LI Residents Encouraged To Try 'Oyster Gardening' This Summer

Press release from Friends of the Bay:

April 23 2020

Looking for something positive to do with the family? Want to help protect our local waters? Raise oysters this summer!

Since 2017 hundreds of volunteers including families, scouts, church groups, students, yacht, garden and bath club members and elected officials have been raising oysters in “community gardens.” This summer, even with the current social distancing requirements and ban on group gatherings, the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee, along with Friends of the Bay, the Village of Laurel Hollow, the Town of Oyster Bay, Cornell Cooperative Extension and numerous other organizations are looking forward to raising 100,000 oysters.

“We hope raising oysters not only gives residents a means to learn about and become actively involved in protecting their local waters but also improves water quality. Contributing thousands of oysters to a spawner sanctuary, each of which can filter 50 gallons of water a day, we hope will have measurable improvements in local water quality. As an added bonus we are increasing the oyster population in surrounding waters,” stated Daniel DeVita Village of Laurel Hollow Mayor and Chair of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee. The Village of Laurel Hollow Community Garden was the site of the initial community shellfish garden in 2017. Since this time the village has continued to be a leader – allowing residents in neighboring villages to share the site and raising awareness of the program benefits among other elected officials.

Community Shellfish Gardening

The Community Shellfish Garden program provides participants basic training, equipment and ongoing support necessary to successfully grow-out juvenile oysters in floats on community moorings or on their own docks for enhancement purposes only (i.e. not for consumption).

One of the most dedicated volunteers Deborah Perrone remarked, “It is amazing to see how fast the oysters grow with just a little attention. I also enjoy seeing so many of my neighbors which I may not have an opportunity to see or meet otherwise, cleaning cages alongside me.”

The shellfish gardening training consists of: review of the historical, ecological, economic, and cultural value of shellfish; shellfish biology (i.e. habitat, nutrition, predators); shellfish culture (i.e. broodstock, spawning, larval rearing, post set), health considerations (i.e. water quality, viruses), and grow-out (i.e. location, gear, maintenance, fouling organisms, FAQ).

Juvenile oysters (i.e. seed stock) are acquired from Cornell Cooperative Extension’s hatchery in late June or early July and are grown-out in “gardens” (floating cages) located in areas approved by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation. Each shellfish garden consists of a 1,000 oysters. Participants work together to clean their floats and measure a sampling of their oysters at least twice per month from July through September after which time they are released into the spawner sanctuary.

“Raising oysters is really pretty simple – everyone should be involved. It just takes a little time and not being afraid to get a little dirty. I hope this program inspires all waterfront communities to start a similar program,” remarked Jeff Miritello, Village of Laurel Hollow Trustee and Harbormaster who initiated the project after seeing Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County’s successful Southold Project in Aquaculture Training (SPAT) program.

The Community Shellfish Gardening program is designed to increase appreciation of our local waters among residents while supporting the public benefits of oysters. In exchange for returning their oysters for seeding in the spawner sanctuary, gardeners have an end of the year celebration. At this celebration they receive mature shellfish from a certified local vendor to show appreciation for their efforts. No shellfish in the gardening program are consumed directly or sold commercially.

To date 100,000 oysters or enough to filter 5 million gallons of what each day have been raised by in the Community Shellfish Gardening Program. These farmed oysters start out at about the size of your pinky nail (~12 mm) and grow to approximately 50 mm or two inches in just a few short months under the care of the gardeners so they are better able to fend for themselves in the wild. In October the oysters are placed into the spawner sanctuary in Cold Spring Harbor. This protected area was established by the Town of Oyster Bay as an area off-limits to harvesting. This allows the oysters to mature, filter the water, enhance habitat and reproduce.

“It is heartwarming to see how the community has embraced oyster gardening. Friends of the Bay is glad to have another tool alongside our citizen water quality monitoring, shoreline clean-ups and advocacy to protect the estuary,” said Friends of the Bay Executive Director Heather Johnson.

Get Involved!

This season the Protection Committee and Friends of the Bay welcome residents to get their feet wet and hands muddy by becoming an oyster gardener or sponsoring a garden for others. Anyone interested is invited to participate in the virtual Public Information Session being held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29th.

Join Zoom Meeting

https://sunymaritime.zoom.us/j/4554436043

Call in:

Phone #: 1-646-558-8656

Access Code: 455-443-6043#

To learn more, get involved or to sponsor a cage for others visit our web site: www.oysterbaycoldspringharbor.org

Or contact:

Rob Crafa, Coordinator

Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee

E-mail: rob@oysterbaycoldspringharbor.org

About the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee

The mission of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee is: To improve the health of Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor by coordinating the efforts of eleven (11) municipalities in the watershed and engaging the public.

About Friends of the Bay

Friends of the Bay’s mission is to preserve, protect and restore the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary and the surrounding watershed.

This press release was produced by the Friends of the Bay. The views expressed here are the author’s own.