Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor begins second season of community oyster garden

For the second year in a row the Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor initiated its community oyster garden program on Tuesday as part of their effort to reintroduce large numbers of the shellfish to the harbor and reduce nitrogen levels in the water. With double last year’s oysters and a fourth site on the west shore of the harbor, this promises to be one of the largest community oyster gardens on the North Shore of Nassau County.

The Coalition to Save Hempstead Harbor is a nonprofit environmental organization founded in 1986, with the goal of “identifying and eliminating environmental threats in and around Hempstead Harbor." Based in Sea Cliff, the group monitors water quality, leads cleanup efforts on the beaches and in the water, and educates and engages the community in helping to care for the environment.

Their community oyster garden, which first began last year, has proved to be one of the coalition’s most popular programs. Following the success of the initial garden program, the coalition has doubled the number of oysters from last year, up to 60,000.

The coalition has worked closely with the Town of Oyster Bay on other water-quality programs, and the town allowed the coalition to attach its oyster cages to the town’s Floating Upweller Systems, or FLUPSY’s. FLUPSY’s are dock-like structures that the town uses to grow its single-set clams and oysters.

The 30,000 oysters that the coalition raised last year were planted in two locations, half in Hempstead Harbor and half in Cold Spring Harbor. This year all of the oysters will be placed in Hempstead Harbor, according to DiPaolo.

“We planted the oysters in a designated area, which we call a conservation management area,” DiPaolo said. “This is a first because we’re putting them in closed waters (where harvesting is prohibited), and that previously was a real challenge.”

Martha Braun, the project manager for the program and the coalition’s environmental monitor, explained that with the larger number of oysters the coalition was able to coordinate 60 local volunteers to monitor the progress of the oysters’ growth. While this coordination presents its own logistical challenges, it also allows the coalition to observe the oysters on a weekly basis, as opposed to once every two weeks.

“So the main thing that comes with expanding (the garden) is we have more volunteers,” Braun said. “This way we can accommodate everyone who wants to be a part of it.”

Oysters provide numerous ecological benefits to local waters, including providing a natural habitat for marine life. Also, an adult oyster can filter about 50 gallons of water per day, removing excess-chemicals like nitrogen.

The oysters, which were provided to the coalition by the Cornell Cooperative Extension in Suffolk County, arrived as spat, attached to old oyster and clam shells, on Tuesday. Spat take several months to develop into full-fledged oysters, and the coalition and its local volunteers will spend that time measuring and recording their growth.

Volunteers will visit each of the four oyster garden sites weekly or bi-weekly to measure the growth and development of the oysters. The oysters are distributed between the Hempstead Harbour Club, the Sea Cliff Yacht Club, Tappen Marina and, for the first time, at North Hempstead Beach Park.

The coalition has been working closely with public officials and staff from the Town of North Hempstead to facilitate this expansion of their program to the west shore of Hempstead Harbor. Members of the coalition particularly cited the work of Marianne Dalimonte, a North Hempstead town councilwoman, as being a driving force in supporting these efforts.

“I could not be more excited for this oyster gardening initiative in Hempstead Harbor,” Dalimonte stated in the coalition’s news release. “The presence and maintenance of a flourishing oyster population will contribute to the reestablishment of marine habitats, the improvement of water quality, and ultimately the enhancement of a destination cherished by residents across the greater North Hempstead community.”

The program is funded by donations from residents and local organizations. To help support the coalition and their community oyster gardens visit CoalitionToSaveHempsteadHarbor.org.