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Source to Sound clean-up clears more than a ton of trash from Q River watershed

For more than four years, Bob Diamond has been grabbing gloves and garbage bags and joining QRWA for its semiannual Source to Sound clean up along the Quinnipiac River. He calls himself “the bobsessive de-litterer.” His task at hand, “keeping up with the garbagians.”

For the Quinnipiac River watershed and other natural resources in highly-developed areas, the so-called “garbagians” come in many forms, from the heedless litterer hocking candy wrappers and soda cans out car window to the illegal dumper depositing old tires, radiators or couches in the woods.

For nearly 40 years, QRWA cleanups have helped remove the flood of rubbish that besets the Quinnipiac River and its tributaries. This year, the event spanned five locations in five towns — Meriden, New Haven, Cheshire, Wallingford and Plainville — where more than 100 volunteers pulled, picked and dragged more than 3000 pounds of garbage from bushes, banks, trails and beaches.

Volunteers included local families from each town, dozens of students from Plainville High School, as well as community businesses and organizations such as the Quinnipiac River Marina, the Meriden Motorcycle Club and Jovek Manufacturing, with the latter two contributing ATVS to transport the garbage from the trails.

“It’s a way for people to get their hands on the problem, which keeps it on their mind,” says David James, QRWA president. But, he explains, the problem itself is much bigger than what can be bagged and hauled out. Quinnipiac’s water quality continues to be an issue. While there have been strides made in reducing point source pollution from active industrial discharge, the watershed still suffers degradation from non-point sources like impervious surfaces (pavement), agricultural runoff, lawns and storm systems.

“Nature longs to heal itself and will in time,” David says.  “And with some human TLC that day can be hastened.” To hasten the day, David adds that policies and public education are essential. “People need to realize that it is critical that our environment is healthy. This should be headline news. Unless we start to make some progress in regards to ethics, we’ll still be doing this in 50 years.”

In line with the Federal Clean Water Act of 1972, the long-term goal is to see the Quinnipiac more capable of supporting more recreation and measured consumption, but in the meantime, QRWA and a revolving army of concerned citizens will continue to fight the garbagians. Ongoing efforts include these semi-annual cleanups and other initiatives of the newly-formed Quinnipiac River Cleanup committee led by husband and wife team Shianne and Tim Cutler, both of whom serve on the QRWA board. In addition to coordinating the multi-town reach of the clean up events, the committee is ready in any season to don boots or waders and respond to reports of trash in the river.

“We’ve gone out for everything from a playground slide to bunches of bottles in the water,” Shianne explains. The Cutlers live in Meriden but are committed to responding to issues anywhere on the river.  To report a clean up concern, e-mail qrivercleanup@att.net.

“Everybody wonders who lives in the house,” said Mike Dorsey, one of New Haven’s ten bridge tenders who keep New Haven’s moveable bridges moving. While not a residence per say, the curious orange building perched in the through-truss of the Grand Avenue Bridge serves as a home away from home for the bridge tenders on duty. Similar control houses are located on the Chapel Street and Ferry Street bridges.

But what’s life like for the ones who keep watch above the rivers?

“It never closes,” Mike explains. 7 days a week. 24 hours a day. 365 days a year a bridge tender is available to ensure that boats can pass to and from the harbor and the Quinnipiac and Mill Rivers. A division of New Haven’s public works, bridge tenders operate the city’s three movable bridges: the Chapel Street and Grand Avenue swing bridges which pivot at the center to open and the Ferry Street double-leaf bascule bridge which uses a counterweight for its upward swing. The Tomlinson Bridge on Route 1 represents another type of movable bridge, a vertical lift bridge, but being state-operated, it does not fall under city jurisdiction.

New Haven’s bridge tenders work all three city bridges in three shifts. Each bridge is staffed for the first two shifts: 5 am – 1 pm and 1 pm – 9 pm, with only the Chapel Street Bridge manned during the third shift, 9pm – 5 am. As such, third shift duties include leaving the Chapel Street post as needed to open the other two bridges for any late night boat traffic.

