Shelter Island’s Friday Night Dialogues: Save and recycle shells

O.K., you’re set to do your civic duty and have loaded all your recyclables into your vehicle. Upon arrival at the Recycling Center you see well-marked and organized tubs for plastic, glass, metal, cardboard, paper and oyster shells. Oyster shells? Well … not yet, but read on.

On Friday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., aquaculture specialist Kate Rossi-Snook will discuss the major initiatives and progress made by the Cornell Cooperative Extension (CCE).

“Back to the Bay” program, and how everyone who enjoys these tasty mollusks can get involved. This program will be presented by the Shelter Island Public Library’s Friday Night Dialogues series at the Education Building in The Nature Conservancy’s Mashomack Preserve.

Coastal restaurants typically go through literally tons of oyster and hard clam shells in one season, most of which wind up in a landfill. However, these shells hold incredible ecological value. Oysters are often celebrated for their water filtration capabilities, but oyster reefs, which once proliferated throughout the Peconic Estuary, offer unparalleled marine habitat and coastal erosion mitigation benefits as well.

Working to restore our oyster reefs, CCE Marine sets oyster larvae on empty shells to create what is called “spat-on-shell,” which is then deployed at designated reef sites.

Through the Back to the Bays initiative, Ms. Rossi-Snook has developed a robust shell recycling program in partnership with Sylvester Manor Educational Farm to support this important restoration work. Established in 2022, the program has established connections with an increasing number of restaurants on the East End. In fact, local eatery SALT was the first business to enroll.

In addition, Shelter Island’s Water Quality Initiative funded a major project in 2023 for work in Dickerson Creek and Coecles Harbor. On Friday, Feb. 21, come and learn more about how spat-on-shell is produced and how you will be able to participate in the Shell Recycling Program.