Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program, Sylvester Manor Farm, Town of Shelter Island, and local restaurants are teaming up to launch a new Back to the Bays Stewardship Site. This site will enable the creation of a spat-on-shell oyster reef and a shell recycling program.
CCE-Suffolk is a non-profit association conducting research-based programs and services that tackle major issues affecting Long Islanders and its Marine Program works to improve the sustainability of Long Island waters. Its Back to the Bays Initiative is focused on extensive shellfish restoration and improvement of habitats and water quality.
“CCE Marine Program has been working with the Town of Shelter Island for decades to help enhance shellfish populations in Town waters, and these efforts are now being expanded through the Back to the Bays Initiative. The addition of a satellite shellfish nursery site for remote oyster setting will enable millions of spat-on-shell oysters to be produced right on Shelter Island, and create stewardship opportunities for the community to be involved with this work,” said Kim Barbour, CCE MarineProgram Outreach Manager and Director of the Back to the Bays Initiative.
In partnership with the Town and the support of the Marilyn Lichtman Foundation, a new remote setting location on the Shelter Island now hosts a specially designed tank that will enable larval oysters to be set onto recycled oyster shells. Once large enough, they will be deployed in Coecles Harbor to form a new oyster reef. The CCE aims to make the restoration site part of its network of Back to the Bays Stewardship Sites to be a long term receiving area for spat-on-shell oysters and other species like eelgrass and bay scallops.
Additionally, Sylvester Manor has partnered with CCE Marine to host a shell recycling site, which will help limit shell waste from reaching the landfill and instead reuse it. SALT restaurant was the first establishment on the island to participate in this initiative and buckets of shell waste from the restaurant are delivered to Sylvester Manor each week.
To learn more about the initiative, visit backtothebays.org. If you are interested in volunteering, becoming a shell recycling partner, or making a contribution, visit https://backtothebays.org/shelter-island-stewardship-site or contact Back to the Bays Aquaculture Coordinator Kate Rossi-Snook at kr474@cornell.edu.