Shellfish harvesting has been temporarily prohibited in areas across Long Island, including in Riverhead and Southold towns, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced Monday. READ
Tag: shellfish
Starting this month, Cornell Cooperative Extension is slated to receive $5.25 million over the next two years from the state toward efforts to restore shellfish populations and give its Southold location a face lift.
“Greenport, like towns on Staten Island, prospered from the oyster.”
So wrote John Kochiss, author of “Oystering from New York to Boston,” in 1973, pointing back to the oyster’s heyday on eastern Long Island in the early part of the 20th century.
Fast-forward 100 years or so, and things have certainly changed. READ
Southold trustee and bayman Jim King harvests oysters and clams in Mattituck Inlet last year. (Barbaraellen Koch file photo)
The East End’s baymen — at least what’s left of them — are getting a hand from local governments, which are trying to open up shellfish beds that were designated as polluted by the state but could actually be quite clean.
Due to a state regulatory agency that’s strapped for time and money, a new agreement from the Suffolk County Legislature and the Peconic Estuary Protection Committee will set up standard practices for the county and East End towns to test their own water under the state’s strict guidelines. (more…)