Partnership With Nature Conservancy Would Protect Large Portion of
Great South Bay for Shellfish Habitat Restoration

Brookhaven Councilman Timothy Mazzei, Supervisor Mark
Lesko and officials from The Nature Conservancy today announced a plan
to have the Town designate nearly 13,500 acres of bay bottom as a
protected Shellfish Management Area for the restoration of hard clam
habitat in the Great South Bay.

The Town Board will hold a public hearing this evening to designate the
Conservancy’s underwater lands in Great South Bay a “Management
Area” under the Town Code. This local law would authorize the Town to
prohibit the taking of shellfish within the Great South Bay Management
area in order to increase the abundance of shellfish within the bay.
Such a measure is a big step in ensuring future sustainability of
depleted clam beds in addition to furthering the recovery of this
important body of water for all of Long Island.

“The Great South Bay and clamming has been a part of my life since I
was a young kid,” said Brookhaven Councilman Timothy Mazzei, who
sponsored the resolution creating the Shellfish Management Area. “This
special designation enhances the partnership between the Town of
Brookhaven and the Conservancy by enabling the Town to provide a new
level of protection and security to this extremely critical resource. I
am extremely pleased to offer this resolution and for the Town of
Brookhaven to do its part in this worthy endeavor.”

If approved by the Town Board after the May 28 hearing, the Nature
Concervancy Great South Bay Management Area would be the seventh and
largest such management area in Brookhaven Town. Four other Town
Shelfish Management Areas exist in Port Jefferson Harbor, with another
two in the Great South Bay, and a “winter grounds” management area
in Patchogue Bay. Within the management areas, shellfishing is
prohibited year round by Town Code, and violators subject to fines.

"The stewardship of the Great South Bay and its shellfish is one of the
top priorities for the Town of Brookhaven and we are excited to be able
to help restore this damaged habitat," said Mark Lesko, Brookhaven Town
Supervisor. "We are proud to be a part of this work that signifies
Brookhaven Town's commitment to our maritime heritage and treasured
natural resources."

While the Great South Bay produced nearly 50 percent of the hard clams
consumed in the United States in the 1970’s, the population has
declined dramatically over the past three decades. The drop in
abundance is reflected in the decline of the hard clam harvest.
According to the NYSDEC, the harvest of hard clams from Brookhaven
waters in 2007 was 2,265 bushels; while 30 years ago at the peak of the
hard clam industry, the harvest was 229,274 bushels

“Today’s announcement will play a major roll in protecting the
ongoing recovery of the clam population,” said Nathan Woiwode, marine
and coastal policy advisor for The Nature Conservancy on Long Island.
“The designation of ‘management area’ will afford a more
clearly defined status for Brookhaven Town law enforcement personnel to
provide the appropriate protections to the recovering clam populations,
by applying the same set of regulatory and legal protections to the
designated lands as are applied to Town-owned lands that have received
this same designation.”

In October of 2002, Bluepoints Oyster Company donated 11,500 acres
along the bottom of the Great South Bay to The Nature Conservancy - the
largest transaction of its kind in history. The area covers 30 percent
of the Great South Bay, and was donated as a new approach to marine
conservation, with the potential to restore marine habitat, improve
water quality and protect many critical plant and animal species.

At the start of shellfish recovery efforts in 2004, the clam population
was so low that they were no longer reproducing successfully. To help
boost reproduction, the Nature Conservancy-led partnership added over
three million adult clams, creating a network of over 50 sites, or
sanctuaries on its 13,400-acre property, where adult clams could grow
and reproduce without disturbance.

Brookhaven has conducted an annual shellfish survey (hard clam census)
in the Great South Bay since 1985, which has recorded a slow decline in
the abundance of hard clams. One of the objectives of this year's
survey was to assess the impact of spawner sanctuaries on hard clam
setting. For the past several years, the Town has been planting adult
hard clams that serve as brood-stock in a spawner sanctuary located on
The Nature Conservancy property. Water circulation models suggest that
larvae from these spawner clams should provide a “set” on the
Brookhaven bay bottom. Preliminary analysis of the hard clam survey
data suggests that this is likely to have occurred, providing support
for spawner sanctuaries as a hard clam management strategy.

Hard clams play a vital role in the bay, helping maintain water quality
by filtering debris as they feed. Chronic algal blooms (such as brown
tide), which negatively impact marine life in the Great South Bay, have
been linked to declining clam populations

“Restoring the bay has important benefits to our economy, our
environment, and our quality of life,” added Mazzei. “Though the
investments we have made are paying off, our work is far from finished.
We are committed to protecting these investments, so that future
generations in Suffolk County inherit a healthy bay with an abundance of
clams. By continuing to work together in efforts like this, we will be
able to tell our grandchildren the success story of the Great South
Bay.”

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