Indicators:  Sound + Shore

Clean Shellfish Beds

Cleaner water and active management have allowed the leasing of more underwater acreage to commercial shellfish companies.

Connecticut met its goal of having 60,000 acres open by the year 2000, which are far fewer acres than were open a hundred years ago. The primary impediments to opening more acres are the presence of sewage discharges and the need to conduct frequent monitoring to satisfy federal health-assurance requirements. Beds are counted as open when they are clean enough and monitored sufficiently. The dramatic increase in 1997 was attributed largely to a decade-long increase in the commercial value of Connecticut's harvest, which prompted investments in expansion. Expansion has been a cooperative venture of industry and state government. Water quality and monitoring improvements led to modest expansion in 1998 and 1999, even as the industry saw oyster stocks depleted by disease in 1998. The expansion of shellfish beds in 2000 reflected even greater interest in the oyster industry as some lobstermen, responding to declining lobster populations, switched to harvesting oysters. The slight decrease in 2003 reflected a 15-month moratorium on new leases and fluctuations in the acreage of private beds. In 2004, progress resumed, and many shellfish beds that were already open with restrictions were upgraded because of better water quality and monitoring. Aquaculture experts believe 80,000 acres is a realistic target.