Health & Environment

DEC closes three acres of Gull Pond to shellfishing

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has closed several acres of Southold Town waters from shellfishing.

Due to increased levels of fecal coliform bacteria, about three acres of Gull Pond will now be closed year-round and is considered “uncertified to the harvest of shellfish.”

Approximately 75 acres in Great Peconic Bay’s Deep Hole Creek will be closed seasonally during from May 1 through Nov. 30.

The closures come days before the opening of the scalloping season — which starts at sunrise Monday, but area baymen should not be impacted by the closures, said Southold Town Trustee John Bredemeyer.

“Those areas are not considered waters rich in scallops,” Mr. Bredemeyer said.

He said the impacts are relatively minimal, but that any closure in town waters is not ideal.

“It only takes an area the size of a bayman’s boat to get a days living out of it,” Mr. Bredemeyer said. “We’ll be looking at some of these areas in the future to see when they can be moved out of the closed classification. These areas will fluctuate over time — particularly because the town has done some drainage improvements.”

DEC continues to monitor water quality throughout New York’s marine region as part of its participation in the National Shellfish Sanitation Program.

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