A court in the U.S. state of New York has ruled in favor of the Town of Oyster Bay on Long Island, New York, dismissing a long-term aquaculture leaseholder’s complaint that the town didn’t renew its lease for 1,800 acres of shellfish harvesting area.
“A reading of the town code makes it clear that the town was not required to renew the lease,” Nassau County Supreme Court Judge Gregg Roth said in his decision dismissing the former leaseholder’s claims.
The lawsuit follows the end of a 30-year lease between the town and Frank M. Flowers and Sons (FMF), a commercial aquaculture company that has been operating since 1887, to raise and harvest clams and oysters on 1,800 acres of public land. Although the company wanted to renew the lease, the town declined, letting the lease expire on 30 September.
In rejecting FMF’s attempt to renew the lease, the town accused the shellfish harvester of violating the terms of the original lease, which required FMF to continue seeding the area. According to the North Oyster Bay Baymen's Association, FMF had not been seeding the area since 2018.
According to the Long Island Press, FMF was concerned that it would lose money repopulating the area without confirmation that they would be allowed to continue harvesting them once the lease ended. Other shellfish harvesters in the area dismissed that argument, pointing out that the shellfish were a public resource being leased to the company, and part of the terms of the lease included stewardship of that resource.
The town sued in 2023, claiming the company breached its contract by failing to repopulate the area. In 2024, FMF filed counterclaims, claiming the town’s failure to negotiate a renewal harmed their business.
In his 29 July decision, the judge rejected FMF’s counterclaims, calling its claims “a legally unsupportable allegation,” noting that the company’s interest ended when the lease did.
“Further, FMF was not prevented from harvesting the clams and oysters despite failing to seed at the same time, as required by the lease,” Roth said in his opinion. “FMF cannot argue that anything was taken away from them when they were allowed to continue to take from the underwater lands.”
Since the lease ended in September 2024, the town enacted a six-month moratorium on shellfish harvesting in that area, which was extended another six months in March. The town claims the moratorium will give officials time to see how the 30-year lease impacted the sea bottom while preparing for repopulating the area.
“This temporary moratorium will help us strengthen the health of the harbor while not impacting any current shellfish harvesting by local baymen on the more than 4,000 acres they currently fish. Harvesting in public waters will continue as currently allowed, with no changes to access or regulations, ensuring that local baymen and recreational anglers/shellfish harvesters can continue their activities without any disruption,” Oyster Bay Town Supervisor Joseph Saladino said in October 2024.
