Shellfish Harvest Ban Made Year Round in Accabonac

The state’s Department of Environmental Conservation’s Shellfisheries Section has downgraded approximately 20 acres of bottomland in Accabonac Harbor in Springs from seasonally uncertified to uncertified year round, meaning that the harvesting of shellfish is prohibited. The areas were previously uncertified from May 1 through Nov. 30. The reclassification took effect on Tuesday.

The affected bottomlands include the area of East Harbor, located in the southernmost portion of Accabonac Harbor, south of a line extending northwesterly from the southernmost bulkhead at 73 Louse Point Road to an orange marker on the opposite western shoreline. Also affected is the area of Accabonac Harbor, Pussy’s Pond, and an unnamed cove, including tributaries, lying west of a line heading north from an orange marker on the southern shore to an orange marker on the opposite northern shoreline. The cove is south of the Merrill Lake Sanctuary and north of Harbor and Shipyard Lanes.

The D.E.C. did not provide further information or respond to a request for details.

In a letter in this week’s issue of The Star, Bill Taylor, a town trustee who is seeking re-election, advocated an aggressive campaign to address water quality. Mr. Taylor, a Democrat, asked voters to support Democratic and Independent candidates, writing that trustees will work to dredge Georgica Pond in East Hampton and “interact with all other levels of government, as an equal stakeholder, to clean up our environment.”

“I think the water quality problems we have in the Town of East Hampton are not localized problems,” Mr. Taylor said on Tuesday. “They are manifestations of something nationwide. The way to solve these things is by working together with other agencies.”