Town OKs another 1M oysters for bay

2nd Project Approved After 2022 Success

BY BRANDON DUFFY

After a successful pilot program in 2022, another batch of 1 million oysters will call Manhasset Bay home later this year.

The North Hempstead Town Board approved a resolution for the second restoration project during the June 6 meeting, continuing a program that was a big success last year, Council Member Mariann Dalimonte said.

“After year one, the oysters are growing and that’s the most important thing,” Dalimonte said in an interview with Blank Slate Media.

“If we did not see them growing or didn’t see them thriving, we would not have put in another million.”

After placing the frst batch in three locations, which are kept secret to avoid tampering, the second batch will all be placed in only one of the three. Dalimonte said all locations are growing but one in particular is thriving more than the other two.

In particular, these oysters will be spat. These are oyster larvae that have attached themselves to a surface, such as other oyster shells, which grow into dense clusters known as oyster reefs or beds. Besides supplying food, oysters provide substantial benefts through purifying water by flter feeding. A single adult oyster may flter up to 50 gallons of water every day.

Collaborating with the town to administer the project is the Suffolk County Cornell Cooperative Extension, which worked with the town on the frst batch last year. The group has extensive experience in similar projects across Long Island.

As the bay has faced challenges, so has its oyster population. While the precise cause is unknown, Lorne Brousseau, associate marine program director for the Cornell Cooperative, previously said he believes it could be because of several factors.

“You’ve probably heard of algal blooms and stuf like that,” Brousseau told Blank Slate Media last year. “So some of those blooms can really harm the oysters. It’s over many years that the population has gone way down to what it historically was.”

As the oysters grow, it could take years to generate conclusive re-

Continued on Page 4 seat about 4 customers.

The restaurant currently does not ofer outdoor dining.

The owners also sought approval to have an outdoor food cooler along the Old Shore Road side of the building – the rear of the restaurant – and to enclose the trash receptacle area.

A member of the public and Superintendent of Buildings Robert Barbach expressed concerns about the safety of diners on the outdoor patio in the case of a car colliding into the deck.

As this is not a requirement, this did not impact the board’s decision but both the village and the restaurant owners agreed it was something to consider implementing.

Barbach said as superintendent of buildings it is within his discretion to take action on things unsafe in the village, which he would consider in regards to potentially requiring a barrier.

The board voted to approve the site plan and the conditional use permit for the restaurant to ofer outdoor dining. The conditional use permit has a one-year duration, which trustees opted into to evaluate the suitability of the outdoor dining area for the village over time.

The Port Washington North Board of Trustees will convene again at 7:30 p.m. on July 18 for its next board meeting.

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