Water purifier 'unique' from ... oysters

For many years, the New York port has fallen into pollution and depleted marine life. New Yorkers had to embark on water purification, cleaning and restoration of marine ecosystems here. And their filtering 'technology' is . oysters.

With the goal of restoring coral reefs in the waters of New York City (USA), since 2014, the 'Billion Oyster' (One billion oysters) water purification project takes advantage of the species' natural water filtration capabilities. Oysters started putting into deployment.

Protect marine environment

The project collects oyster shells from more than 70 restaurants in New York and then takes them to Governors Island - a small island on the east side of the Statue of Liberty.

People clean oysters by drying them outdoors for at least 1 year. Clean oysters are transferred to New York Harbor - a maritime high school on Governors Island. Here, school students will collect oyster samples to check their size and health status. Indicators of water safety are also analyzed to assess positive changes caused by oysters.

New York Harbor students are measuring artificial reef samples on recycled oyster shells.(Source: Billion Oyster Project).

Baby oysters will be grown in the laboratory until they reach the right size, then will be attached to the available shells, before transplanting into the biological dyke layer. Thanks to this unique method, the 'One billion oysters' project has recovered about 12 reefs off the coast of New York, creating a 3.2km long dyke.

According to scientists, each adult oyster can clean more than 227 liters of water every day. Not only that, side-by-side oysters will form 'oysters', providing habitats for other marine creatures such as crabs, shrimp, fish . and helping the New York coast fight against harsh weather. .

In addition to helping create an ideal habitat for shrimp, crabs, fish, oyster-based learning dwellings also help break the waves and protect the coast, while reducing the risk of large waves to human life.

Project leader Pete Malinowski said: 'If there are coral reefs created by oysters, the entire coastal ecosystem is definitely restored. The oysters are important contributors to the plan of integrating, cleaning up water and helping to actively respond to climate change '.

Since its launch, the 'One billion oysters' project has restored about 30 million oysters to the waters in New York City. Although this is only the first step in the process of restoring a diverse ecosystem that has thrived in this city, Team Leader Pete Malinowski said the project had achieved positive results in 2018 when the number Wild oysters cling to artificial oysters are increasing.

Concerned public opinion

Thanks to the high feasibility, the 'Billion Oyster' project has attracted many participants, especially young students. The group cooperates with more than 75 public schools in 5 New York City counties. Students were able to participate in many field trips to coral reefs or research stations to learn how to measure water quality and monitor oyster growth.

The group also attracted the attention of many organizations and individuals in New York. In addition to the main funding from the US Government, the group has recently been extended by the US National Science Foundation and provided a $ 4.5 million grant over the next two years. After completing the goal of cleaning up ports in New York, the project will be implemented in other states in the US such as Virginia and Maryland.

Towards expanding the scope of cooperation, recently, the 'Billion Oyster' project also 'shook hands' with another research group called 'Living Breakwaters' (natural breakwaters) to create human reefs. creating more than 3km along the coast of Staten Island, southwest of New York City. In the future, billions of oysters can cling to this artificial dyke and create natural coral reefs with a wider scale and faster speed.

Project leader Pete Malinowski expects this project to continue to inspire city residents, especially students, to engage more actively in environmental and ecological issues.'People will become more and more aware that the reason New York harbor is contaminated is because of human waste, including garbage and plastic. In addition, many people also began to understand the important role of oysters in ocean cleaning , 'said Malinowski.

Scientists say that to achieve the goal of multiplying one billion oysters and fully recovering the marine environment by 2050 will be a long way ahead, but if it can be done, the US will surely achieve Great environmental benefits.