BOP participates in the Waterfront Alliance's City of Water Day

This past weekend we lucked out with cool and sunny summer weather for City of Water Day and the annual Jamaica Bay Festival on Saturday, Sept. 12!

As part of the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Park Conservancy’s virtual festival, Tanasia Swift, our Community Reefs Regional Manager, joined Alex Zablocki at JBRPC to talk about the large oysters growing in Paerdegat Basin near the Sebago Canoe Club.

“We’re not growing oysters for consumption,” explains Tanasia. “We’re growing them so they can provide habitat for animals, which increases biodiversity. Oysters are also filter-feeders so they take in nutrients and suspended particles [as they eat] — clearing the surrounding water.”

If you missed this session, you can still view the recording on our Facebook page.

At roughly the same time, BOP staff and volunteers were on the opposite side of Brooklyn in Domino Park — getting ready to pull up an Oyster Research Station! Passersby in the waterfront park got to examine Billion Oyster Project oysters up close, as well as the crabs and fish that make their home on and around clumps of oysters.

Photos by Hana Isihara

“City of Water Day in Domino Park was a blast” said Agata Poniatowski, Education Outreach Coordinator at BOP. “It was really great to meet folks from the neighborhood who are curious and excited about the Billion Oyster Project’s work in Domino Park, with support from Two Trees!

To learn more about our education programming and upcoming events, visit our STEM Education page and Events page.