Moveable bridges play a critical role in preserving the character of the Fair Haven and Fair Haven heights community. Whether its tugboats, barges, oyster boats or personal fishing craft, to maintain a vibrant water-based community, the boats must get by. And when they do, the bridge tenders know them by name – both the boats and their operators. “We know everybody that comes through here,” said Mike. “We have a good relationship with all the boats”

While the vessels appreciate the bridge tenders, vehicles and pedestrians don’t always share the sentiment, especially when the bridge opens during peak traffic. But despite the inconvenience, the bridges form and function still inspire much public appreciation. The Ferry Street and Grand Avenue bridges in particular, both built as replicas of the original bridges 1920 and 1900 bridges respectively, add scenic beauty and are key features in the Quinnipiac River Historic district.

Anthony Lesko, one of the city’s newest bridge tenders, has a long family history in the Quinnipiac community. “I grew up in the neighborhood,” he said, explaining that his family has lived in the same house on Hemmingway for generations. “My grandfather told me stories that they used to ride the bridge…and now I get to open them.” Of course, Anthony’s job includes preventing others from following in his grandfather’s bridge-riding footsteps.

Still new to his role, Anthony receives lots of questions when people learn of his occupation, some of the most common being, “How do you know when to open the bridge?” and, “Is it difficult?”

Requests to open the bridge come by phone call (with the phone number posted on signs located on the pier of each bridge) or, more commonly, by radio. When a request comes in, the bridge tender first calls fire communications to inform them of the opening so that emergency response can be diverted to a different route. The tender then enacts a visual check to make sure the bridge is clear. Depending on the bridge, the opening itself requires a series of 9 – 12 buttons or levers. Once the boat passes through and confirms it’s cleared the bridge, the bridge tenders close the bridge and lift the gates. A final call to fire communications announcing traffic completes the process.

In addition to ensuring that the bridges open and close properly, designated bridge tenders provide routine maintenance, which includes cleaning and lubricating the wedges and the fittings (or the expansion-bearing assemblies) and cleaning debris from the bridge drainage system. Sometimes the bridge tenders encounter some unexpected “duties,” such as calling animal control for a stray dog in danger of slipping through the bridge fence or chasing away the intrepid raccoons that climb the trusses, explains Bob Bombace, who may be more keen to notice the four-legged intruders considering his previous position as an animal control officer.

Some seasons also bring unexpected sights — such as a sweltering summer day when the fire department had to hose down the overheating metal trusses of the Grand Avenue Bridge or Christmas of 2017 when Santa Clause traded sleigh for boat and sailed into the Marina — but overall most days are rather routine. Daily bridge openings range from four on a slow day on the Grand Avenue Bridge to upward of ten on a busy day for the Chapel Street Bridge. Since each opening takes approximately 10 – 15 minutes, the bridge tenders have a lot of downtime. When not pushing levers or logging the openings, they occupy their time working on laptops, reading, playing guitar, or simply contemplating. “It’s a thinking job,” Mike says, who, with four years on the job, has observed and contemplated many of the ins and outs of the bridge operations. It takes 12 seconds for the traffic gates to come down, Mike has counted, and when there are four bars visible on the Ferry Street Bridge pier, the Mary Colman oyster boat can pass under the bridge without it opening.

For Anthony, the currents are the most captivating observation. “If you’ve never experienced the power of the river, walk across one of the bridges at the tide change,” says Anthony. “Sometimes you can actually hear the current from up here inside the house.” For the bridge tenders, keeping a keen ear and eye on the currents and other environmental factors, such as snow, ice and wind come with the territory. They adjust the swing bridge openings based on the water velocity and during heavy snowfalls won’t open the bridge due to the excess weight.

At every opening, regardless of the weather, the tenders must stay alert. We listen while the bridge opens for certain noises that might indicate a problem, explains Bob. “Each of the bridges has its idiosyncrasies,” he adds.

Bob’s been working the bridges for eight years now and, while he admits he grows accustomed to the views, he still harbors a great appreciation for his office. “It’s a nice situation to work in, to be by the water.”

Photos by Ian Christmann

New Haven Independent

The new Canal Dock Boathouse is getting closer to the finish line, and it is a thing of beauty.

I got to join a sneak preview of the waterfront gem on Thursday afternoon. I’d show you what I saw, but they allowed no photos. But I can tell you about it.

Construction of the new $37 million two-story, 30,000 square-foot boathouse — which replaces the historic Adee Memorial Boathouse the state tore down in 2009 along the Quinnipiac River to make room for the expansion of the I-95 Pearl Harbor Memorial “Q” Bridge — is in its final stages.

