The North Shore Oyster Program

In the late 1800s, Oyster Bay, Long Island, NY, had a thriving oyster industry, but by the 1950s, overfishing and pollution had essentially destroyed it. Since 2018, the Three Harbors Garden Club (THGC) has joined forces with Cornell Cooperative Extension, the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee, and other community and municipal groups to help clean up the local harbors with the use of oysters on an annual basis. The program is bringing the community together and enhancing conservation efforts.

Oysters and clams are filter feeders, with each adult oyster capable of filtering up to 50 gallons of water a day. After attending special training sessions, the THGC members sponsor a cage holding 1000 baby oysters or spats to nurture over the summer and early fall. They quickly learn that being an oyster gardener required different skills than their usual gardening techniques.

Members sign up for weekly measurement-taking and cleaning sessions to ensure the sea squirts, crabs, and seaweed don’t block the critical oxygen and water flow through the cages. Halfway through the season, they add another cage to accommodate the growing oysters.

Never to be consumed, these oysters are solely for the ultimate natural replenishment of a thriving oyster population in the harbor. In the fall they are placed in town certified spawning sanctuaries where they continue to thrive. The then-empty cages are cleaned once again and stored until the following year when the new spats arrive. The October community Shellabration includes enjoying oysters but none from these nurtured sanctuaries.

As one of the charter oyster gardeners said, “It is a terrific program to be involved in–gardening never ends for us! Even in the waters off Cold Spring Harbor!”