EDITORIAL: New regulations are needed for happy clamming

There are signs of progress in reviving the clam population in the Great South Bay, but it's still in a weakened state. Now is the time for the towns that regulate clamming to set up rules that will help nurture it back to good health. Islip and Babylon have acted. It's Brookhaven's turn.

Back in the 1970s, when the clam fishery was healthy and highly productive, and the bay was swarming with happy baymen, environmentalists who urged tighter restrictions elicited only laughter. Later, as overharvesting and environmental degradation took their toll on the bay, calls for regulation fell on deaf ears, because towns didn't want to make things tougher for people whose livelihood was in decline.

In time, the fishery collapsed, and only a small number of baymen still ply their trade in the bay. The Nature Conservancy has led an effort, including Suffolk County, that has spent about $5 million seeding adult clams there. That's progress, but the brown tide algae bloom has brought severe setbacks.

A working group convened by Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy proposed interim rules for the industry. A key element is that only those who have been harvesting shellfish in the bay for two of the past four years could get town permits at first - with hardship exceptions. After 2011, if the fishery recovers significantly, a less restrictive rule could replace it.

Both Babylon and Islip adopted the rules unanimously, but Brookhaven has yet to follow suit. The three towns need to act in unison on this issue, which is so crucial to both an industry and a way of life that our Island needs. hN