Long Beach Students Help Shellfish Grow

LONG BEACH, NY - From the Town of Hempstead Board: Just two days before Earth Day, Councilwoman Erin King Sweeney joined Long Beach High School students who volunteered with the Town of Hempstead’s Conservation and Waterway Shellfish Program to help keep our waterways healthy and our shellfish industry thriving. The students participated in the town’s environmental restoration efforts to rebuild oyster reefs in Hempstead Bay.

“I am thrilled to join with students today at Long Beach High School as part of our Earth Day commemoration,” said Councilwoman King Sweeney. “The Town of Hempstead is a leader in environmental conservation and I am proud that we have joined with local schools to provide this unique experience for students to participate in a real world environmental restoration project.”

The Shellfish Program is an expansion of the town’s solar and wind powered shellfish nursery which is an innovative project designed to utilize alternative energy to grow clams, an activity beneficial to both the ecosystem and the local shellfish industry. The program activily rebuilds oyster reefs in Hempstead Bay, reducing costs through clean energy efficiency and helping to sustain the livelihood of Long Island fisheries.

Through a collaboration called CORE (Community Oyster Restoration Effort) the Town of Hempstead, Long Beach High School and Adelphi University are organizing with local restaurants to recycle oyster shells. Recycled oyster shells will be used as a foundation to restore Long Island’s oyster populations, similar to the project at LBHS.

Students and faculty assisted in the assembly of “shell bags” by filling mesh bags with discarded clam shells donated by local seafood buisnesses. These “shell bags” become the building blocks of future oyster reefs and after several weeks, the Town of Hempstead’s shellfish staff will fill the hatchery tanks with these shell bags and seed them with oyster larvae.

“Our Shelfish Nursery is an innovative model for other municipalities across Long Island and throughout New York State for conservation as well as education,” added King Sweeney. “It is important that we share our facility and knowledge with our younger generation so they can continue the important work of conservation and maintaining our waterways.”

Once the oyster larvae mature in the nursery after a few weeks, they are taken to selected restoration sites at Long Beach High School in Lido Beach and Mandalay School in Wantagh. Both schools have a tidal habitat, and students will be involved in the construction of these new oyster reefs and will monitor their development over time. Science teachers will also be utilizing new reefs on their campuses as an outdoor classroom laboratory where students can learn core prinicpals of marine ecology.

The Department of Conservation and Waterways oversees 17,000 acres of wetlands and 180 miles of coastal waterways. Comprising much of our south shore, these waters remain a tremendous and pristine asset to our nature and marine enthusiasts. Located on Lido Boulevard in Point Lookout, the department also is home to an Energy Park which includes a Hydrogen Fueling Station, Solar House, Wind Turbine and Solar Car Charging ports.

“It was exciting to see our future marine biologists and conservationists partake in today’s program and I encourage school groups and organizations to visit this state-of- the-art facility to see the progressive renewable energy projects Hempstead Town is utilizing,” concluded King Sweeney.

Photo courtesy of The Town of Hempstead, Long Beach High School