The Suffolk County Aquaculture Lease Program’s initial 10-year review was once again a topic of public comment, but Monday’s meeting of the East Hampton Town Trustees was dominated by one pitch for a complementary practice in the sea and another for the protection of pollinators on land.
Scott Bluedorn told the trustees that the town is ideally situated to take part in the growing kelp aquaculture industry, specifically the cultivation of saccharina latissima, commonly known as sugar kelp. The species has multiple uses, he said: as nutritious food for human consumption, as animal feed, as fertilizer, and as biofuel. Seaweeds also sequester carbon dioxide, countering the acidification of the oceans resulting from their absorption of CO2 from greenhouse gas emissions, and serve as habitat for juvenile shellfish.
Kelp is one of the fastest growing plants in the world, second only to bamboo, and takes in five times more carbon than most plants on land. Mr. Bluedorn, who has been harvesting wild kelp off Montauk Point for a few years, said kelp farming is complementary to shellfish aquaculture in that it can grow from winter through spring, while shellfish farming is typically a spring-through-fall practice. “It’s also very low maintenance,” he said.
Unlike the floating oyster cages in Gardiner’s Bay, over which oyster farmers and some of the bay’s other user groups are at odds and which prompted the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett to sue the county over what it said were hazardous impediments to navigation, “the modern farm method is all underwater,” save for buoys on the surface, Mr. Bluedorn said. “I’d like to know what the trustees think in terms of exploring it,” he said, suggesting that they ask Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. to sponsor legislation allowing seaweed aquaculture.
John Aldred of the trustees said the county’s aquaculture lease program, known as SCALP, is trying to ascertain the viability of kelp farming. In the meantime, he said, “I believe you could work with the state to get a temporary marine area use permit for aquaculture outside the county aquaculture lease area.” Montauk’s “generally a bit cooler water” would be advantageous for kelp farming, he said.
The trustees also heard from Deborah Klughers, a former trustee and certified master beekeeper, who asked that they urge Mr. Thiele and state senators to support a state bill aimed at protecting honeybees, essential pollinators that are in steep decline in this country and elsewhere in the world.
It is at present legal at the federal and state levels to kill honeybees, according to the bill. Introduced by State Senator Alessandra Biaggi and sponsored in the Assembly by Mr. Thiele, the proposed law would require notification to certified apiarists to attempt to relocate a “nuisance” bee colony or hanging swarm before pesticides are applied or other action taken that would damage or exterminate it. It would also require the permission of a professional before bees could be exterminated. A similar law exists in New Jersey, which designated the honeybee the “state bug” in 1974.
Ms. Klughers told the town board last year that she had witnessed the extermination of bee colonies that could have been safely removed from the structures they had inhabited. In response, she started a petition at change.org, which drew Mr. Thiele’s attention. As of yesterday afternoon, the petition had 5,115 signatures.
“It’s an issue that is only important if you eat food or know anybody who does,” Ms. Klughers said.
Jim Grimes, a trustee who has been a beekeeper for 35 years, was not in favor of putting the trustees’ support behind the proposed legislation. “The thought is noble,” he told Ms. Klughers, “but as somebody who values individuals’ property rights, I don’t feel comfortable. . . .” He said the removal of a bee colony from a house, rather than extermination, would result in “thousands of dollars of damage.”
Ms. Klughers disagreed, detailing the methods and equipment she uses to remove colonies from structures. She has never damaged a structure while removing a bee colony from it, she said. “This is not going to impede on private citizens’ property rights,” she said. “It’s just going to help the honeybee.”
Susan McGraw Keber of the trustees is to write a letter of support, which will be submitted for the nine-member trustee board’s approval.