Our mission is to
Improve the water quality of Bellport Bay.
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The New FoBB Oyster Reef
Oyster reefs are highly beneficially structures to the marine ecosystem, providing an abundance of water filtration and improved quality, shoreline protection by acting as living breakwaters against erosion, and refuge for a multitude of species. Since oysters are a keystone species, their plentiful presence in the form of oyster reefs increase biodiversity, habitat support, and overall ecosystem health.
In 2024, the FoBB team began construction of the first three dimensional oyster reef in Bellport Bay. The permitting process was completed and licenses to operate were provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers, NYSDOS, the NYSDEC, and Brookhaven Town.
The 2.5 year application process was headed up by Katia Read, with guidance from Gregg Rivara of Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County (CCESC). The reef construction began in September of 2024 in collaboration with volunteers from Seatuck’s Half Shells for Habitat program. Seatuck also donated cured shell recycled from restaurants. The cured shell was placed into biodegrabable mesh bags and the team assisted Gregg Rivara in securing the bags to the Bay bottom to create a raised reef perimeter.
Diagram of the oyster reef in Bellport Bay.
This past season, in collaboration with CCESC and Seatuck, FoBB laid down approximately 1,500 lbs of the recycled shell to create a foundation on which Spat-on-Shell (“SOS”) would be added. This foundation of shell will help to prevent the burial of the oysters underneath the top layer.
Throughout the summer of 2025, CCESC and FoBB team members deployed 200 cubic feet of SOS into the Protected Shellfish Sanctuary, with a portion containing approximately 250,000 SOS laid down onto the reef foundation.
Long Island Advance on September 4, 2025
Newsday August 3, 2023
FoBB collaborates with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County on a new Spat-on-Shell (“SOS”) initiative.
Video Credit: Gregg Rivara, 2024
Cornell Aquaculture Specialist Gregg Rivara on his bi-annual SCUBA dive, assessing FoBB's shellfish plantings in the Shellfish Management Area of Bellport Bay (managed by FoBB for the Town of Brookhaven).
Gregg confirmed that our filter feeding oysters and bivalves (approximately 4.8 million to date) are healthy and thriving on the Bay bottom, with a 75% survival rate; restoring the ecosystem, filtering water, and creating habitat for other marine creatures.
In 2020, Friends of Bellport Bay partnered with The Nature Conservancy and The Pew Charitable Trusts to purchase tens of thousands of large, spawning overstock oysters from local shellfish farmers whose businesses were affected by the coronavirus pandemic, and planted them in our protected shellfish management area. They continue to filter and clean the water in Bellport Bay.
IRS Tax ID Number 82-1658902
