Frequently Asked Questions

Can you give me a quick overview of how the oyster gardening program works?

Why shellfish gardening? Why oysters?

Who is organizing the North Shore Oyster Gardening Program?

What do the “gardens” look like?

Where can I place my oyster garden?

If I don’t have waterfront property can I still participate?

How much time can I expect to spend tending my oysters, and what other commitments are involved?

When will I receive my oysters?

What is the oyster gardening schedule?

Do I need to feed my oysters?

Aren’t oysters free swimming?Will they swim out of my cage?

Do my oysters need something to settle on?

What is spat?

Will the fouling growth on the cage hurt my oysters?

What if my oyster cage becomes heavily fouled?

What are all these other organisms on/in my oyster float?

How big will my oysters grow?

When will the oysters be collected?

Where will my oysters go?

What do I do with my cage in the winter?

Why are my oysters growing so slowly?

Can I eat the oysters I grow?

What do I do if I can no longer care for the oysters?

How can I get started in oyster gardening?

 

Can you give me a quick overview of how the oyster gardening program works?

Oysters are the harbor’s best natural filters. They also provide essential habitat for fish and other bay creatures. Unfortunately, though, today's oyster population is a fraction of its historic levels. The Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee's oyster gardening program gives people the opportunity to help bring back this vital species by growing oysters alongside their docks, bulkheads or in community gardens. Once grown, the adult oysters are returned to Cold Spring Harbor for planting in a spawner sanctuary where harvesting of shellfish is prohibited.
 
The North Shore Oyster Garden program provides homeowners in exchange for a fee the basic training, equipment and ongoing support necessary to successfully grow-out juvenile shellfish (i.e. oysters or clams) in nets off their property (i.e. bulkhead, dock) or community floats overseen by a local municipality for enhancement purposes only (i.e. not for consumption).
 
The shellfish gardening orientation and basic training will consist of: review of the historical, ecological, economic, and cultural value of shellfish; shellfish biology (i.e. habitat, nutrition, predators); shellfish culture (i.e. broodstock, spawning, larval rearing, post set), health considerations (i.e. water quality, viruses), and grow-out (i.e. location, gear, maintenance, fouling organisms, FAQ).
 
Shellfish gardeners attend a two-hour workshop in early June where they will learn about oysters and will build several cages to grow oysters in. When you leave the workshop, you will have everything you need to grow oysters except the oysters. In June/July you will receive single set or spat on shell baby oysters. You will then tend these oysters through September. Keeping oysters in floats or cages near the water’s surface allows them maximum exposure to oxygen and plankton, small free floating plants. These ideal conditions help them grow faster than they would in their natural habitat on the bay bottom while avoiding most predators. These bigger (~2 inch), "spoiled" oysters have a greater chance of surviving - once they are planted in the spawner sanctuary than they would if we simply took them right from the hatchery and planted them.
 
Juvenile shellfish (i.e. seed stock) will be acquired from Cornell Cooperative Extension or another NYS DEC approved source and will be grown-out in “gardens” (cages) located in NYS Department of Environmental Conservation approved waters. Each shellfish gardener will be given a maximum of 1,000 shellfish that will be grown out in no more than five cages (usually two). Each cage will be tagged with the permit number and phone number of the program manager. The permit will contain the exact location (address, latitude and longitude) of each shellfish garden.
 
In exchange for returning their shellfish for seeding in the public waters of Cold Spring Harbor at the end of the growing season (October), participants will be given edible size (~3 inch) shellfish from a local harvester at our year end Shellabration. This will support local shellfish industry and add to the educational value of our local waters to residents. No shellfish in the gardening program will be consumed directly or sold commercially.
 
Returning your oysters for planting in spawner sanctuaries  will allow your float or cages to be hauled out of the water for the winter and made ready for next year!
 

Why shellfish gardening? Why oysters?

Community shellfish gardening is a proven outreach tool to connect residents to their local waterways to raise awareness of the often overlooked local waters. All shellfish, not just oysters, by their filter feeding nature can enhance marine habitat and improve water quality. The success of many gardening and aquaculture programs using eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) makes them one of the most common shellfish for gardening. Clams (Mercenaria mercenaria) or bay scallops (Argopecten irradians) have also been used successfully in nearby Huntington Harbor and could possibly be used in the future. Researchers at Cornell Cooperative Extension are also experimenting with ribbed mussels (Geukensia demissa) which have the additional benefit of being able to filter bacteria from the water since they are not often consumed by humans can be grown in waters closed to shellfishing. Through their gardening efforts homeowners are supporting an ecologically, economically and culturally important local resource.

 From the Oyster Recovery Partnership (Annapolis, MD)

Water Quality Benefits of Oysters
Excess nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) and sediment from human activities negatively affect water quality by disrupting the balance needed to support a healthy ecosystem. Science has shown that oysters can play a role in restoring water quality because of their filter-feeding capabilities. Through filter-feeding, oysters remove nutrients from the water by consuming and assimilating the nitrogen and phosphorus from what they eat (algae, for the most part) into their tissue and shells.
 
