State Closes Shellfishing

    Bivalves got a brief respite this week after the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation early yesterday ordered East End bays and harbors closed to all shellfish harvesting following heavy downpours in Tuesday’s thunderstorms.

    The order covered enclosed water bodies from Moriches Bay in the Town of Brookhaven east to Lake Montauk and will remain in place until the D.E.C. announces that unsafe conditions have dissipated.

    According to National Weather Service data, 1.43 inches of rain was recorded in a three-hour period Tuesday at Montauk Point. At Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach 3.42 inches of rain fell between approximately 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. WLNG Radio in Sag Harbor said that as much as 5 inches fell at its studios.

    In East Hampton Town, the closed areas were Three Mile Harbor, Hog Creek, Accabonac and Napeague Harbors, Lake Montauk, the Sag Harbor Coves and waters within its breakwater, Northwest Creek, and Northwest Harbor to Barcelona Point and around the entrance to Northwest Creek to the foot of Mile Hill Road.

    In Southampton Town, the no-clam order covered all the area of Moriches Bay, Quantuck, Shinnecock Bay, Cold Spring Pond, North Sea Harbor, Noyac Creek, and the Noyac portions of Sag Harbor Coves and its tributaries.

    Updates and changes to the list can be found at dec.ny.gov as they are posted. Reopenings will also be announced in a recorded message at 444-0480.