Shinnecock women launch kelp hatchery, cultivation operation 

Six women from the Shinnecock Indian Nation are working with the Sisters of St. Joseph to develop a kelp hatchery and cultivation operation at the Sisters’ property in Hampton Bays, an effort to clean the water and create a sustainable business.

The Sisters' 7-acre property is on the Shinnecock Bay, where the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers will cultivate 10 acres in shallow waters and harvest it in the spring, chiefly to make fertilizer. The women are working with the nonprofit group GreenWave, which is providing technical expertise.

Becky Genia, a member of the farmer's group and co-chair of the Shinnecock Nation Graves Protection Warrior Society, said the initiative stemmed from the belief that "we have got to do more to help Mother Earth and cleanse her waters and honor her in a better way." Kelp helps clean water by removing nitrogen.

"We have always historically been connected to seaweeds," she said of the tribal nation, which sits just to the east of the cultivation area on a peninsula on Shinnecock Bay. "We do everything from the sea, the ocean, the bays."

While the state says some permits are needed, Genia said that the sovereign nation has ancestral rights to use waters around the reservation for fishing, clamming and aquaculture, including seaweed cultivation and that the group would challenge any attempts to thwart the work.

"We’ll be rolling up our sleeves and, if necessary, putting up our dukes" to challenge any effort to limit the offseason cultivation, she said. "We take our sovereignty wherever we go."

Kelp has shown an ability to thrive in shallow waters around Long Island. One Stony Brook University test site on Moriches Bay was among the most successful among a half dozen funded by Suffolk County through the Cornell Cooperative Extension.

Kelp is traditionally grown in deep water, from Maine to California, and, once planted on long lines, grows in cold water from December to May with little help from humans. SBU and Cornell this year started a kelp nitrogen credit program, buying the crop from local test-cultivators, mostly oyster farmers, for its ability to remove nitrogen from waterways.

"It’s a business but to me it’s more than that," said Tela Troge, a tribal lawyer and activist, who is helping spearhead the effort. "We’re in a climate crisis and need to take immediate action," particularly with the population of Shinnecock Hills swelling in the post-COVID-19 era.

"The Shinnecock Nation has been here at least 13,000 years, we rely on the bay for food," she said. "We’re all entitled to clean water. The reality is we’re facing a crisis with sewage getting dumped into the water, along with fertilizers people are using."

Kelp can be turned into a "usable product that can replace the fertilizers people are shipping here from New Jersey," Troge said.

In June, the state legislature passed a law that would allow for kelp cultivation in Peconic and Gardiners bays as part of a Suffolk aquaculture lease program. It awaits the governor’s signature.

Troge noted, "We do not have to face any of those regulatory hurdles that others engaged in aquaculture have to face. We can get started right away."

There are signs the Shinnecock Kelp Farmers may face regulators as they move to install kelp growing lines into the Shinnecock Bay in November and December.

A spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation said cultivation of kelp and all seaweed in state marine waters "is regulated by DEC and requires an on/off bottom culture permit," which is issued by its Marine Resources Division. The permit also allows the holder to sell their harvest.

The kelp farmers also need a lease agreement or permit from Southampton Town Trustees. Asked if the Shinnecock kelp farmers would still need those permits in light of their aboriginal tribal rights, DEC spokeswoman Lori Severino said, "Yes. DEC permits would be required for the harvest of cultivation products taken from any underwater lands."

Sister Kerry Handal, who is working with the kelp farmers, said the operation blends well with the Sisters of St. Joseph’s goal of creating eco-friendly, sustainable practices, such as their sustainable farms and a solar farm in Brentwood. The hatchery will be constructed in one of the cottages on the property.

"Basically they’re doing all the work and we’re supporting them as best we can," Handal said. "This will be another level of our supporting the health and restoration of the bay."

Toby Sheppard Bloch, New York reef organizer for GreenWave, will provide technical guidance to the tribal members. He said that once the hatchery gets operational this fall, it will have the ability to create 20 spools of 1,000-foot-long line that will contain the kelp seeds that will grow hundreds of pounds of sugar kelp through the winter and spring. Shinnecock Bay, he said, is perfect for the shallow-water kelp growing.

Over time, he said, the hatchery is expected to scale up to make kelp-seed lines for other commercial cultivators. "We need to build it in a sensible way," he said. "To scale our infrastructure capacity with increasing revenue. The goal is to remove nutrient pollution from Shinnecock Bay. That will go hand in hand with the fertilizer business."

He said the kelp lines are non-obtrusive and isn’t worried about pushback from state or local government.

"The Shinnecock people have their traditions," he said. "They’ve been engaged in this a very long time. We don’t expect conflict."