Volunteers hunt damaged gear along Peconic Bay following winter's deep freeze

Dozens of volunteers fanned out across Peconic Bay shorelines Saturday on the hunt for damaged oyster gear that washed ashore after February's deep freeze.

The prolonged subzero temperatures that froze the bays between the East End's Twin Forks caused significant damage to equipment the region's oyster industry relies on to operate, industry leaders said.

As the freeze ended, equipment, like mangled cages — some filled with oysters that wouldn't be recoverable — began washing ashore.

To help clean beaches and possibly recover any salvageable cages, the Long Island Oyster Growers Association partnered with Suffolk County and several East End businesses to host the Peconic Oyster Dregs Hunt & Beach Cleanup. Using aerial footage recorded last weekend from a county drone, organizers pinpointed dozens of locations in the towns of Southold, East Hampton, Southampton and Shelter Island where oyster gear had washed ashore.

Volunteers were then given specific locations to visit in hopes of recovering as much debris as possible.

Eric Koepele, president of the Long Island Oyster Growers Association, said this was the first time they organized this type of cleanup.

"We've never had our gear beat up like this in the past," he said.

He said more than 150 people had signed up to participate in advance. At drop-off locations, volunteers received tokens for free drinks and oysters at Greenport Brewery in Peconic and Greenport, Ram's Head Inn on Shelter Island or Kidd Squid in East Hampton.

In Southold, the Suffolk County Department of Public Works set up a dumpster at Cedar Beach County Park as a central location where volunteers could bring back debris. While the returns were modest at first, several different types of oyster cages began to fill the dumpster by midafternoon. After the 4-hour collection window closed, the county brought the dumpster to the Southold Transfer Station.

Koepele stood in the dumpster examining a floating oyster cage that he could see was loaded with oysters.

"Those are all toast," he lamented.

Other gear included FlipFarm cages that he said belonged to Peeko Oysters, based in New Suffolk, which suffered significant gear loss.

Dane Ciolino, of Greenport, returned to Cedar Beach with a bag of garbage and loose buoys. He estimated he covered about 1,000 yards of beachfront at a location he was provided when he signed up.

He said most of the debris was plastic bottles rather than oyster gear.

"It was not as dirty as I thought it would be," he said.

Elizabeth Peeples, who owns Little Ram Oyster Co. with Stefanie Bassett, had better luck searching in Greenport. She returned to Cedar Beach with mounds of debris, including oyster gear as well as wood and plastic.

It was a family affair that included Peeples' and Bassett's 6-year-old son, Finn.

"Beach cleanup is a part of our ethos of living out here," she said. "It's something that's important to instill in him."

Peeples said as oyster farmers they did everything they could in advance of the deep freeze.

"The freeze really hit us this year," she said. "It was rough."