Let's bring the oysters back
To the Editor:
Last week the Oyster Festival returned after a three-year hiatus due to COVID. The festival has been a wonderful way to celebrate what has been symbolic of our bay for centuries -- an abundance of oysters.
But, as was the case in 2019, none of the 60,000 oysters consumed at this year’s event came from Oyster Bay. That’s because very few oysters remain in our harbor.
Throughout history, the bay has been among the most productive shellfishing harbors in New York. Not long ago, it produced as much as 90 percent of all the oysters harvested in the state. The vast majority of those oysters were produced at the Frank M. Flower & Sons hatchery and seeded in the bay to grow for later harvest by Flower and local baymen. But that hatchery has been closed for several years and the company is no longer seeding the vast acres of the bay that it leases from the Town of Oyster Bay. While the company may cease operations in the harbor when its current lease expires in 2024, it retains the right to continue harvesting until that time. This could result in the leased beds being largely devoid of shellfish.
Combined with the fact that the shellfish populations on the remaining non-leased public portions of the bay are already badly depleted, we face the potential for a bleak situation for fishermen and recreational users.
In a natural sustainable state, shellfish provide a wide range of ecological benefits. They filter and clean the water, are a valuable food source, and reproduce to provide seed to other areas of the bay. Reefs of oysters protect shorelines from erosion, and they provide shelter and habitat for numerous other species, So any estuary with a declining shellfish population is itself in decline.
Friends of the Bay has been working closely with the town to create a bay management plan to ensure a healthy shellfish population and, in turn, a healthy and productive bay. This plan must prioritize maintaining a shellfish population in sufficient numbers to provide all the benefits of a natural ecosystem. This will, in turn, provide sustainable commercial harvests. This plan should include the following:
To its credit, the Town has been very receptive to our suggestions and has already implemented many of them.
For the future of the harbor and all who benefit from it, it is imperative that we continue to build upon these early successes in providing for the replacement of shellfish being rapidly depleted by harvesting, pollution and natural forces. Failing to do so will be catastrophic for our bay.
But if we take the necessary actions, hopefully the tens of thousands of visitors to the Oyster Festival once again will enjoy oysters from Oyster Bay.
- Friends of the Bay
Last week the Oyster Festival returned after a three-year hiatus due to COVID. The festival has been a wonderful way to celebrate what has been symbolic of our bay for centuries -- an abundance of oysters.
But, as was the case in 2019, none of the 60,000 oysters consumed at this year’s event came from Oyster Bay. That’s because very few oysters remain in our harbor.
Throughout history, the bay has been among the most productive shellfishing harbors in New York. Not long ago, it produced as much as 90 percent of all the oysters harvested in the state. The vast majority of those oysters were produced at the Frank M. Flower & Sons hatchery and seeded in the bay to grow for later harvest by Flower and local baymen. But that hatchery has been closed for several years and the company is no longer seeding the vast acres of the bay that it leases from the Town of Oyster Bay. While the company may cease operations in the harbor when its current lease expires in 2024, it retains the right to continue harvesting until that time. This could result in the leased beds being largely devoid of shellfish.
Combined with the fact that the shellfish populations on the remaining non-leased public portions of the bay are already badly depleted, we face the potential for a bleak situation for fishermen and recreational users.
In a natural sustainable state, shellfish provide a wide range of ecological benefits. They filter and clean the water, are a valuable food source, and reproduce to provide seed to other areas of the bay. Reefs of oysters protect shorelines from erosion, and they provide shelter and habitat for numerous other species, So any estuary with a declining shellfish population is itself in decline.
Friends of the Bay has been working closely with the town to create a bay management plan to ensure a healthy shellfish population and, in turn, a healthy and productive bay. This plan must prioritize maintaining a shellfish population in sufficient numbers to provide all the benefits of a natural ecosystem. This will, in turn, provide sustainable commercial harvests. This plan should include the following:
- Reserve large areas as spawner sanctuaries and make seeding there a priority.
- Identify and protect shoreline areas suitable for oyster reef restoration and secure funding for their construction.
- Encourage sustainable oyster growth off the bay bottom that minimizes disruptive harvest practices.
- Establish a public hatchery capable of producing significant numbers of shellfish seed. (The town already has a small hatchery and is working on an expanded one.)
- Prohibit relocation of shellfish from areas closed for harvesting due to poor water quality unless there is a sound environmental reason so these areas can serve as shellfish spawning sanctuaries.
- Increase enforcement and fines for poaching.
- Create a town Shellfish Advisory Committee of stakeholders to regularly review conditions and make recommendations. (The town has already agreed to do this.)
To its credit, the Town has been very receptive to our suggestions and has already implemented many of them.
For the future of the harbor and all who benefit from it, it is imperative that we continue to build upon these early successes in providing for the replacement of shellfish being rapidly depleted by harvesting, pollution and natural forces. Failing to do so will be catastrophic for our bay.
But if we take the necessary actions, hopefully the tens of thousands of visitors to the Oyster Festival once again will enjoy oysters from Oyster Bay.
- Friends of the Bay
2020/2021 Annual Water Quality Report
Did you know...?
Did you know that Friends of the Bay has been monitoring water quality for more than 20 years?
Once every two weeks from May through October, we collect data from various locations in Oyster Bay, Cold Spring Harbor and Mill Neck Creek including temperature, pH, salinity, water clarity and dissolved oxygen. We also take water samples that the Nassau County Department of Health (NCDOH) tests for enterococci bacteria and fecal coliform bacteria.
We initiated our water quality monitoring program to continue one established by the NCDOH that was terminated due to budget cuts. The program was developed in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, local governments and other volunteer monitoring groups around Long Island Sound.
Water quality monitoring is necessary to help preserve the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary and to increase public awareness of local threats to water quality.
Data collected each year is available for use by federal, state and local government agencies, as well as the general public. You can view our current data as well as download a copy of our water quality monitoring report for the 2020 and 2021 seasons by visiting our website at https://www.friendsofthebay.org/water-quality-data.html
We have also been participating in Save the Sound’s Unified Water Study since 2017. For more information on that program, visit https://soundhealthexplorer.org/about/unified-water-study/
Fore more fun facts, follow our "Did you know" series every week on Facebook and Instagram, and every other week in the Oyster Bay Herald.
We initiated our water quality monitoring program to continue one established by the NCDOH that was terminated due to budget cuts. The program was developed in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, local governments and other volunteer monitoring groups around Long Island Sound.
Water quality monitoring is necessary to help preserve the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary and to increase public awareness of local threats to water quality.
Data collected each year is available for use by federal, state and local government agencies, as well as the general public. You can view our current data as well as download a copy of our water quality monitoring report for the 2020 and 2021 seasons by visiting our website at https://www.friendsofthebay.org/water-quality-data.html
We have also been participating in Save the Sound’s Unified Water Study since 2017. For more information on that program, visit https://soundhealthexplorer.org/about/unified-water-study/
Fore more fun facts, follow our "Did you know" series every week on Facebook and Instagram, and every other week in the Oyster Bay Herald.
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND SOUND
by Jennifer Wilson-Pines
-Originally published in The Island Now
Photo credit: Jennifer Wilson-Pines