Thursday afternoon’s tour was arranged for Mayor Toni Harp and U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, state Department of Transportation and city officials, along with a couple of members of the press to check out what three years of toil has produced. (Read more about the making of the boathouse here and here.) The city was able to get the funding for the project to mitigate the impact of building the “Q” bridge and that money had to be used specifically for rebuilding the boathouse and improving the shoreline.

When the boathouse opens tis summer there will be elements that harken back to the grandness of the original Adee Memorial Boathouse along with new elements that make the building a showplace of this current age. Gregg Wies and Gardner are the architects who designed the building. Nosal Construction is the contractor.

Continue reading on The New Haven Independent.

New Haven Independent.

You dredge, deepen and extend the New Haven harbor channel to bring in bigger ships leading to more efficient business.

Then you take the sand, silt, and other stuff you’ve hauled out of the depths and use it to shore up washing away beaches, to create new shellfish habitats and salt marshes. Who knows? Maybe you even find three of Fort Hale’s three missing 1779 cannon.

That rosy picture of an invigorated harbor all depends on one big “if”: If the dredged out material is biologically safe —non-toxic, and suitable for such beneficial uses.

That maritime hope tinged with anxiety animated a public information session convened by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Ports of Authority of the state and city.

About 50 people gathered in the auditorium of the Nathan Hale School Wednesday night for a status report on the “National Environmental Policy Act Scoping New Haven Harbor Navigation Improvement Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).”

That mouthful is a $3 million study, shared equally by the feds and the state, with no cost to the city, to deepen New Haven’s main harbor channel from its current 35-foot depth to depths up to 42 feet.

Read full article in New Haven Independent

Once upon a time there was a city that loved the water. And the water made her great.New Haven’s waters (a protected harbor with three tributary rivers) drew settlers to her side. A village formed. In 1638, early colonists established a nine-square central block by the ocean’s edge. The town “stood by the harbor [and was] placed as close to the water as ground would allow and wedged into angles of the two creeks, thus maximizing water frontage.”(Elizabeth Mills Brown, New Haven: A Guide to Architecture and Urban Design)

As the years progressed, New Haven’s sea-side identity developed: ocean-borne trade boomed, a world-class oyster industry developed, ship-building and watch houses dotted the banks, the harbor bustled with sloops, schooners, steamboats and sharpies: a long narrow flat-bottomed fishing boat claimed to have been built in Fair Haven in the mid 1800s.

Though maritime industries flourished, the shallowness of the bay frustrated sea commerce. In response, creeks and tidal flats were filled-in, and wharves lined with warehouses, taverns and shops extended into deeper waters. The longest — aptly named Long Wharf — stretched from the junction of Union and Water Streets into the harbor. In the 1820’s it reached a final length of ¾ mile, making it the largest in the country at the time.

New Haven’s love affair with its water did not depend on industry alone. Throughout the late 1800s water-based recreation became increasingly popular in New Haven, and, by 1900, recreation was considered one of the most important uses of the harbor. Steamboat excursions to New York became common, waterside hotels were constructed, and New Haven’s coastline boasted acres of parks and beaches for bathing and picnicking, including: City Point’s Bay View Park, a shady marine park of more than 23 acres; 30 acres on the eastern shore of the harbor encompassing historic Fort Nathan Hale and the Palisades, known for having some of the “best sandy bathing beaches;“ and, Waterside Park, which provided the city’s easiest access to the coastline recreation, offering 17.5 acres of parkland created after the harbor’s mudflats were filled-in.

Rowing became a popular pastime after a Yale junior brought a second-hand, four-oared Whitehall boat named Pioneer to New Haven in 1843. Within weeks, other students purchased similar craft and by the year’s end, the first American college rowing clubs had formed at Yale — their main function to facilitate informal skill races and pleasure cruises to coastal spots. A decade later, the hobby had grown to a serious collegiate pastime. In 1853, Yale officially organized its “Navy” for racing and began hosting the “Annual Yale Commencement Regatta” in the harbor. Soon after, Yale constructed its first boathouse — a rough structure on the Mill River above the Grand Street Bridge. However, given its location above the high tide mark, the boats had to be hand carried down the banks, which, at low tide, became a notoriously messy and muddy affair. In 1862, Yale secured the funds to construct a much-needed new facility, one that they heralded as the best boathouse in the country. Yet this structure soon revealed its own deficiencies. Built directly over the water, the house required that crew lower the boats through trap doors, climb down ladders, walk the keelson to their seats and then push clear of the piles before inserting oars into the oarlocks — an inconvenient system that brought its share of misadventures.

