Hempstead Harbor shellfish area reopens

On a normal Wednesday, regulars at the Town of Oyster Bay's Tappen Beach & Marina say you might see two lonely boat trailers in the parking lot.

Wednesday morning, there were more than a dozen.

The spike can be attributed to an event local environmentalists have called a milestone: the first day of shellfish harvesting in a formerly polluted part of Hempstead Harbor in more than 40 years.

"I guess you can say everybody's here," said Jim Martin, a Glen Cove retiree who often spends his days along the harbor at Tappen.

What those inaugural harvesters will find in the 4-square-mile area remains to be seen. William Hastback, acting shellfisheries section head for the state Department of Environmental Conservation's bureau of marine resources, said he's fielded several calls from curious fishermen.

"This area has not been harvested in well over 40 years," he said. "Commercial guys say it's probably going to filled with large clams of lower market value. Other guys don't know what to expect."

In a prepared statement last week, Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens called the reopening "a major achievement for the environment and the people of Long Island."

Recreational shellfish harvesters do not need a license to shellfish. Commercial fishermen need a state digger's license.

The reopening of the 2,500-acre section of harbor was the result of years of work and massive cleanup efforts, officials said. The harbor was seeded with about 3 million clams and oysters, which helped filter the water.

Eric Swenson, executive director of the Hempstead Harbor Protection Committee, called the comeback "a remarkable turnaround, especially when there were Superfund sites and sewage spills and dead fish and all of that in the harbor. It's a big step and one of the biggest harbors to open in decades in the state."

With Zachary R. Dowdy