Tag Archives: Oyster Bay Harbor
Long Island: Study to assess whether shellfish dredging affects Oyster Bay Harbor
Researchers from Stony Brook University plan to study how mechanical shellfish harvesting kicks up sediment in Oyster Bay Harbor over the coming year. How the sediment affects the environment under the waves is a hotly contested issue that could impact negotiations for a new lease on the town’s shellfish beds. Baymen, independent shell fishermen, allege that shellfishing company Frank M. Flower & Sons Inc.’s methods are damaging the environment. The company’s lawyer said he expects the study to show their methods are safe. >Click to read< 16:25
Clam War – Claims Over Shellfish Fuel a Battle in the Bay
The bounteous shellfish here in this hamlet on the North Shore of Long Island are so iconic, they were extolled by Cole Porter in his song “Let’s Do It,’’ with its line about oysters down in Oyster Bay doing it. While the lyric connotes cozy relations between the famously fertile shellfish of this bivalve capital, feelings among shellfishermen themselves are decidedly less friendly. Locals describe them as the clam wars, with two sides waging a public battle for decades over rights and practices in Oyster Bay Harbor, which remains the most productive shellfishing habitat in New York State. The dispute pits the baymen who hand-rake for clams against the Frank M. Flower & Sons shellfish company, which uses dredge boats to mechanically harvest the clams and oysters it farms on a swath of 1,800 acres leased from the Town of Oyster Bay. click here to read the story 10:51
