The fate of Shelter Island commercial fishing: Ideas, views and information shared at forum

The Thursday, Nov. 14 Reporter Community Forum at the Presbyterian Church’s Fellowship Hall, had a panel of two baymen, a local chef, and an official with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE) taking questions on the topic: “Commercial Fishing on Shelter Island.”

Views, suggestions and opinions were aired and personal stories related at the event, which was sponsored by Dime Bank, Debra Von Brook-Binder, CBR and Linda McCarthy, CBR of Daniel Gale Sotheby’s International Realty, and Suffolk Security Systems.

Perhaps most interesting of all was the idea that hope for a successful future was a strong possibility for baymen and those who work our waters for a living.

Bayman Sawyer Clark, one of the youngest Island commercial fishermen, spoke of a relationship with Southold’s Braun’s Fish Market to get his catches to the Fulton Fish Market in New York City; Bert Waife told the audience — a packed house of close to 100 Islanders — of oysters coming back strongly in the bays and how the harvest of the shellfish will continue to increase along with the region’s booming tourist industry; and CCE Fisheries Specialist Tara McClintock spoke about an accelerated series of programs to increase awareness and participation in keeping commercial fishing here alive and thriving.

There was also reiteration of news about reseeding the bays with scallops, introducing new strains that are stronger and more resistant to die-offs.

HISTORY AND LEGACY

The Reporter’s Charity Robey moderated the event and posed questions. At the outset, after the audience was welcomed by Times Review publisher Andrew Olsen, Ms. Robey provided some history, and personal reflections from bayman Jim Hayward, who also owns and operates Commander Cody’s. Mr. Hayward was scheduled to participate, but had to bow out for health reasons.

After introducing the panel, Ms. Robey said the forum was an attempt “to dive into a subject that has dominated the attention of the people of this Island for thousands of years — how to get food from the sea.” She gave a brief history, along with Mr. Hayward’s thoughts that he had expressed to her earlier in the week.

Ms. Robey noted that the first people who lived on Shelter Island were fishermen, who dug clams and gathered scallops, leaving behind massive piles of shells as proof that fish and shellfish were the most important foods they consumed. Baymen in the waters around Shelter Island still use a key piece of native American fishing technology —  the pound trap — to catch fish with minimal waste and maximum efficiency.

“Jim Hayward is one of the few remaining baymen who was fishing our waters in the 1950s, and with his permission, I’m going to describe some of the fishing history he has seen here in his 87 years,” Ms. Robey said. “He wanted to be part of our panel tonight but told me yesterday that he didn’t feel up to it.”

The oldest of 10 children growing up in South Carolina, Mr. Hayward came to Shelter Island for seasonal farm work. “But he told me,” Ms. Robey said, ‘I’ve never been unemployed one day since I lived here, because I like to go on the water and go fishing.’”

He started fishing here in the days when scallops were harvested using small sailboats, saying, “We used to dig mussels out in Gardiner’s Bay. Big ones. Whenever we got them, we ate them. Then they died out. Not enough to fish.”

Throughout the 50s, 60s, and 70s he fished for clams and mussels, worked lobster pots and dredged for scallops. None of those foods are commercially viable in our waters today, and in the 80s and 90s, he had a dragger (an ocean-going boat with nets) moored in Coecles Harbor Marina and fished for flounder, selling fish off the back of his truck, just as many fishermen at the time sold fish directly to customers, and just as Sawyer Clark sells part of his catch today. 

In 1984, Mr. Hayward built the house that is now his home and business and started selling his catch there. By this time, fish stocks were declining, and the number of fish that bayman could catch began to be tightly regulated by the State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and by federally imposed quotas. Fish markets had to buy fish from many fishermen to meet demand, and there was less fish to send to markets in New York and Asia.

For a century, from 1885 to 1985, Peconic Bay scallops on Long Island accounted for about half of the fishing economy. But in the mid-80s, fishermen started to see die-offs of shellfish, less eel grass on bay bottoms, less seaweed, and fewer fish of all kinds. Rollie Clark said in an interview recorded in 1997, “A pollution bloom appeared in 1982, a few years before the brown tide struck. It was visible from an airplane — looked like a mushroom cloud.”

When baymen went out on opening day for scallops in September 1985, they found an underwater wasteland. Biologists identified the causes of the die-offs: too much pollution in the Peconic estuary from cesspools and septic systems (i.e., over-development and using outdated technology), increasing water temperatures (climate change) fueling algae growth (brown tides, rust tides, red tides) shell diseases in lobsters, oysters and clams, and parasitic organisms in scallops. Shellfish restoration for scallops began about 20 years ago, had some success over the course of about 15 years, and then crashed again in 2019. But oyster farming has seen gradual growth.

Signs of hope occurred earlier this month, when 132,000 juvenile scallops were planted in Coecles Harbor and West Neck in a Town-funded project.

Planting the scallops were done by Back to the Bays Aquaculture Coordinator for CCE’s Marine Program Kate Rossi-Snook, Town Bay Constable Beau Payne, and volunteers from the Sylvester Manor Farm’s staff. Some of these juvenile scallops are from a Moriches line of scallops and had promising results in a comparative study of five locations.

