The East Hampton Town Trustees on Monday heard from Bob Tymann of South Fork Sea Farmers, which John Dunne, the director of the East Hampton Town Shellfish Hatchery, described as the nonprofit educational arm of the hatchery and the town's community oyster garden program, who proposed an oyster reef in Accabonac Harbor. An effort to establish such a reef, he said, could lead to natural propagation while establishing habitat.
As filter-feeding bivalves, oysters help remove excess nitrogen from the water.
Mr. Tymann described an oyster reef as resembling a sandbar, only made of oysters. "It seems to work best when you have mixed generations," he told the trustees.
He envisioned a 20-yard reef comprising biodegradable mesh bags filled with oyster shells and placed in a tiered formation, and not stacked directly on top of one another. Oyster spat on shells, provided by the hatchery and in mesh bags to stabilize the nascent formation, would mimic the natural growth of an oyster reef, he said. "If we can get it [to be] self-sustaining, we will have done something good."
The reef would be situated just inside the no-shellfishing marker on the harbor's south bank, Mr. Tymann said, an area closed year round to shellfishing. The plan would include involvement by students from the nearby Springs School.
Mr. Tymann hoped that the project could begin next year, continue indefinitely, and, if successful, be replicated elsewhere.
The program would require a permit from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Mr. Tymann and Mr. Dunne were advised to submit an application to the trustees, who pledged to consider it at their next meeting, on Sept. 13.
Also at Monday's meeting, the six trustees present -- there are nine on the board -- unanimously agreed to send a letter to the town board regarding the latter body's draft legislation banning the sale and distribution of helium and gas-filled latex and Mylar balloons. The town board previously voted to ban the intentional release of balloons, which can be lethal to wildlife.
The ingestion of balloons, which are often mistaken for squid, jellyfish, or other prey, poses a major threat to marine mammals, sea turtles, and birds. Animals can also become entangled in the ribbons commonly affixed to balloons, which can cut deeply into their flesh or strangle them.