In 1875, Yale built its final, and best, Mill River boathouse, located at the east end of the bridge crossing Chapel Street. With ample space, storage for 100 boats, and broad floats allowing for easy launching, the wooden building served the college successfully for decades, until saltwater and weather took their toll. “In February 1909, The New York Times reported that Yale’s first practice had been canceled when many floor beams in the existing boathouse were found broken.” (New York Times, Christopher Gray, Boathouse Built for the Bulldogs Is Soon to Bow Out, February 19, 2006)

Fortunately, fundraising had already begun for a new boathouse at the mouth of the Quinnipiac — an elaborate masonry building designed by the firm of Peabody & Stearns, costing $100,000 in total, and named after George Augustus Adee, a devoted oarsman from Yale’s class of 1867. The college began using the new facility in 1911, but Adee’s boathouse days were short lived. After only five years, the growing busy-ness of the harbor prompted Yale to move its varsity teams to the Housatonic River. The rest of Yale’s rowing teams soon followed.

Yale sold the building in the 1950s and it was used mainly as office space until its demise in 2007 as part of the Pearl Harbor Memorial Bridge project. Demolition of the Adee boathouse was an architectural loss for the City, but when it comes to New Haven’s water-based identity, a much greater loss occurred decades earlier, with the construction of the original Q Bridge and Connecticut Turnpike. To accommodate the highway, hundreds of acres of the harbor were filled, distancing downtown from the water. And the interstate’s location itself — running alongside the newly created shore — further severed the City’s connection to its coastline.

While it’s not possible to turn back time and remove these physical barriers, today, a new project in the Long Wharf area hopes to turn the tide on this separation and rekindle the bygone romance of city and sea.

Currently under construction, the Canal Dock Boathouse will open “New Haven’s waterfront for adventure, discovery and growth” by creating a community-based boathouse with access, activities and programs around the water.

Owned by the City, the boathouse will be operated by Canal Dock Boathouse, Inc, (CDBi) a nonprofit established in 2013 by several members of the New Haven community recruited by the City Plan Department with a mission to increase education and awareness of Long Island Sound and improve public access to water.

The new boathouse will provide ample space and amenities to make this mission a reality. The 30,000 square foot facility sits atop a 1.12-acre platform and features a waterfront promenade, boat storage bays, handicap accessible ramps for canoe and kayak launching. Activities hoped for include: kayak and paddle board rentals and lessons, a dragon boat club, rowing and sailing, an indoor rowing studio, free programs for public school students, event spaces, and interpretive displays about New Haven’s harbor history and environment.

The boathouse’s name honors its historical location: the former Canal Dock where the Farmington Canal (and later the rail line that replaced it) met the harbor. The building itself also pays homage to a New Haven harbor legacy, that of Yale’s boathouses of old — specifically the Adee — from which architectural elements, including terra cotta finials, bulldog gargoyles and large frame from its entry portal, were salvaged are incorporated by architect Rick Wies into the building’s prominently modern design.

The $41 million project included federal funding to mitigate the impact of the Interstate 95 expansion project, which razed the Adee Boathouse. To weather the inevitable super storm, the boathouse required special architectural and engineering considerations including steel pilings driven 100-plus feet into the ground and, in the case of a hurricane, breakaway walls on the first floor.

The project broke ground in September 2013 and is expected to be complete late in 2017, with on-water programs beginning in 2018. In the interim, CDBi — ready to get its oars wet — launched indoor rowing programs at the Metropolitan Business Academy and James Hillhouse High School and outdoor rowing programs at the Quinnipiac River Marina, including an immersive “Intro to Rowing” summer camp for youth in 7th – 11th grade.

“Having Canal Dock here for the last two years has been a real pleasure since it brings more people down to the water,” said Marina owner Lisa Fitch. “The affect is contagious! When you see rowers out there on the river it is just beautiful! The Q-River can accommodate a lot of different things…the river and the rowers are a nice match.”

