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Oyster Tradition Sails On

David Relyea is a co-owner of Frank M. Flower & Sons Inc., which dates back to 1876. (Newsday Photo/Bill Davis)

By Bill Bleyer | Staff Writer

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IN THE EARLY DECADES of the 20th Century, hundreds of oyster companies worked Long Island Sound and Great South Bay. But hurricanes, predators, overfishing and the natural fluctuations in spawning have wiped out all but one.

The six dredges operated by Frank M. Flower & Sons Inc. still crisscross Oyster Bay, continuing an enterprise that dates back to 1876.

That was the year William Flower staked a claim to about three acres of oyster grounds off Mill Neck, and with his three sons raked up oysters using rowboats. Frank was the only son to continue in the business, adding sailboats and then gasoline-powered dredges. In 1934, Frank Flower and his sons set up a new base in Bayville.

After one of the sons, Butler, took over the business, he decided something radical had to be done to counteract declining catches. He developed a hatchery to grow oysters and clams. He also revolutionized the industry by designing a boom system that would pull up dredges mechanically, and introduced new strategies for killing predators.

After Butler Flower died in 1992, his son Franklin took over as president until 1996. That year, the 50-employee company was sold to three longtime employees, David and Dwight Relyea and Joseph Zahtila.

Oyster production is down because of several diseases and an increase in predator crabs. Current annual production is about 50,000 bushels of oysters and clams, down from more than 100,000 in the early '90s.

Relyea said employees are keenly aware of the company's heritage. "We take pride in keeping it going," he said. "It's more than a business."

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