Local baymen oppose plan to restore shellfish population in Bellport Bay

A Brookhaven Town plan to help restore the shellfish population in Bellport Bay is facing opposition from some of the same people it is intended to help.

Town officials want to double the size of a two-acre shellfish management area about 30 yards off Bellport, where fishing would be barred to allow young oysters to grow into maturity. The new area, like the existing one, would be managed by Friends of Bellport Bay, a nonprofit environmental group.

Town officials say the plan would help everyone in the long run, including fishermen.

“In the '70s, you used to be able to walk across the bay on clam boats," Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine told Newsday. "We’re trying to restore the shellfish population of Great South Bay, Bellport Bay, Moriches Bay and our harbors on the North Shore, and we believe that the best way to do that is to work incrementally with nonprofits … that are interested in helping us repopulate the shellfish population that has long been lost.”

But clammers who ply Bellport Bay say the plan would hurt their ability to make a living, especially in the winter when they prefer to work close to shore, where they are protected by the coast from bitter breezes.

“If you were a lawn guy, you would make more money than you would as a clam digger,” Patchogue resident Florence Sharkey, president of the Brookhaven Baymen's Association, told Newsday. She said the group's membership has declined in recent years from 240 to about 10 to 15. 

“There is no other area open to any kind of clamming on the north side of the bay," Sharkey, 80, said. "From Bay Shore to Moriches, nothing is open, only that small area there, which has been good for the commercial clammer and the recreational clammer.”

The town set aside the existing management area — between the Bellport Village marina and Howells Point — about six years ago so that nonprofits could rebuild the bay's shellfish population, which had been decimated from decades of pollution and overfishing.

The management areas — both the existing one and the proposed two acres — were chosen because the bay bottom there is composed of a coarse, granular substrate that is not conducive to shellfishing — but is perfect for growing oysters, supporters say.

Supporters of the plan say the location leaves a narrow stretch where clammers can fish along the coast. Friends of Bellport Bay would not harvest or sell any shellfish grown in the existing or proposed management areas, town officials said.

Romaine said the proposed management area occupies a tiny percentage of the 1,000-acre Bellport Bay. He said the town board plans to vote on the plan in August or September.

“Our goal is to support the Friends of Bellport Bay and the other nonprofits that are looking not to make a profit out of this, but to restore the shellfish population for us all to benefit from," Romaine said. "At the end of the day, there’ll be more for them [clammers] to harvest.”

By Carl MacGowan

carl.macgowan@newsday.comCarlMacGowan

Carl MacGowan is a Long Island native who covers Brookhaven Town after having previously covered Smithtown, Suffolk County courts and numerous spot news and feature stories over his 20-plus year career at Newsday.