Update on the Oyster restoration project seeking to discover whether oyster spat will settle on substrate below hanging oyster cages in Jamaica Bay

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DEP Oyster Restoration Research Project
Head of Bay, Jamaica Bay
John McLaughlin
Managing Director, Office of Ecosystem Services, Green Infrastructure and Research
Jamaica Bay Task Force Meeting
November 16, 2016

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• Initial Site Surveys and Mapping
o Bottom Type
o Benthic Community Analysis
Characterize Project Area

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Hydrodynamics (ADCP)

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Oyster Nursery
• Oyster Aquaculture
• 900 foot longline
• 300 Cages
• 50,000 Oysters

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Oyster Nursery

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Oyster Nursery

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Oyster Beds
Four Reefs (10m x 50m)
Reef Base Construction
o 700 yards of clean clam shells
o 180 yards of porcelain
o 50 yards of oyster shells
Reef height ranges from 6” to 2’

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700 CY’s of Clam Shell

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Reuse of Crushed Porcelain

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Construction

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Construction

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Monitoring
• Reef Monitoring (2017 and 2018)
o Diver Quadrat Sampling
o Oyster Tong Sampling
• Settlement - Spat Collectors (2016, 2017, 2018)
o 30 sites
o No recruitment on Spat Collectors in 2016
• Oyster Condition and Disease (2016, 2017,2018)
• Fluorometry (2017, 2018)