Bioextraction Initiative

What is Nutrient Bioextraction?

Nutrient bioextraction, also known simply as bioextraction, is the process of removing nitrogen and other nutrients that pollute waterways through shellfish and seaweed farming (aquaculture). As shellfish and seaweed grow, they naturally absorb nutrients into their tissue. When they are absorbed the nutrients are removed from the ecosystem, improving water quality. Nutrients are essential for all life and thriving ecosystems, but in excess amounts are pollutants that cause water quality issues. Excess nutrients come from outdated wastewater infrastructure sewage discharges, stormwater, and excessive fertilizer use. 

Why is Nutrient Bioextraction Being Considered for Long Island Sound? 

The Long Island Sound Partnership’s Comprehensive Conservation Management Plan (CCMP) identifies bioextraction as a method to achieve nutrient reduction, an action of high priority due to nutrient-degraded water quality in in Long Island Sound. Nutrients in excess amounts like nitrogen fuel widespread and recurring problems in the Sound like algal blooms, which cause oxygen depletion in the water (hypoxia), fish and marine animal die-offs, and unpleasant appearance of recreational and commercial waters. Nutrient-polluted waters also lead to the loss of vital habitats for marine life across the Sound, such as eelgrass beds and tidal marshlands, as well as declining populations of species that are critical to ecosystems and our local economy.  

Bioextraction can help mitigate these issues in the Sound by reducing nutrients in areas where other strategies, like upgrades to wastewater infrastructure, are not enough to achieve nitrogen reduction goals. Because bioextraction is the only management strategy available to remove nutrients after they have already entered the Sound, it can complement existing programs that aim to reduce and prevent new nutrient inputs into the Sound, such as advanced nitrogen removal methods on wastewater treatment plant sewage discharges. 

Nutrient bioextraction can also provide other environmental benefits for the Sound like carbon capture, which mitigates ocean acidification, strengthens shells and skeletons of shellfish and corals, and reduces stress and vulnerability of fish and marine larvae. 

What is the Role of the Nutrient Bioextraction Initiative? 

The Nutrient Bioextraction Initiative was formed to promote and support a large-scale and self-sustaining aquaculture industry in waters where nutrient reduction is most needed. When shellfish and seaweed are harvested, they not only improve local water quality but also provide nutrient-rich material that can be processed into desirable products on the market. This incentive can help promote an industry that improves water quality while providing great economic and environmental stewardship opportunities for coastal fishermen interested in diversifying their incomes by shellfish and seaweed farming and entrepreneurs interested in selling local sustainable products made with bioextracted ingredients. 

The Initiative provides information to decision-makers to help them develop guidelines needed to facilitate public and private seaweed and shellfish farming and harvest operations in their coastal waters (see Nutrient Bioextraction Initiative fact sheet). This is achieved through studies to investigate the most effective species for bioextraction and most profitable after-harvest products, as well as research to establish standard and reliable methods necessary for a large-scale industry.  

The project is a collaboration between the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) and the New England Interstate Water Pollution Control Commission (NEIWPCC), with funding from the Long Island Sound Partnership. 

For more information on prior and ongoing bioextraction work, as well as information for those interested in joining the bioextraction industry, check out the side bar for: Interactive Map of Bioextraction Projects, Resources, Helpful Tools and Guides,  News Articles, and Photo Galleries

Contact

For more information about the Nutrient Bioextraction Initiative, contact the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Division of Water, at LIwaterquality@dec.ny.gov.