Winter destroys Long Island farmers' oyster crops, causing loss of revenue and gear

For three weeks last month, all Keith and Nicole Powell could do was stare out at the frozen Great South Bay, worrying about their oysters below the surface.

The first-in-a-decade deep freeze and harsh winter storms brought ice boats out to play. But the weather wreaked havoc on oyster farmers dealing with mangled cages, ripped lines and dead oysters.

When the ice thawed enough for the Powells to reach their acre plot near the Fire Island Lighthouse, conditions were worse than feared. This year's entire crop was virtually wiped out.

“The cages themselves, the few that remained there … they looked like paper clips,” Keith Powell, of Neguntatogue Oysters, said in a recent interview. “My 'Deadliest Catch'-style fishing ropes, it ripped them right in half.”

Five-foot anchors that held their cages down were ripped from the bay bottom, bent and broken. Powell estimates they’ve lost 115,000 of 200,000 seeded oysters and $15,000 in gear — and they aren’t alone.

As temperatures have tamed, Long Island oyster farmers are back on the water assessing damages and plotting a path forward after an extreme winter that also left a mark on badly eroded beaches and ripped apart docks.

The damage has set off a scavenger hunt to recoup equipment as the rebuild gets underway. Growers said the impacts could be felt for the next few years.

Most of the 50 members of the Long Island Oyster Growers Association reported crop and gear losses, according to Eric Koepele, the industry group’s president.

Preliminary data from an industry survey shows 33% crop loss and $2.4 million in projected gear replacement costs. Koepele said those numbers could climb as a clearer picture emerges.

“The ice was so thick that it extended all the way to the bay bottom, so it was like a bulldozer when it moved around,” he said in an interview. “It just cleared out whatever was down there.”

Cages caked in mud

Koepele, of Huntington, leases 20 acres in Southold’s Hog Neck Bay, where he runs North Fork Big Oyster with his family. At least 300 cages, which each hold 2,000 market-size oysters, are gone.

In addition to hunting for lost gear, farmers are checking on existing equipment for damage.

On a recent mild March morning, Koepele’s son, Grady, hoisted a cage from the bay and spun it around for a closer look.

“All that mud on top is exactly what you don’t want to see,” Grady Koepele said. Inside, the shellfish were encased in thick, sludgy mud, broken open and empty.

The data collected in LIOGA’s survey was shared with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-Amityville) has asked the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to declare a fishery disaster to bring relief funding to cash-strapped farmers faced with daunting costs to replace equipment and oyster seed. New cages can cost $300 apiece, farmers said.

Bouncing back

Oyster farming on Long Island is enjoying a resurgence. Once globally acclaimed, the industry on the Island was nearly decimated because of overharvesting and deteriorating water quality. New York State has a $4.4 million oyster industry with about 84 farms, according to a recent report by Farm Credit East, a financial institution for agriculture businesses.

Peter Stein, who owns Peeko Oysters on the Peconic Bay in New Suffolk, said he lost “thousands” of floating cages.

A line of those cages was carried 12 miles east, where the equipment entangled in the propeller of a North Ferry vessel, according to general manager Bridg Hunt.

“We have a really great engineering team. They were able to carefully reverse the propeller and unwind the chain,” Hunt said in an interview. The boat is in Rhode Island for repairs. 

Stein is approaching the upcoming season with optimism and looking back on the COVID-19 shutdown for lessons on how to pivot. He’s committed to not laying off anyone on his staff of 11 and trying to find new ways to showcase his oysters.

But he’s also thinking about preparations for next winter.

“Mother Nature is a ruthless and relentless teacher,” Stein said.

Some precautions failed

Even oyster farms that took precautions suffered losses.

Matt Ketcham of Peconic Gold Oysters sunk his cages to the bay floor, but they were dragged around by the ice floes. Many of them are coming up empty, the oysters scattered to the wild.

“It’s not worth trying to recover those, so they’re just gone,” he said.

Each winter, Little Ram Oysters moves gear from an exposed spot in Gardiners Bay east of Shelter Island to safety in a marina. This winter’s freeze decimated their baby oysters and with it up to three years of income, according to co-owner Elizabeth Peeples. 

“What we’re facing is not just a loss of revenue this year, but figuring out how to kind of catch up and replace that loss for the future years,” Peeples said.

Oysters can take three years to grow to market size, she said. The company launched a fundraising campaign to defray some of the costs to jumpstart growing this season.

Community support will be critical in the months ahead, said industry advocates, who are encouraging people to buy locally  grown oysters. 

Some may also pursue federal disaster insurance claims through the Department of Agriculture. Aquaculture — like mushrooms, honey and maple sap — is considered a “non-insurable crop,” but the agency may cover a percentage of market value and lost yield.

Powell says his overwintered oysters were maybe a month away from reaching market size.

“That's what’s kind of crushing. You put in the time and effort to get this quality product to the size, and the ice floe took that away,” he said.