Friends of Bellport Bay reaches restoration milestone
This year's haul of oysters hit the milestone of 1million total planted in Bellport Bay. Friends of Bellport Bay, co-founders Thomas Schultz and Katia Read celebrated Saturday.
ADV/WASZYNSKI
Randall Waszynski
With the assistance of community volunteers, Friends of Bellport Bay has reached the goal of planting a total of 1 million oysters in Bellport Bay, in its fifth year of the initiative. Thomas Schultz, a director for the organization, led the event held on Sunday, planting this season’s haul.
“We want to improve the ecosystem for not only ourselves, but for our children and their children,” Schultz said. “This is a long-term vision, and part of our initiative is to firmly plant the spirit of habitat restoration into the younger generations so that they will carry on this work well into the future.
“We could not have succeeded without the commitment and time, energy and capital given by volunteers, sponsors and donors,” Schultz added. “Friends of Bellport Bay always calls out to the community to help us raise money and [give their time].”
Brookhaven Town councilman Michael Loguercio was given the honors of tossing the 1 millionth oyster into Bellport Bay at the Bellport Marina on Sunday at noon. Schultz and the other directors felt it was an appropriate gesture.
“The Town of Brookhaven has been a fantastic partner to this cause, and they donated oysters to us so that we can plant them on the bay bottom,” Schultz said. “I thought it was important to recognize that collaboration.”
Nitrogen levels in coastal Long Island waters have done serious damage to the shellfish population over the last several decades. With the planting of oysters and better technologies for compromising nitrogen before it reaches waterways, the oysters will have more opportunity to flourish in areas like Bellport Bay.
The next phase was the one millionth and first oyster, Schultz said, and Katia Read, co-founder and a director of the organization, received the honors of throwing in that oyster.
“We have learned a lot over the last five years, and we are going to take that knowledge and try to scale up our operation so that we can eventually get to 1 million plantings per year,” he said.
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Nitrogen levels in coastal Long Island waters have done serious damage to the shellfish population over the last several decades. With the planting of oysters and better technologies for compromising nitrogen before it reaches waterways, the oysters will have more opportunity to flourish in areas like Bellport Bay.