Restoring Oysters in Lemon Creek, Staten Island

This presentation outlines the experimental design and results of an oyster restoration study conducted in Lemon Creek, a marshy wetland on the southeastern coast of Staten Island. Starting in the summer of 2017, twelve undergraduate researchers from Wagner College placed tens of thousands of juvenile oysters in special cages at 15 sites along the length of Lemon Creek, from the brackish lagoons near the mouth to the tidal marshes up by the source. Researchers then returned to the site on a number of occasions over the course of the next six months to measure how many of the young oysters had survived and how fast they were growing. The experiment ultimately determined that oysters would in fact grow at near nominal rates in Lemon Creek, especially in the deeper, faster flowing waters near the mouth. Conditions were somewhat less favorable in the shallower waters higher up the creek, where reduced water flow led to a build-up of silt in and around the oyster cages. By the end of six months, researchers concluded that oysters can survive and even thrive in the waters of Lemon Creek.

The Lemon Creek study provided an empirical foundation for Wagner College’s research partners at the Billion Oyster Project to pursue a much larger and more permanent oyster installation in the area. The hope is to seed enough oysters around this location so that the population will eventually become self-sustaining.