DEC opens 6,150 acres of LI waters to shellfishing for the first time since 1970s

A large swath of the western Long Island Sound is now open to shellfishing for the first time since the 1970s due to improved water quality.

A contiguous 6,152-acre area of state-owned underwater lands north of North Hempstead, Glen Cove and Oyster Bay that has been closed since 1972 was among 6,211 acres of shellfish harvest areas on Long Island upgraded last month by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to be open year-round or seasonally.

The DEC, which issues shellfish digger permits for commercial shellfish harvesters, upgraded the harvesting areas on Nov. 22.

"DEC’s recent water quality analyses has shown that water quality meets certified criteria on a year-round basis," the DEC said in an emailed statement. "Monitoring efforts show that levels of fecal bacteria in this portion of Long Island Sound consistently meet stringent state and federal standards for a certified and open shellfish harvest area, allowing DEC to open this area for the harvest of shellfish."

The DEC classifies shellfish lands annually based on water quality as certified, meaning harvesting is permitted, or uncertified, meaning it is not. Certified underwater lands are further designated as being either open year-round or seasonally.

The state permits commercial and recreational harvesting of clams, oysters, mussels and scallops in certified areas with daily and size limits on the catch.

North Oyster Bay Baymen's Association secretary Robert Wemyss said he hopes this is a first step toward further openings in the Long Island Sound.

"We applaud them for opening this area," Wemyss said. "We would ask that the DEC continues this testing."

Wemyss, whose organization represents independent shellfishers, said while the opening of more shellfishing areas is positive, the depth of the water in that part of the sound requires special equipment compared to shallower areas.

"We're talking about guys working 40, 45 feet of water," Wemyss said. "By hand that's very difficult."

In deeper water, shellfishing by hand requires binding aluminum poles together to get sufficient length to get a rake to the bottom where the shellfish live, he said.

"It's not really something where it's a bonanza for part-timers," he said of the newly opened area. "You really have to have a seaworthy boat because it gets rough out there."

A portion of the newly opened underwater lands are in an area that Oyster Bay has sought to control. Last year a state judge ruled in a nearly decade-old lawsuit that Oyster Bay had jurisdiction under an 1881 state law to issue summons on certain state-owned underwater lands in the Long Island Sound to shell fishermen who don’t hold a town-issued permit. That ruling was stayed pending appeals by both New York State and Oyster Bay, which means the town cannot enforce its town code in newly certified areas on state-owned land that may fall within its borders.

The dispute arose when independent shell fisherman Bryan Murphy sued the town in 2012, challenging the town’s authority to ticket him on state-owned land in the Long Island Sound near the mouth of Oyster Bay harbor.