April 22, 2009

Oyster Discovery Center to open on Governors Island

When Governors Island reopens for the season on May 30, the new amenities will include an Oyster Discovery Center, complete with solar panels powering pumps to flush sea water through the bivalve nursery, the Governors Island Alliance announced today.

The new oyster center will be located in the Harbor School’s future Marine Science and Technology Center, next to Pier 101 on the north shore of Governors Island.

The center’s will be for more than just show — the oysters cultivated there will be distributed throughout the New York harbor. An oyster midden will also be created from empty shells donated by local restaurants to create reefs to encourage more oyster regeneration.

Oysters are nothing new to New York — Liberty Island, well before it welcomed the Statue of Liberty, was known as Great Oyster Island — and oyster reefs covered 350 square miles of the New York/New Jersey Harbor Estuary.

In his book “The Big Oyster,” Mark Kurlansky notes that “the original oyster population of New York Harbor was capable of filtering all of the water in the harbor in a matter of days.” The oysters all but died — due to over harvesting and pollution — but have started to return since the 1980s.

On April 24, the NY/NJ Baykeeper will hold its Second Oyster Restoration Conference on Governors Island. Also see the New York City Oyster Gardening Program for details on two more free lectures this season: Global Shellfish Reefs at Risk (May 14,) and Oyster Study at a Unique Site in Upper New York Harbor (June 11.)

Also on Governors Island this summer, the Folks on the Island concert series will return, but no dates or performers have been announced, according to the Governors Island Alliance.

Other previously announced Governors Island events for 2009 include a polo exhibition game, the Dorothy Parker Society’s 11th annual Parkerfest and Roaring Twenties Jazz Age Lawn Party and the opening of a Water Taxi Beach.

Picture credit: Oysters at the The New Amsterdam Market. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.

Earlier: Two upcoming September oyster festivals for NYC

April 22, 2009 10:58 AM in Cheap Stuff, Downtown, History, Kids, Sightsology

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