Billion Oyster Project

12/08/2025

This month we’re slowing down just enough to look back at the reefs built and the students inspired. We're celebrating the small wins that add up to real change. Restoration takes time, but this year proved something big: New Yorkers are all in for restoration and environmental education at scale. Thank you for all your continued support making our vision for the future a reality.

12/01/2025

This , your impact is doubled! Our partners at are matching every gift up to $10,000, which is getting us that much closer to restoring 1 billion oysters by 2030.
Your gift today restores oysters, yes. But even more importantly, it restores connection. Between people and place, between a city and its harbor.
Every dollar helps. Gifts of $500 or more include the dedication of 2,000 oysters in your name or in honor of someone you love.
Make Your Matched Gift → link in bio.

11/19/2025

Ten years ago, we set out with an idea that many said was impossible—to bring oysters, and life, back to New York Harbor. To restore a lost ecosystem. We believed something different: that with enough hands, enough science, and enough heart, we could bring it back to life.

A decade later, that belief has become reality. We’ve watched oysters survive and reproduce in places where shellfish haven’t existed for generations. We’ve seen fish and crabs return to the reefs we built, and we’ve watched the harbor slowly begin to breathe again.

This Annual Appeal, we’re welcoming gifts of all amounts, as every dollar helps restore New York Harbor.

Gifts of $500 or more include the opportunity to dedicate 2,000 oysters in your name or in honor of someone you love.

Make Your Mark on the Harbor → link in bio.

11/12/2025

New York Harbor’s recovery is unfolding in real time — and this fall, our science team saw it firsthand!

Billion Oyster Project scientists and restoration practitioners recently surveyed the Living Breakwaters in Raritan Bay to track natural oyster recruitment—and what we found is cause for optimism: hundreds of live, thriving oysters settling onto the structures.

These breakwaters were designed as living coastal infrastructure that supports biodiversity and resilience. Seeing oysters return and build habitat on their own is a powerful sign of what’s possible when restoration is guided by science and long-term stewardship.

We’re proud to see this work featured in this week in a piece by Ben McGrath, featuring our very own Mike McCann, lifting up the ongoing efforts to restore New York Harbor at scale. As the article notes, whales and dolphins have returned ... and oysters, once here by the billions, are following.

Grateful to our partners in this landscape-shaping effort, including and , and to everyone advancing nature-based solutions in New York and beyond.

This is what restoration looks like. Stay tuned for more monitoring updates from our team.

10/08/2025

More days, more ways to Volunteer! 🦪 🍂 This month through mid-November you can sign up to volunteer with on Governors Island Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, an a couple Fridays at the Shell Pile, helping us process recycled shells from restaurants into reef structures and build reef balls.

Come out and roll up your sleeves in support of New York Harbor before the 2025 field season is over—head to https://bit.ly/48n382P to sign up!

10/06/2025

“This summer I felt like I was living with New York City, not just in it. As an Billion Oyster Project intern, I was able to get hands-on experience in each part of the process. The best part: getting to document it all. “

- MD Meheraj Hassan, Billion Oyster Project Research Associate Technician and passionate photographer.

Swipe through to see what a field season on NYC’s shorelines looks like in Hassan’s eyes. ➡️

09/25/2025

🚨 We’re looking for an Ecological Restoration Engineer to join our crew – a critical technical role in the planning and implementation of oyster reef restoration projects in New York Harbor.

This position works closely with our Restoration Project Manager, Ecologist, and Implementation Project Manager—as well as external engineering consultants—to review project design from concept through installation. If you have:

- strong technical design + drafting skills
- a deep understanding of coastal and ecological engineering principles
- experience managing consultants and deliverables in complex urban + regulatory contexts... we'd love to hear from you!

👉 Applications close October 15, 2025. View the full job description, share, and apply: billionoysterproject.org/careers

08/04/2025

A huge thank you to podcast for diving into NYC’s oyster legacy with us — and for highlighting our work to restore what was once the backbone of our harbor's ecosystem.

From the Lenape to Thomas Downing to 150 million oysters restored today, oysters have and continue to connect New Yorkers back to their waterways. 🦪 Listen to the pod & learn more: https://www.boweryboyshistory.com/2025/07/new-york-used-to-be-the-city-of-oysters-can-it-be-again.html

New York Harbor was once teeming with oysters, so many that they became the city's go-to 'fast food'. With improving water quality, could they return?

07/28/2025

Big thanks to for diving into the world of oyster farming and restoration with our Shell Recycling Manager, Charlotte Boesch—and how both come together at Billion Oyster Project to bring NYC’s waterways back to life. 🦪

Catch the full feature here:

Go to https://porkbun.com/MorningBrew25 to get $1 off your next desired domain name at Porkbun!NY was once a hub of the oyster industry before pollution and ...

07/25/2025

We’ve been adding more life to the Living Breakwaters, introducing oysters on-site…in the wild…for the very first time in . 🤞

🪨 Living Breakwaters is a series of eight rocky structures off the south shore of Staten Island, administered by and designed by , was constructed from 2022 2021 - 2024. They break waves, reduce beach erosion, and provide habitat for oysters, fin fish, and other marine species. Together, this system reduces coastal risks and enhances climate resilience for Tottenville, one of the hardest-hit communities during Superstorm Sandy.

🦪 This month, we seeded one of the breakwaters’ rocky edges, pouring 70 million, free-swimming oyster larvae along a target area enclosed by a turbidity curtain, section by section.

Swipe to see the process, and stay tuned for some results when we monitor their growth next month! Read more about the project by tapping ‘Blog’ in our link in bio.

07/24/2025

is back! 🎟️ Tickets for our annual fundraiser are now live (🎉) and if past years are any clue, they'll move fast!

Join us for a night on the city's waterfront, surrounded by New York Harbor’s most ardent supporters, restaurateurs, and oyster lovers. Each ticket directly supports our restoration and education efforts around the power of oysters to restore New York Harbor and its ecosystem. Come party with us for a cause!

~ Billion Oyster Party 2025 ~
🗓️ Thursday, September 25th
📍 Liberty Warehouse, Red Hook, Brooklyn
⏰ 6-10PM
🎟️ Visit billionoysterparty.org to get tickets