While rowing has lead the way, kayaking, sailing and other water-related experiences are on the horizon; new access and new opportunities that give the Elm City a chance to begin a new chapter in its salty story…

Once upon a time there was a city that loved the sea…

Canal Dock Boathouse Inc received a Quinnipiac River Fund grant in 2017 to support start up staff to expand public access to rowing and other non-motorized watercraft, to grow participation in the annual dragon boat regatta, and to maintain a partnership with the University of New Haven, which will offer programs in environmental education to the general public.

 

Nearly half of the 60 companies that are allowed to discharge wastewater directly into Connecticut’s rivers, brooks and other bodies of water exceeded the amounts of toxic metals or other pollutants that their permits allowed over the last three years, a C-HIT analysis of federal data shows.

Despite the violations, the state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection fined only two of the 29 companies found to be in noncompliance with their permits—a record that state environmental advocates called alarming, but that the agency said is justified.

The 29 companies discharged excessive amounts of pollutants during at least one three-month period from October 2013 to September 2016. At least 19 companies exceeded by more than 100 percent the amounts they were allowed to discharge, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency data.

The data also show 23 of the 60 companies were found in noncompliance with terms of their permits for at least half of the three years—for reasons ranging from excessive discharges to submitting late discharge reports. Thirteen companies were found in significant noncompliance—the most serious level of violation—for three months or more.

While DEEP has the authority to fine or take court action against polluters, EPA records show it more commonly issues notices of violation or noncompliance or warning notices, opting to work with violators for months or years to correct the problems. Continue reading.

Whether you’re launching a kayak, meeting in the conference room, dining at the café, working in your private office or preparing your 28-foot proline for a cruise in the sound…at the Quinnipiac River Marina, it all comes with an amazing view. Overlooking the Quinnipiac Estuary and Fargeorge preserve, views from the Marina are gaze-worthy, no matter what the season. In the summer, the landscape is enlivened by the marina’s nearly 50 boats, including two tiny houseboats – one a private summer cottage, and the other being transformed into a floating boating store that will sell bait, ice, gas and boat-related merchandise, slated to open in May 2017.

In the winter, the view features migratory waterfowl that flock en masse to the brackish waters to use the marshes for nesting – among them American black ducks, mallards and gadwalls.

Much like the river itself, the marina – located at 309 Front Street – may not be well known, but has much to offer. Each May, the marina hosts Riverfest, a community celebration bringing together hundreds of neighbors and friends for food, live music, craft beer tasting, canoeing and kids activities. Throughout the year, the on-premise Anastasio’s Boat House Café provides a casual maritime-themed environment, a great menu and, on warmer days, open-air dining on the deck with a view that can’t be beat. Of course the marina’s main goal is to get people out on the water. With 2,000 linear square feet of dock space, the marina accommodates boats of all sizes and types, and allows boat repair. For those preferring smaller craft, the marina offers kayak and canoe storage, rentals, and even guided tours of the estuary and marsh.

A Fair Haven native, the Marina’s owner Lisa Fitch has always had an affinity for the Quinnipiac. She describes the community as a diamond in the rough, with the river at its center. Lisa’s investment on the riverfront began in 2000, when she and her husband purchased land on Front Street and constructed a 10,000 square foot water’s edge building to house their business, New Haven Partitions.

In 2007, Lisa bought the adjacent marina, and the joint properties have been evolving ever since. Fitch added a restaurant in 2009, followed by a historically styled, mixed-use building housing the marina office and a studio apartment.

In 2011, New Haven Partitions shut its door and the building remained mostly vacant until 2014, when Lisa decided to make the building’s 12 rooms available as home-offices away from home. She said the inspiration came when local photographer Ian Christmann inquired about renting studio space in the building.

“I wanted something I could walk or bike too,” Ian said, who lives about a half mile away on the other side of the river, “but I got so much more…an amazing space with great views…not to mention the proximity to food and coffee next door.” Ian also said he continues to appreciate the commute, which, in warmer weather, he does by kayak whenever he can.

Today Ian shares the building with a diverse group of other small businesses, including an art therapist, magazine editor, web coders, three attorneys and a political consultant. With a waterside locale, free parking, a kitchenette, and affordable prices, Lisa said the offices tend to fill-up quickly. “We’ve got a great group of people here, and we rarely have vacancies for very long.”

