Niantic Bay Shellfish Farm

    Niantic Bay Shellfish Farm, LLC(C/O Timothy Londregan III; PO Box 106; Niantic, CT) has submitted a permit application to conduct work in the Niantic River, eastern portion of Squall Flats, northwest of Mago Point to install racks, bags, cages, trays and navigation aids for an existing shellfish lease.
    The project site is located in the Niantic River  and a Waterford-East Lyme Shellfish Commission lease identified as WELSC0-7, Waterford, CT, on the eastern portion of Squall Flats, northwest of Mago Point.  The southernmost comer is located 363 feet northwest from Red #6 buoy and the northernmost comer is located 361 feet east of Red #14 buoy.
    The work involves the installation of racks, bags, cages, trays and associated Aids to Navigation to assess commercial feasibility for shellfish aquaculture on the river (shoal) bottom and in the water column at an existing 6.41 acre shellfish lease.
    The entire lease and its individual gear areas will be surrounded by eight Boating Hazard Marker Buoys as an Aid to navigation, at no more than a 3 00 foot interval, per State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection navigation agency specification: Water depths at the site range from approximately three inches mean lower low water (MLL W) to 16 inches MLL W at maximum ebb tide and approximately 39 inches to 51 inches at flood tide. Although designated as a natural shellfish bed and recreational shellfish area, both the Bureau of Aquaculture and the Shellfish Warden for WELSCO identify the area as lacking natural set or resources of concern due to exposure and high-energy.
    The purpose of the proposed structures is the experimental cultivation of eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) for commercial shellfish aquaculture and rearing of native bay scallop (Argopectin irradiens) for population enhancement and restoration.
    The designation of the shellfish lease for this project by the Waterford-East Lyme Shellfish Commission was a result of an exhaustive 15-month process of evaluation that considered, and ultimately eliminated, six other lease sites within the river due to a variety of factors including boating, navigation hazards, recreational shellfishing, recreational sports and recreational fishing, submerged aquatic vegetation, and other significant resource areas.
    For more information, please contact the Project Manager, by e-mail or by calling (978) 318-8306

Created: 28 November 2017