The Eastern Oyster in NYC

Just this past weekend, I attended the Science Council of New York City (SCONYC) at Stuyvesant High School.  There were some very useful workshops/lectures given throughout the day based on various sciences taught at the secondary level.

One lecture I found most insightful was one given by a college professor named Thomas Greene from Kingsborough Community College.  His lecture was centered around a Marine Biology course that he currently teaches at the undergraduate level.  He specifically got into studies about certain mollusks such as the Eastern Oyster (Cassostrea virginica).  The Eastern Oyster thrives off phytoplankton and are filter feeders.  Since they do eat plants, we would considers these filter feeders primary consumers.  They rapidly reproduce and are mainly hermaphroditic.  To learn more about this oyster, click on the following link: Eastern Oysters

Mr. Greene's class goes out on certain semesters to their oyster garden located behind the school's campus in Sheepshead Bay, NY.  Students are required to do various types of water quality tests such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen levels, salinity etc.  He, unfortunately, informed us that due to Hurricane Sandy this past October (2012), 9 of 15 current gardens located in NYC were wiped out.  Luckily, his class was able to save their garden by relocating them to a more suitable place on campus in the water.  Mr. Greene claimed that anyone in NYC can form an oyster garden in the area; there are few restrictions, however. Click here if you are interested on forming your own oyster garden! 

                                          Picture taken by author : Jamaica Bay 

The Eastern oyster's population in NYC is actually high, but they are not sold to consumers in the area due to the high amounts of pollution in New York's waters.   This occurred in the early 1900s when tons of raw sewage was thrown into Jamaica Bay (picture above), causing the surrounding waters in the area to become very polluted.  Any of the Eastern Oysters served at restaurants, Thomas Greene claimed, is caught from Long Island waters (Nassau and Suffolk county areas).  The waters surrounding the islanders of Manhattan, Long Island and Staten Island have become cleaner.  However, it is still not safe to consume these oysters until the water has recovered enough for it to be considered not polluted. 

SCONYC was a very interesting council and I am glad to have gone.  That's all for now.