Coastal restaurants typically go through thousands of pounds of oyster shell in one season, which often gets sent to a landfill. However, these shells hold incredible ecological value! When wild oysters spawn, the larvae seek the shells of other oysters onto which they will set and grow into elaborate reef structures, offering crucial habitat for a diversity of other marine species.

Working with local restaurants, we have developed a robust Shell Recycling Program that we operate on the East End of Long Island at select restaurants. Our key shell recycling partners for this location are Little Creek Oysters, Anker, and Silver Sands. To join our Shell Recycling Network, fill out our Partner With Us Form.

If you would like to volunteer with our shell collection team please contact Kate Rossi-Snook at kr474@cornell.edu.

Oysters are considered a “keystone species” for marine ecosystems because of their incredible capacity to filter water and create a complex reef structure as they grow. This offers critical habitat for many important species and helps to buffer storm surges, reducing coastal erosion.

Our shellfish hatchery, nurseries, and remote setting sites, enable us to generate spat-on-shell oysters, that form 3D clusters. By raising oysters this way we have been able to build and maintain numerous oyster reefs across the East End, including a newly established receiving site in Gull Pond.

These reefs, not intended for harvested, will continue to grow, improving water quality, restoring habitat, and enhancing the wild oyster population. 

Eelgrass plants prevent erosion, mitigate climate change by storing carbon, produce oxygen, and provide essential habitat for many economically important fish and shellfish.

Both our adult shoot transplant “tortilla” method, and our Buoy Deployed seeding method have yielded great success and we our Habitat Team will continue to conduct this work annually to ensure the eelgrass meadows continue to expand.

Thanks to support from Silver Sands Motel, we will be able to conduct test plantings at a new location in Pipes Cove, in 2026.

Our dive team has historically planted eelgrass in the vicinity of Stirling Harbor with great success, and with additional funding, the site can benefit from further expansion to maximize habitat value.

Eelgrass is the preferred habitat of our native seahorse species, the Northern Lined Seahorse (Hippocampus erectus). Seahorses evolved prehensile tails to cling to eelgrass and other stable structures, allowing them to remain in their territory with their pair-bonded mate.

In partnership with Silver Sands Motel, we will address seahorses’ habitat needs through eelgrass plantings, as well as the creation of “Seahorse Hotels” - artificial habitat created from aquaculture gear. This provides stable, long-term habitat sites for seahorses to return to annually.

This new project will enable additional public engagement, as local Stewards participate in constructing prototypes and learning about the importance of this elusive species.