Letter: Don't increase baymen's paperwork
12-04-75--View of clammer at work in the Great South Bay off Bay Shore. Islip Town officially opened transplanted clam bed to clammers today.(Newsday Photo by Stan Wolfson ) Credit: NEWSDAY FILE PHOTO/Stan Wolfson
In "Silence of the clams" [News, May 17], the article focuses on the harvesting limits recommended by a Suffolk County report that found that the Great South Bay's hard clam population is depleted.
However, the towns of Brookhaven, Islip and Babylon are also requesting new reporting requirements for clammers and shellfish dealers. These requirements would not enhance the shellfish population and would greatly add to the reporting burden of local baymen.
Already, baymen and their customers must submit monthly reports to the state Department of Environmental Conservation. In addition, the towns conduct annual population surveys. Why burden the clammers and dealers with additional reporting? If the towns are not receiving the information from DEC in a timely fashion, as the county report argues, why not find a solution between them and the DEC?
The county report points to a variety of environmental problems that have reduced the clam population, including runoff, sewage-treatment plant discharges, lack of ocean-bay water exchange, decline in shellfish habitat and predation by other species. Yet the report offers no solutions. It's easier to blame and regulate the victims.
Nancy Solomon, Port Washington
Editor's note: The writer is the executive director of Long Island Traditions, a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving local traditional culture.
