Cornell Cooperative Extension Aquaculture Program Is Not Just About the Delicious Rewards

The oyster garden, which can be seen by anyone who wanders onto the dock at Tiana Bayside, is open to anyone who purchases a membership. Not so visible, but possibly even more important, is the Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program’s aquaculture program and hatchery. It is here that, through science, Mother Nature gets a little help to ensure that shellfish populations thrive.

“Oysters are the kidneys of the ocean,” said Joshua Perry, manager of CCE’s shellfish hatchery. Decades ago, the shellfish population took a nosedive, for a number of reasons, but habitat encroachment is high on the list, he said.

To help restore the population, another hatchery at CCE’s Marine Program site in Southold was built in 2019 to expand the restoration program that started with the Long Island Shellfish Restoration Project, using funding obtained from New York State. Using state-of-the-art technology, the hatchery is capable of producing tens of millions of shellfish annually. These animals are grown in controlled conditions, using different strains of algae during different stages of growth; sort of like a baby being fed mushed up food then introduced to some soft solids and eventually, a diet that includes solid food. Once the animal reaches one millimeter in size it is placed in an unfiltered system that allows seawater to flow in and out, which allows the shellfish to reach a certain size so that predators are less of a threat, Perry said.

The oysters grown at the hatchery are not for consumption. They are for restoration purposes only. The spat-on-shell, as it is called, is eventually planted in areas that may be closed to shellfishing in the hope that the oysters attached to the shells clean up that area. At the same time, those shells, in and of themselves are beneficial to the marine environment because any number of critters could grow in the nooks and crannies.

“We can’t have clean and healthy waters without a robust shellfish population so the work we do is essential to keep our waters healthy for generations to come,” Perry said.