A public meeting of the Suffolk County Aquaculture Lease Program's 10-year review advisory group will happen next Thursday from 3 to 5 p.m. The meeting will take place via video conference.
Registration in advance is required to participate in the meeting and can be done at bit.ly/3gReUoy. Registrants will receive a confirmation email with a unique link to join the webinar. Public comment can be made through Zoom.
Under the program, known as SCALP, parcels in Peconic and Gardiner's Bays have been leased for private commercial shellfish farming since 2010. The initial 10-year review is required to determine if and how the program should be changed and implemented for the next decade, and includes an overall evaluation of it to date.
The program has angered some bayfront property owners, and prompted a lawsuit by the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett, which was settled. John Aldred of the East Hampton Town Trustees and John Dunne, the director of the town's shellfish hatchery, are the town's representatives for the program.
Oysters, filter-feeding shellfish, help remove excess nitrogen from the water, and proponents of shellfish cultivation argue that the practice is important in mitigating conditions that promote harmful algal blooms. The leasing of bottomlands has proven controversial in East Hampton, however, the yacht club claiming that floating oyster cages interfered with boating activities.
Several residents and representatives of marinas and other private clubs have complained to the trustees that the lease sites were set based on comments from commercial fishermen but not from other user groups.
Critics also say that SCALP took for granted that the oyster cages would be on the bay bottom, not floating at the surface, where they conflict with other waterborne pursuits. Leaseholders, however, say that growth is superior when oysters are higher in the water column. Critics asked that the trustees urge the county to curtail leasing in Gardiner's Bay.
