On December 5th, my group, another social justice group and I volunteered at the Billion Oyster Project, with the help of Robina Taliaferrow. The Billion Oyster Project focuses on spawning and tagging oysters because and when they are put into the Hudson River, they help clean the water, and make it more liveable. They would like to put 1 billion oysters in the river, because not only are oysters native to Manhattan and the surrounding area, but the oysters take the water and filter it, letting out the clean, fresh water. Robina Taliaferrow first gave us a small tour of the lab, a place where high school students can work and complete projects related to marine life. We then headed out towards the docks, where we started the hands on work. Robina pulled out cages of oysters that were in the water, and put then on the dock. We, the students, created two groups, one with Solomon, Luke and Atticus, and the other with Nina, Me, Ruthanne and Ruby. We then proceeded to take the oysters out of the cages to see if they were dead or alive, then someone (me) would mark a tally on the pieces of paper we were given. Not only were there oysters in and stuck to the muddy cage, but there were also small crabs and fish hiding amongst the oysters. We all wore working gloves, but somehow our hands still got wet and numb. Hopefully the Billion Oyster Project achieves their goal of putting 1 billion oysters in the river soon.
