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Stephen Fleming ‹ EF Academy Blog

I am proud to be the supervisor of the Environmental and Sustainability Club, mainly because of the great student leaders who founded, motivate and manage this group. Our goal is to show EF Academy students that science can be research, service, and wonder.
One way that our department focuses on our goal of services is by partnering with the <a href="https://billionoysterproject.org/">Billion Oyster Project (BOP)</a> and volunteering our time to help them reach their goal of restoring one billion oysters to the New York harbor and surrounding estuaries by 2035.
In the early 1900s, New York City was the oyster capital of the world. However, due to pollution and over-harvesting, the numbers declined until eventually, no oysters could be found in the New York Harbor and Hudson River. In 1972 the Clean Water Act was established and the Hudson River began to rebound to its previous water quality levels. Fish, whales, dolphins, and seals have returned to our waters—a testament to the effectiveness of the Clean Water Act. While the river’s health rebounded, however, the oysters could not repopulate the Hudson River themselves.
You may be wondering: Why are oysters so important? First, they are natural filters, cleaning 75 gallons of water per day as they draw in plankton (their food source) and sediment from the water column. Second, oysters build impressive reefs, providing nurseries for a variety of fish including striped bass, herring, and even the lined seahorse. These smaller fish attract larger sport fish, marine mammals, and seabirds, ensuring the health and balance of the ecosystem.
The BOP’s goal is lofty. How can one organization possibly restore one billion oysters? The answer is simple: through citizen science. Twelve of our club members traveled to Governor’s Island, home of BOP, to help them build oyster research stations (ORS), small cages that will house 10 live young oysters. These ORS’s are a vital tool to establish small colonies of oysters as well as monitor water conditions and oyster growth. The ORS’s will be delivered to schools, citizen scientists and other organizations to help reach the goal of one billion oysters by 2035.
Check out the next generation of citizen scientists, as our EF students think globally by acting locally.
<img alt="Billion Oyster Project" class="aligncenter wp-image-13072 size-full" height="640" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1391.jpeg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1391.jpeg 480w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1391-225x300.jpeg 225w" width="480">
<img alt="Billion Oyster Project" class="aligncenter wp-image-13073 size-full" height="640" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1396.jpeg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1396.jpeg 480w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1396-225x300.jpeg 225w" width="480">
<img alt="Billion Oyster Project" class="aligncenter wp-image-13074 size-full" height="640" sizes="(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px" src="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1398.jpeg" srcset="https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1398.jpeg 480w, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/IMG_1398-225x300.jpeg 225w" width="480">

I am proud to be the supervisor of the Environmental and Sustainability Club, mainly because of the great student leaders who founded, motivate and manage this group. Our goal is to show EF Academy students that science can be research, service, and wonder. One way that our department focuses on our goal of services is …

Sustaining a population with the Billion Oyster Project in New York - EF Academy Blog

Sustaining a population with the Billion Oyster Project in New York ‹ EF Academy Blog

Sustaining a population with the Billion Oyster Project in New York

Sustaining population billion oyster project new york

The Tropical Research and Education Center (TREC) in San Pedro, Belize, has always felt like home to me, and for the past seven years I have felt honored to share this experience with the students at <a href="https://www.efacademy.org/en/new-york/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">EF Academy New York</a>. When students ask me to describe TREC, I say, “it has accommodations that feel like summer camp, learning experiences that feel like university, and staff that feels like family.”
Senior, Micah, summed up the trip in one word, “simplicity.” He said it was nice to be reminded that there can be so much joy in the simple things we sometimes take for granted.
In a world filled with resort destinations trying to be the biggest, best and most lavish, it is refreshing to walk down a muddy, unpaved road shaded by palms and mangroves. To pass by smiling faces on the porches of homes and businesses aged by the salty winds off the sea and the hurricanes that visit in summer. To be nourished by simple home cooked meals made with care and the freshest of ingredients, not to mention tortillas made from scratch. To find refuge in a tattered hammock in the garden with a good book in hand. To slip into the warm pool after a grueling five-hour swim among the corals and fish on the reef. To eventually surrender to the slow internet speed, and instead play a game of Uno with peers or grab a fish identification guide from the shelf to learn more about the creatures encountered early that day.
Many times, students ask if we will scuba dive. They are disappointed when I say it is a snorkel trip only. They usually ask why, but I have never had a good way to explain the beauty of exploring the reef with only a mask, snorkel and a pair of fins. But now I do: the joy of simplicity. I hope they see the joy in challenging themselves to swim deeper and hold their breath longer. Without the hissing of the regulator, they will hear the symphony performing for them under the water’s surface. Rainbow parrotfish chomping on coral, the percussion of snapping shrimp and the peculiar grunts of the toadfish all seemingly playing in tune. It is a simple song, but no doubt a joyous one.
*Pictured is Seungyeon (Sam), lost in the simple joys of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef.

TREC Belize has accommodations that feel like summer camp, learning experiences that feel like university, and staff that feels like family.

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Stephen Fleming

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