Plant and Paddle: With our Friends at Rooted Hospitality Group

On June 4th, we had the pleasure of hosting our partners of Rooted Hospitality Group at our Tiana Bayside Facility. We paddled and kayaked in Tiana bay, and planted CCE-raised bay scallops all throughout our shellfish sanctuary. This work supports the wild bay scallop population, as planted scallops reproduce , spreading outside the sanctuary.

Left to right: Owner of Rooted Hospitality Group Rachel Hersh, Aquaculture Specialist + Stewardship Site Manager Kate Rossi-Snook, East End Educator Manager + Marine Meadows Program Manager Kimberly Manzo, and ArtSEA Program Director + Educator + CCE Marine Resident Artist Carolyn Munaco.

Scallops were brought over from our Southold hatchery by Harrison Tobi, scallop aquaculture specialist. I stayed on the boat to help the paddlers fill their buckets full of scallops and take photos. Harrison was diving in the bay to check out our growing restored eelgrass, an important protectuve habitat for bay scallops, and we were all measuring the scallops before planting. 

Before joining the Back to the Bays team, I had no idea what shellfish restoration looked like. Seeing all these scallops be planted in the bay was a really cool sight to see.

CCE Marine’s Harrison Tobi, diving in Tiana Bay.

We planted thousands of scallops in our bay, all thanks to our team, and our rooted hospitality volunteers for coming out to help our restoration projects. Back to the Bays is appreciative of our partnerships, and throughout the summer, we will be hosting more plant and paddle stewardship events.

More information about our plant and paddle stewardship sessions: https://backtothebays.org/calendar/stewardship-session-paddle-plant

Photographs taken by: Sam Olweck