Oyster Adventure throughout New York City! To find out more about the Billion Oyster Crawl, visit bop.nyc/