For more than a decade, Billion Oyster Project has focused on a single question: can oysters survive and reproduce in one of the most urbanized harbors in the world? The answer is yes. Today, the organization is focused on something much larger—restoring oysters at a scale never before attempted in an urban harbor.
New York Harbor was once one of the most productive estuaries in the world, shaped by vast oyster reef systems that filtered water, created habitat, stabilized shorelines, and supported an enormous diversity of life. Over time, those reefs disappeared due to overharvesting, pollution, dredging, and development. What remained was a harbor disconnected from the ecological systems that once made it thrive.
Billion Oyster Project’s work is grounded in the belief that restoration in New York cannot happen through isolated projects alone. Restoring the harbor requires building connected systems capable of functioning at the scale of the estuary itself. That means designing, permitting, building, and monitoring oyster reefs across New York Harbor while developing the infrastructure, science, and long-term strategies necessary to support restoration over time.
The organization’s goal is to restore one billion oysters to New York Harbor by 2030. The target is a lot more than just some symbolic number that the team came up with one day out of nowhere. Rather, it represents a population-level threshold designed to move the harbor toward self-sustaining reef systems capable of reproducing and functioning without constant intervention.
Long-term monitoring has shown that small reefs alone are not enough. When populations remain too small, mortality continues to outpace reproduction. Scaling restoration is what allows reefs to begin functioning as living systems rather than temporary installations.
The broader goal is to restore the ecological foundation of the harbor itself. Oysters are what’s known as a foundational species, meaning entire ecosystems form around them. Their reefs create habitat for fish, crabs, shrimp, and countless marine organisms while also helping stabilize shorelines and reduce wave energy along vulnerable waterfronts. Oysters are also natural filter feeders, improving water quality as they grow and feed. Once reefs stabilize, broader ecosystem recovery can follow, including increased biodiversity, stronger shorelines, and more resilient nearshore habitat systems.
The restoration process begins with shell recycling. Billion Oyster Project partners with more than 75 oyster bars and seafood restaurants across New York City to collect used oyster shells and return them to the harbor. To date, more than 3.1 million pounds of shell have been recycled through the program. Instead of entering the waste stream, the shells become the foundation for future reef systems.
Once collected, shells are transported to Governors Island, where they cure outdoors for months. This process removes bacteria and organic material while preparing the shell to safely support oyster larvae. Students, volunteers, and community members participate directly in this work, helping clean shell and prepare materials that will eventually return to the water as habitat. More than 16,000 volunteers have contributed to the process so far.
This system closes the loop between the city and the harbor. A shell served at a restaurant one night may eventually become part of a living reef supporting marine life beneath the surface of New York Harbor. The idea is to meet New Yorkers where they already are—dining at some of the most iconic restaurants in the world, which just so happen to be contributing to restoration practices.
Over the last several years, Billion Oyster Project has developed a scientific system designed specifically to support harbor-wide restoration. At the organization’s remote setting facility on Governors Island, oyster larvae are introduced onto recycled shell and engineered reef structures inside tanks supplied with flowing harbor water. This process allows millions of oysters to “set” and begin growing before they are deployed into the harbor.
The reef structures themselves are designed to support long-term ecological function. Using recycled shell and engineered concrete, Billion Oyster Project fabricates reef balls that mimic the complexity of natural oyster reefs. These structures create habitat for marine life, reduce wave energy, and provide protection for young oysters as they mature. Some reef balls are seeded directly with live oysters, while others are installed as blank substrate designed to support future settlement and natural expansion over time.
Before any reef enters the water, extensive planning and monitoring take place. Restoration teams conduct site investigations, ecological surveys, and hydrodynamic analysis to understand site conditions and determine where oysters are most likely to survive and reproduce. Designs are developed in phases, and projects move through city, state, and federal permitting processes before installation can begin. Every reef is designed according to site-specific conditions and larger restoration goals tied to long-term harbor connectivity.
This work reflects a shift in how Billion Oyster Project approaches restoration today. The goal is no longer isolated reef installations, which is what operations looked like a decade ago. Today, the restoration team is focused on creating a connected harbor-wide system capable of functioning over time as a resilient estuary.
Once deployed, reefs are monitored continuously over time. Billion Oyster Project conducts regular field surveys to track oyster growth, survival, recruitment, biodiversity, and habitat formation. These monitoring efforts are critical to understanding how reefs function within the harbor and how restoration strategies should evolve moving forward.
To date, the organization has restored more than 183 million oysters across nearly 18 acres of reef in New York Harbor. Monitoring confirms that oysters are surviving for multiple years and reaching mature shell sizes across several restoration sites, including Bush Terminal Park, Paerdegat Basin, and Head of Bay. Recruitment of new oysters has also been documented at sites including Soundview, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and Staten Island’s Living Breakwaters, demonstrating that oysters are reproducing naturally within the estuary.
At the same time, Billion Oyster Project and its partners are expanding how ecological change is measured throughout the harbor. In 2025 alone, monitoring teams documented more than 4,000 fish, crabs, shrimp, and other invertebrates representing 44 unique taxa across restoration sites. Additional approaches, including underwater video and environmental DNA sampling, are helping create a more complete understanding of how biodiversity responds as reefs return.
The impact of this work extends beyond oysters themselves. By 2030, Billion Oyster Project aims to establish the foundation for a self-sustaining oyster population while building the systems required to support restoration long into the future. That includes restoration vessels, oyster production facilities, monitoring infrastructure, streamlined permitting processes, and a workforce capable of sustaining harbor restoration at scale.
Equally important is the cultural impact of the work. Restoration is not happening separately from the city around it. Students participate in field science and restoration projects connected directly to the harbor. Volunteers fabricate reef structures on Governors Island. Communities engage with restoration efforts happening along their shorelines. Restaurants contribute directly through shell recycling partnerships. Billion Oyster Project’s model is designed to integrate ecological restoration into aspects of life in New York City.
The goal has always been larger than oysters alone. Billion Oyster Project is measuring whether New York Harbor itself can become more resilient and capable of sustaining life without constant intervention. Oysters are the starting point. Once that ecological foundation stabilizes, broader ecosystem recovery can follow. The work underway in New York Harbor is helping demonstrate what large-scale restoration can look like in a global city—and what becomes possible when cities choose to work with nature rather than against it.
A thriving reef cluster, building habitat for generations
