People ask me “Why are you interested in oysters?”
First, oysters are the primary means of removing nutrient pollution from the water. Nutrient pollution is the primary type of water contamination and the type that kills more fish than any other bu creating “dead zones” of depleted dissolved oxygen. Oysters are filter feeders that take nitrogen and phosphorus and other impurities that run off from farms and lawns upriver.
Second, oysters are picked as the primary method of protecting our communities (places no less than New York City) from future storms like Sandy.
Third, in an aquaculture setting oysters are a great tasty food source for a world soon to be facing a major worldwide protein shortage crisis.
Finally
, Money Island NJ is already the focal point of the Delaware Bay oyster industry and is poised to be in the middle of a dramatic growth spurt that industry in the years ahead. Advances in technology, both mechanical and biological, are accelerating the pace of expansion. The Delaware Bay is home to only 2% of the number of oysters at the peak of the industry decades ago. Expressed in current inflation-adjusted dollars, the value of the New Jersey oysters harvest in the Delaware Bay topped $90 Million in 1929. We have no doubt that the industry will catch up and pass that mark in he near future. State Impact NJ recently covered the beginning of the rebound of the Delaware Bay oyster industry.
Collectively
, this explains our two primary goals at Money Island:
1) Raise investment capital to participate in this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of oyster and crab aquaculture industry growth. Immediate stabilization need is $100
,000 and private investment for long term public/private redevelopment is $100,000,000.
and,
2) Preserve the rights of the multiple use stakeholders (recreational fishermen, ecotourists and other users) that might otherwise be pushed out of this unique small waterfront community by the larger, wealthier and more powerful oyster industry.
Our Money Island Working Waterfront Redevelopment Plan, available online, addresses all of these issues. I am pleased to discuss this topic in more detail with stakeholders and investors.
