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CNN Live Saturday

New Breed of Gardener on Long Island

Aired July 21, 2001 - 16:26   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: Cornell University is cultivating a new breed of gardener on Long Island. At a time when most are enjoying their summer blooms, others are hoping their crops will be good enough to dump in the ocean. CNN's Brian Palmer with our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN PALMER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Peconic Bays of Long Island, New York, cover about 100,000 acres and support thousands of species of plants and animals linked together in a complex ecological chain.

ADA HORTON: The scallops were just swimming through the water. I mean, you could just go out with a net and just scoop them out.

PALMER: In 1985, the chain broke. The bays' abundant fish and shellfish started to die, suffocated by a bloom of algae called brown tide.

JIM MCMAHON, SOUTHOLD EXEC., ADMINISTER: The brown tide devastated the scallop population in the Peconic Bays and it was a multimillion dollar industry that both recreational and commercial harvesters enjoyed for years and years. And after the brown tide it has really never come back to what it was.

PALMER: It's been ten years since the last major bloom. The number of fish has increased, but shellfish have had a harder time.

KIM TETRAULT, CORNELL MARINE CENTER: In nature, there are no oysters that are this size this year.

PALMER: Kim Tetrault runs the Cornell University Marine Program's shellfish hatchery...

TETRAULT: Here's one of your quintessential fouling organisms.

PALMER: ... which raises oysters, clams and scallops to replenish the bays.

TETRAULT: What we're really looking at, the ultimate goal, isn't to subsidize the fishery as much as it is to provide new brood stock, so that nature will provide the product over time.

PALMER: Last year the center raised about 10 million of the mollusks.

TETRAULT: Raise your hand if you're gardening here.

PALMER: This year it started teaching ordinary Long Islanders to raise them, both at the hatchery and at their homes, part of what they call S.P.A.T., the Southold Project in Aquaculture Training.

Shirley and Alan Watson are raising about 2000 oysters in the creek that runs past their house.

SHIRLEY WATSON: Everyday we look at them and make sure they're alright. We move them around, make sure that we don't have any predators getting into the cages.

PALMER: The Watsons and other participants can keep three- quarters of what they produce.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it would be nice to eat them.

PALMER: The hatchery uses the rest to continue replenishing the Peconic Bays.

Brian Palmer, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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