BERKELEY – You ought to know that Central Regional High School’s hockey team has been making oyster beds from discarded hockey sticks to create a healthier bay environment.
Their efforts will be highlighted by the PBS show “You Oughta Know” at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, April 8.
Coach Joseph Pelliccio said the team has been doing it for a few years now, inspired by a coach at Florida Gulf Coast University. Bob Wasno is the university’s coach as well as the head of their marine science department. Pelliccio called down there because he had a student who wanted to play for the university and the two hit it off. Then, Wasno asked if Central is near the shore.
“Our whole team pretty much grew up around the water,” Pelliccio said. This provided an opportunity to care for the waterways that have made up part of their childhood.
Wasno invited the team down to check out their project, and Central started doing it up here, too.
The hockey sticks were going to be thrown out, so instead of them taking up space in a landfill, they were constructed into beds. These were then seeded with oysters. Then, they were placed in waterways in Waretown. Other local environmental groups like ReClam The Bay have also taken an interest.
PBS came out and interviewed some of the kids, and it’s been really exciting for them, Pelliccio said.
Normally, there’s a divide in after-school activities. Environmental projects are done by environmental clubs. Everyone usually stays in their lane.
That’s what’s great about this program, Pelliccio said. It is multidisciplinary, joining the interests of these student athletes. Their love of the sport has led to being hard-working environmental advocates.
Amanda Boddy, Coastal Restoration Program Manager for NYNJ Baykeepers, has been working with the team. She said the environmental benefit is great, but there’s also an educational one. This project increases stewardship of the bay, bringing in more people to help keep the habitat clean and then spread the word about it.
“It’s really an educational program to teach everyone the science behind their ecosystem,” she said.
Every step of the program encourages stewardship and inspires people to get involved, she said. From donating hockey sticks, to the end result, there are plenty of ways to share information about how important oysters are for a healthy bay.
“Oysters are ecosystem engineers,” she said. They create a habitat that provides a safe place for life forms to grow. Oyster beds also become wave dampeners which reduce flooding and weaken tidal surges.
After these beds are installed, oyster gardeners will go out and check on them and maintain them. They will collect data to see how the oysters are doing and what the water quality around them is like.
The Central project is one of several that the Baykeepers are coordinating, including ones in Red Bank, the Meadowlands conservation area, and Liberty State Park.
