Coastal restaurants typically go through thousands of pounds of oyster shell in one season, all of which often gets sent to a landfill. However, these shells hold incredible ecological value! When wild oysters spawn, the larvae seek the shells of other oysters onto which they will set and grow into elaborate reef structures, offering crucial habitat for a menagerie of other marine species.

Our key shell recycling partner for this location is Fauna restaurant in Westhampton Beach! The shell that is collected supports our oyster reef restoration efforts in Hampton Bays and at our other Back to the Bays Stewardship Sites.

Oysters are considered a “keystone species” for marine ecosystems because not only are they incredible water filterers, they also create a complex reef structure as they grow that offers critical habitat for many important species, and helps to buffer storm surge which reduces coastal erosion. Working in tandem with our Back to the Bays Shell Recycling Program, we will be continuing to expand our SOS Reef in our sanctuary, and in other designated areas within Southampton Town waters in 2024. These reefs are not intended to be harvested, but rather to improve water quality, restore habitat, and help enhance the wild oyster population. 

Our 5 acre Stewardship Site off of Tiana Bayside serves as a designated sanctuary for shellfish and eelgrass. We have seen some of our most successful restoration results in NY waters at this location, enabling us to significantly expand the natural meadow within this area through a multitude of restoration practices. Both our adult shoot transplant “tortilla” method, and our Buoy Deployed seeding method have yielded great success and we continue to conduct this work annually to ensure the eelgrass meadows continues to expand and serve as essential habitat to our commercially and recreationally important finfish and shellfish species. The meadow also serves an important coastal resiliency function, and functions as a Blue Carbon zone in our bay.

We have seeded millions of shellfish in Southampton Town waters over the years through our partnership with the Southampton Trustees, and a recent grant from the Town enabled us to expand upon this work. In 2021 we were able to establish the first bay scallop nursery in Shinnecock Bay based out of our Tiana Bayside Facility! This was an important first step to being able to scale up bay scallop restoration efforts in this region. Thanks to community support and an additional grant from Southampton Town this vital work will continue in 2024 and we will be able to add to the 250,000 bay scallops we have been able to seed within our Stewardship Site and at additional receiving areas in Town waters.

Horseshoe Crabs have been around for over 450 million years! From May to June, mating pairs come to shore to lay eggs, providing food for shore birds. Humans rely on their special blood to detect bacteria in medical devices and vaccines.

Back to the Bays has been managing the Tiana Bayside Horseshoe Crab site since 2021. This site is part of the New York Horseshoe Crab Monitoring Network, a joint effort with CCE Marine Program, Stony Brook University, and the DEC to tag and count horseshoe crabs. Data collected helps inform policy that can help protect this important population for generations to come.

Since we have been monitoring horseshoe crabs at Tiana Bayside, we have recognized an existing barrier to their ability to return to the water after laying eggs. The man-made gabions, originally put in place to prevent erosion, have become a dangerous hazard to both humans and wildlife.

CCE Marine is continuing to work with the Town of Southampton on a long-term plan to improve the shoreline, more updates on this effort coming soon.