The Return of New York Harbor’s Oysters
Pete Malinowski knows oysters like a winemaker knows grapes. The founder of Billion Oyster Project grew up on tiny Fishers Island on Long Island Sound, the son of aquaculturists who fell into oyster farming by accident. After college, Malinowski found his way to New York City and started the Billion Oyster Project in 2014, with the goal of restoring 1 billion oysters to New York Harbor by 2035.
New York Harbor was lousy with oysters until the mid 19th century, when untreated sewage and other pollution streams started killing harbor life, including its native population of oysters. It wasn’t until the early 1970s, with the passage of legislation like the Clean Water Act, that life started creeping back into the harbor. Today the waters around New York are cleaner than they’ve been for more than 100 years, says Malinowski, which has allowed for oyster populations to thrive once again.
Besides being sustainable and nutritious, an adult oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water a day, and oyster reefs serve as natural breakwaters that reduce flooding and erosion. Oyster reefs also foster biodiversity, providing a habitat for hundreds of species. Malinowski compares them to trees in a forest, though unlike a forest, “oysters are under water, so no one sees them,” he says. “I’m trying to make New York Harbor present for more New
