KEYPORT, N.J. — A decade of efforts to restore marine life to the polluted Raritan Bay suffered a serious setback on Monday when, under orders from the state, an environmental group pulled up the oysters it had cultivated there.
But after years of wrangling with the State Department of Environmental Protection, the group, NY/NJ Baykeeper, said it was not surrendering, just beating a tactical retreat. The state agency wants the project to stop completely, but Baykeeper insists it still has the right to seed new oysters in a small patch of Keyport Harbor, in Raritan Bay.
Oysters, which can act as natural water filters but also absorb toxins from their habitat, present something of a Catch-22: scientists say that growing them could play a major role in returning the bay to health, but state regulators, obliged to prevent dangerous seafood from reaching consumers, say the water is too polluted to allow it.
Bob Martin, the state environmental protection commissioner, said he gave the order for Baykeeper to remove its oysters reluctantly, because “we think their research is good research.”
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Photo by Sarah Rice for The New York Times