Justin Spinelli (left) and
Courtney Brown, seniors at
the New York Harbor School,
pull out an oyster ile, a moni-
toring structure designed
to mimic a reef, to measure
growth and survival. A lone
oyster can ilter up to 50 gal-
lons of water daily; one billion
of them could clean the entire
harbor every three days. The
Billion Oyster Project is try-
ing to make that happen.
Between the project’s incep-
tion in 2014 and January of
this year, more than 6,
local students and thousands
more volunteers have planted
more than 25 million new mol-
lusks while collecting data on
water quality, oyster longevity,
and marine biodiversity.PHOTOGRAPH BY
BENJAMIN
VON WONG10 JULY/AUGUST _ 201