Communities band together to support oyster restoration efforts in Manhasset Bay
This month marked the end of a successful growing season for Eastern Oysters after over 100,000 spat-on-shell oysters were deployed to a spawner sanctuary reef in Manhasset Bay by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County (CCE Nassau) in collaboration with the Town of North Hempstead.
Eastern Oysters, a once thriving population in the Long Island Sound, faced massive overharvesting and pollution, causing the population to decrease greatly. To combat poor water quality, erosion, and habitat loss, the CCE Nassau Aquaculture Program works with residents and volunteers to strengthen oyster populations, restoring the environment and engaging communities.
“The residents of Port Washington care about their community, environment, and waterway the most and it is an honor to provide a platform for community members to be directly involved in the restoration led by the people who care about it the most,” said Christina LoBuglio, community aquaculture educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County.
CCE Nassau staff received juvenile oysters, known as spat-on-shell, that were then carefully divided into over 40 cages around Manhasset Bay. Every other week volunteers would meet up to remove predators, identify invasive species, clean excess mud and biofouling off the spat, and take measurements.
As the oysters mature, clusters begin to form with spat growing to over one-inch long. After a few months, oyster clusters grow to the size of grapefruits, have a much higher survivability rate, and are ready to be released into the bay to continue filtering water and strengthening the ecosystem.
“This initiative has truly brought our Port Washington community together—every Saturday from July through October, multigenerational volunteers joined us at Town Dock and Morgan’s Dock to clean and measure oysters, many returning week after week,” said Trish Class, executive director of Residents Forward. “Their dedication is a powerful reflection of how deeply our community cares about the health of Manhasset Bay.”
Throughout the 2025 summer season, over 200 dedicated community volunteers from across Nassau County gathered in the Town of North Hempstead to care for oysters during their most vulnerable life stage for restoration. Ten locations hosted nine community organizations around Manhasset Bay to grow oysters in oyster gardens.
The oysters will continue to grow, reproduce, and filter water in Manhasset Bay, improving water quality and clarity and stabilizing the shoreline to mitigate erosion.
