Oyster Bay approves 6-month ban of shell fishing in 2 harbors

The Town of Oyster Bay will pause shell fishing for six months on roughly 1,400 acres of underwater land that a private vendor had exclusive access to for the past 30 years.

Oyster Bay’s long standing lease with Frank M. Flower & Sons expired at midnight Monday. Hours later on Tuesday, the town board voted 6-0 to impose a six-month moratorium on shell fishing the underwater land in Oyster Bay and Cold Spring harbors. Councilman Steve Labriola was absent for the vote.

Town officials said the moratorium will allow them to study the health of the bay bottom. But commercial fishermen oppose the moratorium and say the public should have immediate access to the land after 30 years.

"This temporary moratorium will help us to strengthen the health of the harbor while not impacting any current shellfish harvesting by local baymen on the more than 4,000 acres they currently fish," Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in a statement.

Bill Painter, president of the North Shore Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association, said some fisherman sampled the grounds between midnight and the town board meeting. They said the land was "stripped" of shellfish, Painter said.

"It’s a victory that hydraulic dredging has ended," Painter said, referring to the style of fishing used by Frank M. Flower & Sons. "But I also acknowledge a punishment to the baymen. It’s just not fair."

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, the baymen's group wrote there was "pretty much nothing worth digging" at the bottom of the bay. "The lease is left barren and scarred."

James Cammarata, an attorney for Frank M. Flower & Sons, said the company is "disappointed" the town did not renew its lease.

"For the last 135 years Frank M. Flower has been a responsible steward of the estuary, including providing skilled employment, benefiting the local economy, and carefully preserving the environment. The Town’s decision marks the end of the most productive shellfish farming operation in the State of New York," Cammarata said.

He said the company's operations have removed "hundreds of tons of nitrogen from the estuary each year." 

The decision to "discontinue the lease will require years, if not decades, to replicate the environmental benefits provided by Frank M. Flower."

Local environmentalists have supported the moratorium.

Eric Swenson, secretary of the nonprofit Friends of the Bay, said in a statement the lease expiration "offers a once-in-many lifetime's opportunity to help restore the bay and its dwindling shellfish populations for many generations to come."

Oyster Bay shellfish populations, akin to other East Coast estuaries, have suffered in recent years, according to State Department of Environmental Conservation data. Experts say those declines are due to a range of factors including rising water temperatures, predation and lower oxygen levels.

"We believe it is important to take the time to survey those lands, the condition of them, and what remains on them, before they are reopened for harvesting," Swenson said of the leased areas.

In August, lawyers for Frank M. Flower & Sons asked the town to let the company have access to the land after the lease expired.

The town sued Frank M. Flower & Sons in June 2023, alleging the company violated its lease. The company denied the allegations.

The company was required to provide a million seedlings to the town annually, Oyster Bay officials have said. In 2021, the company started paying the town instead of distributing the seedlings. Officials said they changed course because they did not know whether their lease was being renewed.

In May, a state Supreme Court judge denied the town’s bid to terminate the lease early. The company filed a counterclaim seeking financial damages and a new lease.

By Joseph Ostapiuk

joseph.ostapiuk@newsday.com@OstapiukJ