Suffolk County plans to ease permits to sell local mollusks

Suffolk County, in a bid to make it easier for local shellfishermen to sell their mollusks, plans to streamline the process for event permits and waive the permit fee for the first two years, officials said Monday.

Under proposed legislation announced by County Executive Steve Bellone on Monday, Suffolk would provide a single annual permit for shellfishers who sell oysters, clams and other mollusks at farmers markets, wineries and other special events. The move would eliminate the need to apply for individual $95 permits for each event they attend, sometimes dozens per year.

The proposal, announced at the Catch Oyster Bar in Patchogue, was applauded by oyster farmers, who say the current permitting process is cumbersome and expensive.

“Selling at retail is the sweet spot for farmers,” said Steven Schnee, who operates Founders Oyster Farm in Southold, adding that the new law would make it easier. He said filling out paperwork and paying for individual permits takes a toll and the new law would “level the playing field.”

Christopher Sortino, chief of the Bureau of Public Health Protection for Suffolk’s Department of Health Services, said the new law would apply to oysters, clams, oysters and “anything that’s a mollusk” harvested or caught in local waters.

Sellers would have to operate at Department of Health-sanctioned events, and show their permit to register at the events. The new law, which would also waive the $95 annual permit fee for the first two years, would apply to wild-caught as well as farmed mollusks, but would not apply to finfish or other locally caught non-mollusks, he said.

The department issues 1,700 such permits a year, Sortino said. Sellers would need to register each year and make sure their displays conform to health standards, such as keeping food at proper temperatures, using gloves and hand-washing for service.

Bellone said the law, which will be introduced in the legislature in April, is part of his administration’s effort to “make sure government is not getting in the way unnecessarily of industry growing” in Suffolk.

He noted the shellfish industry’s deep roots on Long Island, its near collapse a generation ago, and its resurgence in recent years. “This industry is vitally important to our region and its future,” he said, adding the legislation would help restore a “heritage industry that’s the embodiment of who we are on Long Island.”

Passage of the law is likely to make an important local food source more available, said Chuck Westfall, president of the Long Island Oyster Growers Association, an industry group, and a partner in Blue Island Oyster Farm. “The public will have more oysters more often in more places,” he said. “We need you to eat our oysters.”

By Mark Harrington

mark.harrington@newsday.comMHarringtonNews

Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.