The Port TIMES RECORD Port Jefferson • Belle terre • Port Jefferson station • terrYVille
Volume 28, No. 34
July 23, 2015
$1.00
Going for the ultimate crown
Also: Kittens galore at Save-A-Pet; ‘Reasons to Be Pretty’ in Northport; Amber Ferrari at Theatre Three
PAgE B1
Town supports crab harvesting ban Proposed DEC action would affect horseshoe crabs in Port Jefferson Harbor BY erika karP
Zoning in
Town approves limits to future development at contaminated site
PAgE A3
The Brookhaven Town Board has officially backed Supervisor Ed Romaine’s push for a horseshoe crab harvesting ban at town parks and properties. At a meeting on July 16, councilmembers unanimously supported a resolution that requests the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation close North and
South Shore parks and underwater lands to horseshoe crab harvesting and recommends strategies to reduce the harvesting. State Assemblyman Steve Englebright (D-Setauket) also spoke at the meeting and threw in his support for the effort, as it would help protect the crab population — which, according to some reports, has decreased. “I support this resolution and encourage its passage and
compliment the very fact that it has been initiated,” said Englebright, the chair of the Assembly’s Committee on Environmental Conservation. In May, Romaine announced he would seek a horseshoe crab harvesting ban for areas within 500 feet of town-owned waterfront properties. Fishermen often use horseshoe crabs for bait, but the crabs are also used for medicinal purposes, as
Top photos by Erika Karp; file photo above
top right, state assemblyman steve englebright, right, and a local fisherman, left, speak at a Brookhaven town Board meeting. top left and above, young horseshoe crabs.
their blue blood, which is worth an estimated $15,000 a quart, is used in the biomedical and pharmaceutical industries to detect bacterial contamination in drugs and supplies. Advocates for the ban have said the crabs, whose species is about 450 million years old, play a vital role in the ecosystem, as birds like the red knot eat the crabs’ eggs. Local parks covered within the town’s request include Port Jefferson Harbor; the western boundary of the Mount Sinai inlet; underwater lands and town-owned shoreline of Setauket Harbor; and Shoreham Beach. The DEC already has bans in place at Mount Sinai Harbor and West Meadow Beach. In May, Romaine also asked all of the town’s waterfront villages to support the ban. In addition, the town is asking the DEC to consider mandating fishers to use bait bags and/or artificial bait; banning the harvesting of horseshoe crab females; and establishing full harvest bans several days before and after full moons in May and June — the crabs’ nesting season. CRABS continued on page A13