Sustainable Living: The Oyster Is A Climate Warrior In A Shell

The Italian paramour Casanova claimed to have started his meals by eating 12 oysters to fortify himself for the evening’s pleasures. Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, emerged from the sea on an oyster’s shell, fixing fast her association with oysters, and thus originating the word “aphrodisiac.” A few scientists even postulate that the amino acid found in oysters triggers increased levels of sex hormones. Whether fact or fiction, there’s a lot to love about oysters.

Oysters are like the Swiss Army knife of environmental tools. They filter out excess nitrogen, CO2 and pollutants from the water. Their cages provide habitat for fish, crabs, shrimp and a cornucopia of other marine life. On top of sequestering carbon into their shells, they host the plant life that we need to draw down CO2 from the atmosphere and reduce global warming.

“Oysters play such a key role in supporting the ecosystem, that they’re now considered one of the keystone species,” explains Bob Tymann of South Fork Sea Farmers.

Unlike even the most eco-friendly land crops, oyster farms require zero inputs such as fertilizer, pesticides and the CO2 used in production and shipping.

The desertification of our healthy bays has been a slow but steady progression. In the mid-1980s, brown tide wiped out 80 percent of all shellfish on the East End. The deterioration continued until, by summer 2015, nitrogen pollution from sewage and lawn fertilizer had caused a massive fish-kill and turtle die-off in Peconic Bay. In 2019, the die-off of Peconic Bay scallops resulted in a loss of 90 percent of adult scallops and the collapse of our commercial scallop industry. Today, partially due to the popularity of living on the water, there has been an influx of well-meaning transplants, all of whom fertilize their lawns and presumably flush their toilets, adding to the problem.

Add to that the consequence of warming waters caused by climate change, and you have a recipe for disaster: a never-ending hue of algal blooms, fish kills and beach closings.

Although an oyster has no brain, it’s a genius at quickly filtering water: up to 50 gallons of water a day. As it filters, it’s cleaning the water for eelgrass, crustaceans and baby fish, all boosting the return of life to our bays.

There is a misconception that the pollution that filters through an oyster stays in its body. Not true. Oysters are not trash cans. And the “pollution” that they filter is nitrogen, a healthy nutrient and food source for oysters.

Whether oysters are part of a natural reef or commercially farmed, they create their own little fish nursery.

“Fish don’t start out catchable right?” says Tymann. “Dozens of species, including flounder and sea bass, hide under their cages.”

So even if oysters aren’t your thing, know that your next filet of flounder could be hiding under a local oyster cage.

If you like scallops (and really, who doesn’t?), research shows that the eel grass scallops grow on benefits from oysters, so they also help bring back scallops.

Aside from feasting on a big silver tray of oysters on the half shell, the most fun way to support our bays is to be your own oysterman and join one of the new gardening programs. When I visited members of the East Hampton Oyster Gardening Program, they were “working” in the shallows of the ridiculously picturesque Napeague Bay. Busy rolling around shells and cracking off the brittle edges in a process they called “smoothing,” oyster gardener Ginny Edwards explained, “This creates the deeper shell for a juicier, meatier oyster.”

Thanks to this well-run community program, you don’t need expertise to be an oysterman. “You just get in the water and learn by doing it, even if you’re clueless,” adds a fellow oyster gardener. The program gives you the permit, the gear and 1,000 baby oysters, or “spat” as they’re called. They also run lectures and workshops, host fundraisers and are available whenever you have a question.

Gardeners typically end up harvesting about 300 oysters. This group likes to have an oyster party in the fall, “But I like to stop by any time and pick up a dozen from the bag for the holidays or when I have guests,” says Edwards.

The larger Suffolk County Project in Aquaculture Training, known as “SPAT,” has more of a come one, come all approach. As part of Cornell Co-op Extension, this teaching hatchery in Southold supports 350 gardeners in three different locations, including Southampton.

“Winter on the dock can be a lively scene, not unlike Grand Central Station,” says manager Kim Tetrault.

The group provides oysters, sets your garden up for you and are on call with support almost 24/7. Monthly talks range from things like “Oyster techniques of France” to “What the heck is going on with my oysters?”

Another powerful mechanism for restoring marine habitat is an oyster reef.

When high schooler Skye Tanzmann told me that she was establishing a reef in Accabonac Harbor, the notion of building an entire reef struck me as kind of ambitious for a high school science project. But Tanzmann made it sound easy. Under the supervision of The South Fork Sea Farmers, she found a solid bay bottom for biodegradable bags of the baby oysters and is planning a 50 yard reef. While she admits she doesn’t especially like to eat oysters herself, she loves what they do for the beach town she grew up in. Tanzmann hopes to have middle schoolers join in the fun by taking field trips to help transport the oyster bags by kayak.

The best part of planting this reef is that once it gets started, it becomes completely sustainable, hosting wildlife and cleaning the bay in perpetuity.

The easiest and most convenient way to be an oysterman is to get a free shell fishing permit and either grow them off the end of your dock, or simply dig them up yourself. Different East End townships have been busy over the years seeding the bays with oysters, clams and scallops. The East Hampton Town Hatchery has even created an annual map to help you find them.

Even when the permit costs $10, it’s a very cost-effective way to eat oysters.

“No guarantees, but at a good spot, you could harvest 100 oysters in one hour in East Hampton,” says John “Barley” Dunn, director of the East Hampton Gardening Program.

Oyster flavor changes depending upon location, time of year, mineral content and water salinity. In the spring, oysters have a more milky, buttery taste. During summer, they taste more light and watery. Oysters are at their plumpest and sweetest in the fall because they’re storing up sugars and fattening up for winter.

The health benefits of this bivalve abound. The oyster is high in protein, and are an excellent source of vitamins and minerals. They’re low in cholesterol and a dozen raw oysters have only 110 calories, not much more than the lemon juice you squeeze on them.

If you want to improve the bays by hosting a big oyster party on your perfect green, highly fertilized lawn, that won’t do much good. The best way to support marine life is simply to use less fertilizer and upgrade your septic tank. Hatchery manager Karen Rivara says, “Oyster farms do a lot to mitigate nitrogen pollution, but houses aren’t upgrading their leaky septic systems fast enough.”

We need monetary incentives for septic tank upgrades, and a fertilizer reduction law… ASAP.

Clean, healthy estuaries and bays that support our ecosystem with bivalves as a foundational keystone species? What’s not sexy about that?

For oyster lovers:

East Hampton Oyster Gardening Program (EHSEED at ehamptonny.gov): Oyster gardening and education program run by the East Hampton Shellfish Hatchery in four different locations. Space limited.

SPAT (ccesuffolk.org): Oyster gardening run by CCE Marine Learning Center in Southold. Monthly lectures, equipment, oysters, and loads of support. Sign up now and join picnic with live jazz, September 10.

Peconic Baykeeper (peconicbaykeepers.org): Offers environmental volunteer options, including the new Community Oyster Restoration Program. Jump on board and help seed the bays with 150,000 oysters.

Shellabration (shellabration.org): Greenport restaurants go all out in early December with festive local oyster tastings to support CCE Marine programs. Event is reportedly, “Crazy fun!” More information available in early October.

Little Creek Oyster Farm and Market (littlecreekoysters.com): Casual cool oyster bar in Greenport. Shucking classes are, “All day, every day,” because waiters teach you right at your table. Mix and match 7 to 10 varieties of oysters.

“Not Just Shucked" (southforkseafarmers.org): Online oyster recipes compiled by local oyster gardener Jane Weissman. As the name implies, so many ways to cook oysters, as well as recipes for relishes and mignonette sauces.