Oysters also enhance nutrient reduction by depositing digested or undigested organic particles on the bottom making it more accessible to bacteria that convert bioavailable nitrogen to nitrogen gas via denitrification and increasing the opportunity for the nitrogen and phosphorus in the organic particles to be buried in the bottom sediment. Nitrogen gas is not a bioavailable form of nitrogen and therefore, does not promote the growth of excess organic matter. The nitrogen gas is eventually released into the atmosphere removing it from the water. Oysters also remove sediment particles from the water column during filter-feeding by depositing them on the bottom, which helps clear the water.
 

 Who is organizing the North Shore Oyster Gardening Program?

The Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee, a watershed protection committee consisting of 11 village, town and county partners, created this program to educate and engage local residents in their local waters. Project partners include Cornell Cooperative Extension Oyster CARE staff as the technical experts, Adelphi University's CORE Program (Community Oyster Restoration Effort), the WaterFront Center as our educational partner, North Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association as the local wild shellfish resource experts, Frank M. Flower and Sons Oyster Company as shellfish cultivation experts, Friends of the Bay as an environmental advocacy organization and local governments including the villages of Laurel Hollow, Bayville and the Town of Oyster Bay which host the community shellfish gardens.  We have worked in close association with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to address the regulatory concerns. 

What do the “gardens” look like?

Oyster gardens are simply plastic mesh bags or nets with floats. Wire cages are often used when they are hung from a dock or bulkhead. Below is a picture of the garden used for single set oysters. Each gardener will be permitted to have up to five of these floats. How many you “gardens” you actually need will be dictated by the growth of your oysters most gardeners only need two these bags per season.

  Oyster Float

Where can I place my oyster garden?

To hang your floats or cages you can join one of our community oyster gardens at a beach or have access to a sea wall or dock in water “open” or “certified” for shellfishing. In addition, while oysters can be exposed to the air at low tide, it is preferred to keep the cages off the bottom at all times to avoid predation by crabs, birds and oyster drills.
 
Check out the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s web site for maps of open shellfishing areas or ask the project organizers if your potential site is suitable. Cold Spring Harbor Shellfish Closures
 
In general waters in northern Cold Spring Harbor are certified for shellfishing.
 
 
If I don’t have waterfront property can I still participate?
 
Absolutely! If you don’t have access to waterfront property you can place your cages in the community shellfish gardens currently at West Harbor Beach in Bayville, Beekman Beach in Oyster Bay, Laurel Hollow Village Beach and Eagle Dock in Cold Spring Harbor.

 

How much time can I expect to spend tending my oysters, and what other commitments are involved?

You can expect to invest about 2-4 hours/month from June - September maintaining your oyster garden as each cleaning takes about an hour and your should do it once every two weeks or at least twice per month.
 
Oyster floats and cages need to be kept clean to remove predators and prevent build-up of growth which restricts water circulation and reduces feeding. While you are scrubbing the algae growth off your cage and removing any predators you should also shake or tumble the cage or float to dislodge any sediment and pseudofeces.  Some residents do this every couple of days or anytime they are kayaking or swimming near their garden. In addition we also ask that you use the plastic calipers provided to measure twenty (20) oysters chosen at random during cleaning and enter it via the link to the data sheets. 
 
To prevent overcrowding and make the garden easier to lift in as the oysters double in size you may have to split them into additional cages. This sorting encourages faster growth and is usually done in August when you regularly clean the floats or cages.
 
At the end of the season you must return your oysters so they may be planted in the spawner sanctuary in Cold Spring Harbor. In return you will be given locally harvested mature oysters to enjoy with family and friends.
 

When will I receive my oysters?

You will receive your oysters likely in June/July depending on the hatchery schedule, when they reach a size where they are better able to survive in the gardens. An exact date cannot be given as oysters are spawned at Cornell’s hatchery in Southold in March/April and are encouraged to grow in ideal hatchery conditions before coming to us.

 Oyste Seed

 

What is the oyster gardening schedule?

January - March     Program Planning
 
April - May              Public interest meeting, Registration, Monitoring Spawner Sanctuary
                                   
 June                       Shellfish Gardener Training
                                  
July – Sept.             Receive shellfish seed; stock and deploy gardens, ,monitoring and troubleshooting
 
October                   Collect gardens, “plant” seed in spawner sanctuary, Celebrate!
 
November               Annual review, plan another great season

 

Do I need to feed my oysters?

 No. Oysters eat algae (phytoplankton) naturally occurring in the bay.

 

Aren’t oysters free swimming? Will they swim out of my cage?

