In the east side of New York harbor, the New York State side, the lowly oyster is a hero. Not only will restored oyster beds help filter and clean the water of the harbor, they could also play a critical role in limiting damage from hurricanes. After Hurricane Sandy, oysters have become part of the the disaster mitigation plans for future hurricanes.
On the New Jersey side of the harbor, however, the oyster remains an outlaw, a dangerous criminal to be routed out. New Jersey bans the restoration of oyster beds in polluted waters, such as New York harbor, based on the theory that an oyster smuggler might steal from the new oyster beds, sell the oysters and that consumers could be made sick by the oysters from polluted waters. This apparently is not a concern on the New York side of the harbor. The oysters in the new beds are not nearing commercial size in any case. So, on one side of the harbor, the oyster is praised for helping to clean polluted water and on the other it is banned because the water is polluted. Madness, indeed.
New Jersey’s oyster madness: Reefs rise in NY while N.J. ban continues
Nothing surprising here, governments think like that all over the US.
That is clearly insane as far as sound environmental policy decisions go. I guess the middle managers at the agency are reflexive transom-coverers. Still, I’ll have to ask my old coworker for his opinion on the madness. Before working here in Florida he was with New Jersey DEP, and he might have some insight into what sort of people are at the reins up there.