The building’s lower level – a larger space that used to be the shop for New Haven Partitions – now serves as a processing and distribution hub for GreenWave, an ocean-friendly movement that empowers sea farmers to create vertical gardens of seaweed and shellfish – providing sources of food and fuel while restoring the ocean and mitigating climate change.

Pioneering the future of aquaculture, Greenwave is well positioned beside the Quinnipiac, a river whose ocean-farming history greatly shaped the surrounding community. In the early 1600s, the Quinnipiac’s rich oyster beds ­– harvested by the Algonquin tribe for centuries – brought European settlers to its shores. By the 1800s, Oyster operations became the community’s lifeblood, earning Fair Haven the nickname “Clamtown.” Over-harvesting and industrialization eventually took a drastic toll on the oyster industry, but the impact of the era remains evident in the architecture of the area. One of the most notable examples stood in the marina for decades: a charming, albeit derelict, oyster barge that, in the 1800s, operated in New York City as a floating oyster market.

Retired from the sea in 1921, the barge was landlocked on the Quinnipiac, where it served as a prohibition-era speakeasy, then later a restaurant and dive bar, until falling into disrepair in the 1980s. Despite its condition and pressure to tear it down, Lisa viewed the building as a place worthy of preservation. Its significance was confirmed by retired Mystic Seaport researcher John Kochiss who identified the barge as the last surviving example of its kind. Fitch knew the cost of renovation exceeded her budget, still she hoped to see this unique piece of history saved.

Its salvation came in the form of two brothers from New York City with a passion for old boats and oysters. In partnership with the not-for-profit Maritime Foundation, the Pincus Brothers run the Grand Banks, a 1942 schooner turned boutique-restaurant that promotes nautical preservation and conservation through onboard exhibitions and lecture series.

The Pincus Brothers hope to replicate this living museum/restaurant model with the Quinnipiac oyster barge, which they purchased from Fitch for $1, carefully dismantled and stored, with a plan, pending funding, to bring it back to the East River and renovate it to its former glory: as a hot spot for great oysters.

As for the Quinnipiac River Marina, Fitch has considered selling the property and remains unsure about her long-term plans. But one thing is for certain, whether you come to the Marina to work, eat, or play, the view that greets you might just make your day.

Photos by Ian Christmann

Jimmy and Norm Bloom are the largest commercial growers of wild oysters on Long Island Sound. They tend oyster beds nearly the entire length of the Connecticut coastline and into Rhode Island, harvesting and packaging their final product in Norwalk under the label, Copps Island.

From their wharf in Fairhaven, a section of New Haven once world renowned for its oysters, the Blooms are installing aquiculture tanks for raising seed oysters from larvae. Once big enough, the baby oysters will be planted in an area of New Haven Harbor known as a prolific oyster ground during the heyday of oystering, more than a century ago.

The Blooms are investing in the new technology as a way of insuring crop survival during years when hurricanes or other extreme events wipe out their seed oyster beds, a cyclical problem in the oyster business.

For several generations, the Bloom family has practiced the traditional and labor-intensive method of farming wild spawning oysters on Long Island Sound. Using a method that dates back to the Romans and Egyptians, the Blooms send out a fleet of flat-decked fishing boats into tidal river basins like the mouth of the Quinnipiac River every spring. Piled high with cleaned oyster shells, the boats will deposit their loads underwater to form beds that catch free-floating oyster larva, known as spat.

When conditions are right, the spat adheres to the shell beds and grows into seed oysters. After a year, the Blooms will dredge up and move the young shellfish further out into the Sound, where they will mature into the meaty, shell-filling delicacies sought after by restaurants in Manhattan and beyond.

One ill-timed hurricane or other disaster, however, can destroy a seed crop, disrupting a production schedule years down the line.

“Some years we have 200,000 to 300,000 bushels. Some years we get nothing,” says Norm Bloom.

The Blooms hope that by producing seed oysters in tanks, they will have a ready supply to replenish their beds in the wake of a catastrophe. The system has been prototyped in the Chesapeake Bay region, and Jimmy Bloom is the first to try it in the Northeast. If successful, he hopes to expand the Fairhaven operation even further.

“Eventually we want to have a hatchery for the tank system and a shucking house,” Bloom says. “They used to can the oysters in this same spot back when it was owned by Long Island Oysters. We want to get that going again and try to employ a lot of people in the neighborhood.”

Photos by Ian Christmann