Photo courtesy of NY/NJ Baykeeper

$1 million in funding for the Benthic Habitat Restoration project is being provided under a civil settlement between Chevron U.S.A., Inc. and the New Jersey Department of Law and Public Safety.  The settlement arose from a February 2006 oil spill in the Arthur Kill, the strait separating Staten Island from New Jersey.

Conservation Resources received the restoration contribution from Chevron, and is managing the funding on NY/NJ Baykeeper’s behalf. “We are delighted to be involved with this important restoration effort,” said Michael Catania, President of Conservation Resources, who also noted that “this exemplary project represents an opportunity to restore a critical urban ecosystem in the midst of the most densely populated state in the nation.”

Click here for the 2007 press release.

This unprecedented habitat restoration project is located at the historic site of the “Great Beds” of the Raritan Bay. At one time the oyster reef that made up the Great Beds stretched for over five miles from the confluence of the Raritan River and the Arthur Kill east toward the Atlantic Ocean. The Great Beds were at the center of oystering and fishing activities on Staten Island, NY, and in Keyport, South Amboy, and Perth Amboy, NJ. Degradation due to overfishing and dredging resulted in loss of productivity by the 1920′s.

The goal of this project is to restore underwater (benthic) habitat that was lost due to this degradation. Organisms that live in healthy benthic habitat filter suspended sediments and micro-algae from large quantities of water. The resulting clarity improves growth of submerged aquatic vegetation, increases dissolved oxygen in the water, and creates conditions favorable to a productive and biologically diverse benthic ecosystem.

The main component of this benthic habitat restoration project will consist of reef restoration. Reef restoration will create and enhance the important benthic habitat for living aquatic resources, create biodiversity, and be self-replicating and sustainable. The reef supports keystone species which provide food and shelter for countless estuarine species.

This is the largest benthic habitat restoration project of its kind in Raritan Bay. Initially, project partners will determine baseline conditions for water quality and quantity, including water contaminants, hydrologic flows, dissolved oxygen, pH, nutrients, turbidity, and site contours. They will evaluate the costs and general effectiveness of various reef restoration methods.

NY/NJ Baykeeper would like to begin their restoration effort by increasing the habitat size and research component of the Keyport Harbor Reef in Raritan Bay, and of the Oyster Point Reef in the Navesink River in Red Bank, NJ. They would also like to continue educating residents of NY and NJ to increase awareness and foster a sense of stewardship of the restored reefs.

Ultimately, the restoration of this benthic habitat will:

• provide food and shelter for countless estuarine species
• contribute to the health of the Great Beds and adjacent salt marsh
• foster public awareness and appreciation of this biologically important ecosystem by establishing a stakeholder/ stewardship connection
• stabilize the estuary bottom against excessive erosion
• decrease sediment loads
• improve fishing at an adjacent fishing beach
• bring together project partners committed to research-based ecological restoration

Ecosystem Services Provided:

Water Protection, Filtration & Control: Water quality- improvement of tidal water quality, erosion prevention

Biological Diversity: Habitat-federal threatened species habitat protection, restoration of biologically diverse benthic ecosystem

Recreation & Aesthetics: Environmental education- public awareness and stewardship of benthic ecosystems

Total Project Cost: $1.3 million

Status: Rutgers will conduct a feasibility study to review literature, compare restoration technologies, determine cost effectiveness of various technologies, and make recommendations for a benthic habitat restoration plan in Raritan Bay.

If you would like further information about this project, please contact Conservation Resources Inc.

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