Re-Clam the Bay
The Re-Clam the Bay project is an initiative spearheaded by Friends of the Bay in cooperation with the Town of Oyster Bay to bring back a healthy clam population to our bays.
But to do this we need your help!
100% of the donations received will go to fund the Re-Clam the Bay project.
Over the past decade, our local waters have experienced a drastic decline in clam and oyster populations.
Friends of the Bay is focusing on clams for this project because they have a higher survival rate than oysters but are also highly effective at filtering water.
Our goal, working with the Town of Oyster Bay, is to stock the town’s newly designated and protected shellfish sanctuary areas with locally sourced adult hard clams. These clams will never be harvested and will be left to spawn and help repopulate our bays.
For two years, the clams will be spread over the shellfish sanctuaries in Oyster Bay, Cold Spring Harbor and Mill Neck Creek during two “drop days” in the spring and two in the fall of each year.
Thank you to the Sabrina Navaretta Memorial Foundation for their sponsorship of Re-Clam the Bay
Suggested Donations:
$15 = 1/4 Bushel
$25 = 1/2 Bushel
$50 = Full Bushel (approximately 100 clams)
Or Become a Sponsor:
$250 = Cover the cost of 5 bushels to be dropped in one shellfish sanctuary.
$500 = Cover the cost of 10 bushels to be dropped in multiple shellfish sanctuaries.
$1,000 = Cover the cost of 20 bushels to be dropped in multiple shellfish sanctuaries.
$1,500 = Cover the cost of one entire "drop day" providing clams for all shellfish sanctuaries.
$3,000 = Cover the cost of two "drop days" providing clams to all shellfish sanctuaries.
$6,000 = Cover the cost for an entire season (all four "drop days") of the Re-Clam the Bay Project.
Below is a letter from Al Samek, former president of the North Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association regarding the Re-Calm the Bay Project
To all that have a love of Oyster Bay,
On the week of May 4th, a project dear to my heart came to fruition. Both Friends of the Bay and the North Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association worked with the Town of Oyster Bay to restart the clamming industry in our waters. I would like to give credit to Friends of the Bay who worked hard to get the Re-Clam the Bay project started. We also want to say thank you to all who have contributed money to this needed project.
I wish to explain to the public how this endeavor works and the benefits to be realized. Hard shelled clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) spawn when the water reaches 50 degrees (usually around May 10th). If you concentrate the water with eggs and sperm by having a large bio-mass of clams in a small area, your odds for sperm and egg meeting increases. I know of two successful man-influenced spawning successes to kick start a boom of shellfish. One was in the 1970’s when a leaseholder piled thousands of bushels (chowder clams) in West Harbor Oyster Bay. There was a ten-year period of plenty as a result of this chowder clam transplant.
More recently, the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Project at Stony Brook University accomplished the same result by creating chowder clam sanctuaries in Shinnecock Bay. The project was privately funded. They took a bay that was not productive and turned it into a very viable body of water.
Now why should the average citizen of Oyster Bay care about the quantity of hard clams? First of all, clams are filter feeders and remove excess particles from the water making it a cleaner environment. Secondly, a host of other marine creatures feed on clams making the bay much more diverse region. Fish populations increase and afford more opportunities for recreational angles.
Last but not least is the economic benefit of commercial shell fishing. When the bay is productive there have been occasions when over 100 licenses have been issued. Besides the baymen you have wholesalers and marine mechanics servicing the clam diggers. In the long history of commercial clamming Oyster Bay has been a productive naturally reoccurring resource for its citizens. Let us give thanks to the project to repopulate this harbor.
Your Truly,
Al Samek
Past President of the North Oyster Bay Baymen’ Association (NOBBA)