Yes and no. When oysters reproduce, they spawn tiny larvae that freely navigate the water column for approximately two weeks until they find an appropriate habitat with a structure on which to settle. Your oysters are several months old having gone through this process in the hatchery and are now sedentary.

 Oyster Life Cycle

 

Do my oysters need something to settle on?

The oysters you will raise in your garden will be several months old and will have already gone through their free swimming larvae stage and have already settled on crushed egg shell provided in the hatchery. In the wild larvae may settle on other shells, rocks, pilings or another hard surface. The material oysters settle on is often called “cultch.”

 

What is spat?

Spat are young oysters that have permanently attached to a surface.

  

Will the fouling growth on the cage hurt my oysters?

No. Some growth is natural and won't hurt the oysters as long as the mesh of the cage is at least 50% open for water flow the oysters will receive plenty of water. In other words the cage could be about 50% closed up due to fouling and the spat will be ok. Tip: more frequent cleaning (not more than once a week) will make cleaning the cages quicker and easier.

 

What if my oyster cage becomes heavily fouled?

Scrub your cage with a brush (no detergent or soap) and dip it in the water or hose it down. A fresh water rinse will not harm the oysters nor will keeping them out of the water for an hour while cleaning. This accumulation of fouling organisms (similar to what grows on your piling) is normal but can accumulate and become a nuisance. It can also make your cage very heavy and block water exchange to the oysters where they get their food from. Remember, the cleaner the cages, the faster your oysters will grow and the healthier they will be.

 

 What are all these other organisms on/in my oyster float?

Raising oysters not only improves water quality but enhances habitat for a variety of other organisms.  While cleaning your oyster float you may see some of these Commonly Seen Organisms in Oyster Gardens.

          

How big will my oysters grow?

Good question. Growth depends on a variety of factors some of which you control such as cleanliness of the cages and sorting and other which you do not such as water temperature. Obviously the bigger the better for their survival against predators when released. Based on measurement data gardeners collected in this program we have consistently seen our 10-12 mm oysters increase in size 400% to more than 50 mm! By comparison commercial aquaculture operations usually seed oysters when they are 25 mm in size to make room in the hatchery/nursery for more oysters.

 

When will the oysters be collected?

The oysters will be collected near the end of growing season in September or October.

 

Where will my oysters go?

In the fall when you return your oysters we will work with the Town of Oyster Bay to place your oysters in an area known as a “spawner sanctuary.” This is a carefully selected part of the bay that is chosen for characteristics favorable to oyster growth such as a hard bottom free from silt and good water circulation. As a sanctuary, harvesting of oysters will not be allowed. This will enable your oysters to grow and reproduce in the wild hopefully supporting naturally reseeding the bay for years to come. Each year as the oyster gardening program grows, oysters will be added to this sanctuary or possibly in a new sanctuary. Don’t worry your baby oysters won’t be eaten (by humans at least).

 

What do I do with my cage in the winter?

After you return your oysters you should thoroughly clean the cage and save it for next season.  Removing the cage during the winter will avoid growth, prevent damage from harsh winter conditions or accidentally entangling marine life.  The program organizers may arrange storage for oyster cages if necessary.

 

Why are my oysters growing so slowly?

Are you singing to them? Thankfully slow growth has not been a problem for us in Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor. In other areas it has been attributed to silt, low salinity, or low temperatures. If the young oysters (spat) are stressed by high amounts of silt, growth can be stunted. Rinsing the oysters more often will help. If the salinity of the water is very low due to abundant rainfall, the spat may not grow very well. In this case, the only remedy is for there to be less rain. Also, your spat may grow slowly simply because it is cold – water temperatures below about 50 degrees reduce growth dramatically.

 

Can I eat the oysters I grow?

No. For public health and safety the oyster seafood industry is highly regulated and waters where oysters are harvested are carefully monitored to ensure that the seafood is safe for human consumption. Second, the oysters are too small to harvest after only one season in your cages your oysters will be approximately 2 inches, most oysters are 3 inches when served. Finally, this project was created to enhance the oyster population so all the oysters will be planted in a sanctuary.

 

What do I do if I can no longer care for the oysters?

No problem. Please contact Rob Crafa at rob@oysterbaycoldspringharbor.org. He will arrange to pick-up your oyster garden and/or find another volunteer to maintain it.

 

How can I get started in oyster gardening?

Fantastic – we appreciate your interest in helping enhance oyster populations and in improving your local water quality.
 
In the spring we host public information meetings and open online registration where folks can become a gardener ($100 suggested contribution), sponsor a garden or more for others (i.e. scout groups, students), or volunteer - everyone is welcome and encouraged to participate.
  
Please e-mail Rob Crafa at rob@oysterbaycoldspringharbor.org. He will try to find a way for you to support existing gardens and he will certainly contact you about becoming involved next season.

 

Special thank you to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s web site:

http://www.cbf.org/how-we-save-the-bay/programs-initiatives/maryland/oyster-gardening/faq