Oyster Bay Holds Hearing On Shellfishing Moratorium

OYSTER BAY, NY — A host of complicated and emotional issues cropped up during a public hearing Tuesday about Oyster Bay's proposed 3-6 month moratorium on shellfishing in one area of the bay.

First, there is the issue of a lease which is expiring with Frank M. Flower & Sons Inc., a local business that has exclusive rights to shellfishing on 1,850 acres of underwater land in the bay due to a lease process that's more than a century old.

Their lease is due to expire Sept. 30, but the town and the company are in court, accusing each other of contract violations and bad faith. Alfred Amato, a principal at Amato Law Group, which represents Flowers & Sons in its drive to have the lease extended, pointed out at the beginning of the hearing, "The town code itself, under section 196-22, explicitly states that the shellfish in the leased area belong to Flower."

There are issues about the size and health of the shellfish beds on that land, and about the extent of fertile underwater lands in the harbor.

There's the issue of the dwindling number of independent shellfishermen, exemplified by the North Oyster Baymen's Association, who have been at loggerheads for years with Flower & Sons, the town government and a local environmental group, Friends of the Bay.

And there's the town's move into shellfish restoration. Oyster Bay, which has been working in the past few years with partners to create fertile sanctuary spaces in the harbor and local waterways and seed them with millions of baby oysters, has its own hatchery and is building a bigger one.

Town officials and Friends of the Bay want a three- to six-month moratorium preventing public shellfishing on the Flowers acreage once the lease is up, so consulting firm Cashin Associates can study the underwater land.

At the beginning of the hearing, William McCabe of the Town Attorney's Office said the study is needed to learn details about the "unknown but likely adverse effect on the shellfish population" of decades of mechanical shellfish dredging.

"There is a serious lack of data on which to establish scientific-based management of whatever shellfish resources remain on those underwater lands," he said.

The goal is to increase the shellfish harvest, which has dwindled, and make it sustainable for the long term, Supervisor Joseph Saladino said at the hearing. "We're putting together a bay management plan and this will be very helpful to us," he said.

Amato and Flowers & Sons co-owner Christa Relyea requested a "carve-out" in the moratorium that would allow Flowers & Sons to continue working the land while the study is conducted, saying any disturbance quickly subsides.

"We believe strongly that our ask is not too big an ask. We don’t want to be in litigation. You don’t want to be in litigation. I believe we could be good partners," Relyea said.

Several baymen also spoke in opposition to the moratorium.

They asked that the moratorium not affect their ability to finally fish for oysters and clams on that land. The town began leasing that part of the bay in sections 140 years ago, giving leaseholders exclusive rights.

They asserted that the operating rules that apply to them are so strict and their numbers are so few that their work would not impede the study.

Regulations for all but the owner of the lease are many and strict. Shellfishing must be done in single-person sailboats by hand with rakes and is strictly limited in catch and season. Restrictions on the independent shellfishermen have proliferated while the leaseholdings were consolidated, by the 1930s creating a monopoly allowed unlimited mechanical operations.

"Our guys have been so impacted by hydraulic dredging. We’ve been blowing the horn about this harbor being depleted and destroyed," said William Painter.

The baymen accused both previous town officials and the group Friends of the Bay of being complicit through decades of destructive dredging operations.

Plus, they took exception to the town's argument that the moratorium would only affect 18 percent of the bay, saying the leased area actually represents 80-90 percent of the productive underwater lands.

"We ask that the board not institute a moratorium," said Robert Wemyss, secretary of the North Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association. "There’s so few baymen working in the town it’s going to make no difference."

Christine Suter, executive director of Friends of the Bay, explained at the hearing why the group supports a moratorium. "We think it’s very important to take the time to survey that land the condition of it what’s left on it and what could come of it," she said. "We also just want to say these claims that Friends of the Bay is a surrogate of Frank M. Flower are completely false. This incessant slander against us online is really sad."

After all the speakers, the town board closed the public hearing, noting that the public comment period extends for 30 days if anyone wishes to submit written comments.

Town Councilman Steve Labriola noted that the two requests made during the hearing were from Flowers & Company for a "carve-out" to the moratorium and from the baymen to conduct the study without a moratorium on handraking. He asked for a response from the consultant about both requests.

Suter told Patch on Thursday that giving the underwater lands a 3-6 month respite was important.

"The idea of the moratorium is to take the time to evaluate that land, because they haven’t been able to for a long time. It’s important to conduct the study now and collect the data. It’s important to evaluate the land and what’s left," she said.

Everyone agrees there's not much left.

Suter said the dwindling of the shellfish population wasn't as sudden as the lobster die-off.

"It was cumulative but has become increasingly apparent in the last decade," she said. "The baymen will talk about Oyster Bay is a clam bay."

Friends of the Bay has been involved, along with other organizations, in the town's recent efforts to reseed the bay.

"We need to rebuild the shellfish population in the harbors back to sustainable populations that will survive and reproduce," Suter said, "prevent ecosystem collapse from happening."