Shellfish Harvester Hooked For Illegal Activity

A Bellport company has agreed to pay a $100,000 fine for harvesting clams in uncertified waters near an outfall pipe from the Bergen Point Sewage Treatment Plant in West Babylon.

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, an investigation in February by Environmental Conservation Officers (ECO) found surf clam boats from Bay Head, Inc., operating in the Atlantic Ocean near the pipe. This area is closed to shellfish harvesting, which extends three miles offshore and one-half mile east and west of the outfall pipe. The closure has been in effect since the late 1970s.

“In addition to protecting natural resources, Environmental Conservation Officers play a valuable role in safeguarding the public’s health,” said Joe Martens, DEC Commissioner. “The harvesting of shellfish from uncertified waters has the potential to have dire human health consequences by transmitting diseases to humans who consume them.”

On February 25, the DEC said ECOs noticed the Amanda Tara, a 70-foot-long ocean surf clam harvesting boat, in the area in question. Working with the Suffolk County Police Aviation Unit, DEC officials photographed the area and activity while other DEC law enforcement units continued to watch from the shore.

The Amanda Tara was observed still harvesting clams in the closed area after sunset, another violation of Environmental Conservation Law, DEC officials said. State law prohibits harvesting shellfish from sunset to sunrise.

On February 26, DEC officials seized more than two-dozen cages of clams worth about $11,000 on a dock in Oceanside. Some cages were on a truck ready for delivery to a Delaware processing center. All shellfish in question was destroyed.

According to the DEC, the uncertified area around the outfall pipe is in place to protect the public from possible contamination that may occur from any accidental untreated sewage discharges and to protect the outfall pipe itself from damage from dredges that are used in the harvesting of surf clams.

Surf clams are especially susceptible to contamination that may exist in their environment. Shellfish pump water around their bodies to obtain oxygen and filter out tiny plants and animals for food. This filtering may also pick up disease-causing micro-organisms that can be eaten with the shellfish and has the potential to cause serious human illness or even death.