October 5, 2006 Non-edible bivalves could help clean up the
river By Scott Fallon They are the slimy aphrodisiac, savored
only by connoisseurs. Oysters may be an acquired taste, but they
are universally loved by environmentalists. So much so that
thousands of the mollusks will soon be dumped into the
Hackensack River with the hope that they will act as a natural
water treatment system for the recovering waterway. The
Meadowlands Commission will likely approve a $30,000 study at
its Oct. 13 meeting on whether an oyster reef can be established
in parts of the lower Hackensack River. If the report is
favorable, commission officials expect to place thousands of
juvenile oysters in three to five secluded locations in the
river by March. There is a concern over whether a large number
of oysters can survive in a river that is slowly coming back to
life after decades of pollution. "Some parts are cleaner than
others so right now we're identifying locations with a high
probability of success," said Francisco Artigas,