ALL IN THE FAMILY

Sawyer Clark spoke of inheriting his fishing license from his mother; without her he probably wouldn’t be fishing today since there was a moratorium on new permits.

That theme of inheriting something to keep the industry alive was also mentioned by Mr. Waife, who said baymen should be allowed to pass on the slips that they have at the Town’s Congdon Street dock to their relatives.

Sometimes, depending on the season, Mr. Clark works 18 hours a day, he said, and goes out for “what people want or demand.” Asked the biggest challenge to baymen, Mr. Clark didn’t hesitate: “Regulations.” Later the CCE fisheries expert Ms. McClintock said, “The fishing industry is the most regulated of all industries in the U.S.”  At least five hours every week, Mr. Clark is at his computer involved in paperwork.

He sells directly to consumers on the Island, but the bulk of his income is catching fish, preparing them for sale, putting them in 60-pound boxes, and labeling them for Braun’s in Southold for transport to the city.

Times are tough for fishermen. “I’m getting paid the same price for bluefish now that I was paid when I was 16,” he said. “And now there’s a limit.”

Mr. Clark’s wife Norma was in attendance with their children, and to the question of what Islanders can do for those fishing for a living, she said, “Support them, so we can sell directly to the consumer.” Ms. Clark praised efforts such as the Sylvester Manor fish stand, where direct-to-the-customer is a reality. “We’re here,” she said. “Inform yourselves.”

WHERE’S THE BRANZINO?

Léon 1909 restaurant Chef Armond Joseph spoke of partnerships he’s made with local fishermen, as well as a service out of Montauk that provides fresh fish. He pressed for more contacts to supply Léon’s and other local eateries with fish caught in Island waters, and confessed to being baffled why other restaurants aren’t following suit.

“We’re always looking for the best local vegetables, meat and fish,” he said. “It’s crazy not to do it. The fish here are the best.” He added that he often will ask colleagues why they use something else when you can serve fish that was swimming in local waters the same day.

Educating the public, and sometimes management, on why fresh is best, is another challenge. “Guests will say, “Do you have branzino?’” Mr. Joseph said, and he’ll answer that the restaurant strives always to have locally caught, super-fresh fish. He added, with a smile, that sometimes even the boss will ask why they’re not offering branzino more often.

The challenges his restaurants and others face is “sourcing the fish you want and having a consistent supply,” but he’s optimistic that with more information and contacts those challenges will be met.

PROGRAMS AND POLICIES

Ms. McClintock, whose husband is a commercial fisherman, said her mission with the CCE is threefold: to promote seafood production, promote the sale of seafood, and “provide awareness of what’s fresh and what’s available.”

On the latter, she’s involved in promoting fish that people may be unaware of that are delicious alternatives — such as porgies and sea robins — to the better known species. Her work involves attending local events, culinary exhibitions and forming relationships with local chefs.

Over the past several years, CCE started the “Choose Local F.I.S.H.” initiative (Fresh. Indigenous. Sustainable. Healthy.) to increase awareness and the CCE has worked with “Harvest NY’s Farm to School” program to introduce local seafood into their school lunch program and be accepted into their 30% rebate incentive program.

Ms. McClintock has also been involved in a partnership with New York State Agriculture and Markets on a “Long Island Seafood Cuisine Trail,” which highlights local seafood businesses, including restaurants. “We’re coordinating with Armond to be included on this trail and will be reaching out to other Shelter Island businesses,” Ms. McClintock said.

Awareness is key to helping keep the Shelter Island fishing industry alive, she said, citing an example of the number of fish for sale in supermarkets labeled “local,” when it means local to China or South America. “Know what species are local,” she said.

On restoring scallops to the bays, Ms. McClintock spoke about introducing new genetic strains of scallops, which will have a higher tolerance to parasites that prey on the shellfish. There’s a possibility, she said, that scallops might make a comeback within three to five years.

MORE LOCAL CONTROL

Mr. Waife has a 10-acre lease from Suffolk County in Noyac Bay where he raises oysters. Some suggestions he made were for more local control, a re-examination on how moorings are allocated, and the rates being  lowered.

Like most baymen, Mr. Waife said, he has multiple boats, each for separate functions, and so multiple mooring rates can be killers for production.

He also called for a private/public partnership to introduce wild oysters into the bays. Yet another idea from Mr. Waife to get more Islanders out on the water is to make oyster farming a public benefit, and to provide tax breaks, since raising oysters helps everyone in the community by cleaning pollutants from surrounding waters.

One adult oyster can filter as much as 50 gallons of water a day, and a healthy one-acre reef filters approximately 24 million gallons of water daily while simultaneously creating habitat for other animals.

All in all, with the continuing persistence and faith of baymen and aid from CCE and the local government, oyster farming is becoming a success story.

Although there might be long odds, the panelists agreed that through hard work, energy and focusing on overcoming challenges, the Peconic Bay fishery could be primed for a comeback.