How cool! Restoration takes so much work — New Yorkers eat 3 million oysters a year and the shells are rebuilding the harbor:
[New York Harbor oysters] filtered the water, absorbed wave energy, and provided habitat for fish, crabs, and birds … overharvesting and pollution eliminated them …
75 … restaurants now divert their discarded oyster shells to the project …. The shells are cured in a pile until bacteria and invasive species are eliminated, then seeded with larvae …
The project has raised 200 million live oysters across 19 acres of restored reef