Sustainable East End Looks at New Shellfish Hatchery Project in North Sea

Find Sustainable East End on WPKN 89.5FM and wpkn.org and archived on line.

This monthly program looks at issues of land use, water resources, transportation and the farming and fishing industries on the north and south forks of Long Island with host Francesca Rheannon.

It airs on the second Thursday each month at 12 noon.

A continuing problem on the east end for several years has been the deterioration of the water quality in our bays and estuaries. This has devastated the livelihood of baymen who harvest scallops, clams and oysters in our waters.

Recently on this program we talked with Ruben Bess Valdez of the Shinnecock Shellfish Hatchery about the challenge of growing oysters alongside waters polluted by nitrates from household septic systems.

Now, a new project has been launched to build a shellfish hatchery in the waters of North Sea Harbor in Southampton. Its developers want to use oysters themselves to help clean the waters they grow in.

Josh Beleury who commutes between Texas and Southampton was trained in marine biology at the Southampton College Marine Science Program – now part of Stony Brook University. He has been a teacher for the blind and a building contractor. In his spare time he is a leader in the Sea Scout movement which launched the shellfish project last summer.

Francesca Rheannon spoke with Josh recently about this work.

Listen here

more Sustainable East End program are archived at http://eastendreport.blogspot.com