South Fork Sea Farmers Reef Report Card

EAST HAMPTON, N.Y., April 27, 2026 Addressing the escalating concern over nitrogen pollution and its impact on East End waters, South Fork Sea Farmers (SFSF) today released comprehensive monitoring results from its living oyster reefs in Accabonac Harbor and Three Mile Harbor. The data, spanning four years, demonstrates that these community-built reefs are not only surviving local conditions but are growing rapidly and beginning to self-reproduce, offering a sustainable solution to regional water quality challenges.

Evidence of Environmental Impact

“For four years our interns have measured these reefs bag by bag, oyster by oyster,” said Jeff Ragovin, Board President. “The 2025 numbers tell us what we hoped they would: the reefs aren’t just surviving, they’re reproducing. Bob Tymann, Education Chair " When we see wild spat setting on our shell in Accabonac Harbor, that is the bay beginning to restore itself. Alina Lundry, Board member "The headlines this week have understandably focused on what’s wrong with our waters. We want people to also see what’s working: a concrete, local answer to the nitrogen pollution driving both the bacteria and the blooms our neighbors are reading about. Every oyster we put in the water is filtration capacity we didn’t have yesterday.”

The monitoring results provide the strongest evidence to date that SFSF's intern-led initiative can establish self-sustaining tools against the nitrogen pollution driving harmful algal blooms and bacterial contamination in local waters. As Michael Doall, Stony Brook's associate director for aquaculture, noted in a recent Southampton Press report, "Shellfish and seaweed are zero input crops… When harvested we are actually taking nitrogen out of the water." SFSF's reefs are permanent habitats, continuously pulling nitrogen from the water with every tide.

A single adult oyster filters approximately 50 gallons of water per day, removing nitrogen, plankton, and suspended particles that contribute to harmful algal blooms and create conditions for harmful bacteria. The thousands of oysters across SFSF's reefs collectively provide measurable nitrogen removal in the same East End harbors where residents have faced warnings about toxic blooms and bacterial contamination.

Reef Performance Highlights (2022-2025)

South Fork Sea Farmers has built and monitored four reefs since 2022, tracking survival, shell growth, rugosity, water quality, and natural set.

• Reef #1 (Accabonac Harbor, installed September 2022): Documented 98.2% oyster survival at first count and 96.9% at second. Shell growth increased from 3.3-3.7 cm to 3.5-4.1 cm within the first eight weeks. Significance: In June 2024, monitors observed natural set (juvenile oysters 3.0-5.0 cm) that settled without hatchery seeding, indicating the reef has begun reproducing itself.
• Reef #2 (Accabonac Harbor, installed December 2023): Mean spat size grew from roughly 17 mm at installation to 80.2 mm in the deep bag and 72.8 mm in the shallow bag by October 2024, a nearly fivefold increase in 44 weeks. Survival rebounded from 60.5% in December 2024 to 86.7% by October 2025. Significance: Demonstrates robust growth and resilience through its first winter.
• Reef #3 (Accabonac Harbor, installed July 2024): Achieved 82.1% survival at the October 2024 count. Spat grew from 4.1 cm in October 2024 to 5.9 cm by October 2025, a 44% size increase year over year. Significance: Consistent growth rates underscore the viability of new reef installations.
• Reef #4 (Three Mile Harbor Marina, installed July 2025): Recorded 85.5% survival at the October 2025 count. Significance: This marks the first successful reef in Three Mile Harbor, indicating the SFSF reef model can be effectively transferred to other East Hampton estuaries.

These results underscore the potential for oyster reefs to serve as a vital component in restoring and maintaining the ecological health of Long Island's estuaries, directly combating nitrogen pollution and improving water quality.

South Fork Sea Farmers is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit working to restore the health of eastern Long Island’s waters through volunteer built oyster reefs, ongoing scientific monitoring, and community education. The organization currently operates four permitted reefs in Accabonac Harbor and Three Mile Harbor under permits issued by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. More information, monitoring data, and volunteer opportunities are available at southforkseafarmers.org.

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