The Head of Bay project was a collaboration led by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to design, install, maintain, and monitor an oyster demonstration project.
The project is located in the eastern end of Jamaica Bay – Head of Bay — in Nassau and Queens County. The success of oyster populations recovering in Jamaica Bay has been historically limited by the lack of substrate and reproducing adult oysters, which is what Billion Oyster Project and our partners are actively working to provide moving forward.
This summer {2023} we will grow the reef from 40,000 to 40,000,000 oysters!
YEAR INSTALLED
2016 - 40,00 Oysters
COMING SOON:
2023 - 40,000,000 Oysters
NYC BOROUGH
Queens
WATERWAY
Head of Bay
Past & Present PARTNERS
Hudson River Foundation
HDR Engineering Inc.
Cornell Cooperative Extension
Dr. Ray Grizzle at University of New Hampshire
Inwood Country Club
New York City Department of Environmental Protection
Town of Hempstead
Urban Assembly New York Harbor School
PRESS COVERAGE
“Head of Bay isn’t just another body of water or a degraded Jamaica Bay shoreline near JFK Airport,” explains Danielle Bissett, Director of Restoration at Billion Oyster Project. “Beneath its surface are four shell reefs (32 x 164 ft), amounting to an acre of restored habitat — teeming with life. We’re thrilled to return to Head of Bay next summer to support the growth of a self-sustaining oyster population. On top of the 40 million juvenile oysters that Billion Oyster Project will introduce to two of the reefs, the Town of Hempstead will deploy 20 million spat on the other two reefs!”
— Danielle Bissett, Director of Restoration