Volunteers held the final work session for the Huntington Northport Oyster Reef Project on Saturday.
During the summer, volunteers worked on a project to clean water and increase biodiversity in the waters of the town of Huntington by creating an oyster reef at Gold Star Battalion Beach.
“Our natural resources are precious and finite. Without our stewardship, they would cease to exist,” says Desiree Benn-Galgano, one of the project’s 60 volunteers.
Earlier this summer, oyster larvae attached to their shells grew at the Gold Star Battalion Beach nursery dock.
As the oysters grew, they were moved to designated locations to create a “spawning sanctuary” with more larvae spread throughout the waters of Huntington and Northport.
Oysters clean water and restore a sustainable oyster crop for Bayman.
“The more shellfish you put in the water, the better. It’s Mother Nature’s natural filtration,” says Barry Udelson, a marine expert at Cornell University Cooperatives.
Over the past two months, volunteers have grown over 100,000 oysters and were able to filter over 5 million gallons per day.