Climate Change Coastodian and the Mighty Mollusk
Bayville, NY
2023, Junior, Creative Writing
Climate Hero: Tim Gilmartin, Oyster Bay Environmental Department
Crassostrea Virginica, or the Eastern Oyster, is the lifeblood of my hometown: Oyster Bay, New York. This species and other bivalve mollusks have provided a living for generations of Nassau County families, and our restaurants are on par with any. But today the oyster is answering a much larger calling than reviving the local economy: it’s fighting climate change. It turns out these mighty mollusks are filter feeders – they suck in water, plankton, and debris, and while consuming the latter two, spit the water out. This method of feeding effectively works as a natural filtering system, ensuring the environment is clean and the water pollution-free. Each oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of water.
Coastline resiliency leads the local buzz in Nassau County, where bay exposure leaves it vulnerable to devastating storms like Superstorm Sandy (2012). I’ve grown up here and I care, so I set out to learn about what is happening in my community.
Town of Oyster Bay Biologist Tim Gilmartin’s passion and work is the Oyster Bay Shellfish Hatchery, where the goal is restoring bay health by maintaining the oyster population. The oysters spend about the first 18 months of their lives in this artificial environment, or until they are deemed viable to survive re-homing. The oysters, along with other mollusks, grasses, and rocks, act as a sophisticated filtration system, collecting carbon, thus improving water quality and reducing carbon output. And carbon is one of the greenhouse gasses known for decades to cause global warming.
I met Mr. Gilmartin at the bi-annual beach clean-up, one of the many coastal resiliency events The Town of Oyster Bay regularly hosts to foster community involvement. I caught up with him at a special marine information booth stationed near the sign-ins. His role that day was to share his expertise, and he’s passionate about saving the environment through ongoing public education. “I strongly believe in getting the community here,” he said, motioning to the sign-up booth, “and sharing the knowledge collectively.”
Not surprisingly, Oyster Bay has been taking action – the local environment has seen unprecedented hardships. Long Island residents are keenly aware of the slow and ominous effects of climate change. Here, increasingly devastating storms have ravaged our shores. Dunes are also a vital part of the Long Island coastline, as they strengthen it and hold its shape, making it a major player in curbing the worst effects of flooding.
Unfortunately, this makes for a vicious cycle as dunes get worn away more quickly as storms come in. Water pollution isn’t a thing to be joked about, either – many local residents sail the bay either as a job or recreationally. A dip in water quality may mean the endangering of not only the health of both people and the bay, but also the highly shoreline-oriented economic standing and lifestyles of the residents who have come to depend on the well-being of the environment to function.
Hope isn’t lost. Climate hero Tim Gilmartin and the Town of Oyster Bay are leading the charge to combat the effects of environmental degradation.
The first line of defense? The community.
Events like trash cleanups, dune stabilization projects (“Dune Day”), and rain garden parties encourage engagement. And becoming an oyster gardener is one of the many ways a wider populace can lend a hand in fixing the environment. This, Tim Gilmartin argues, is one of the strongest tools we have for tackling climate change. “We love getting the community involved,” he said, and believes that it’s through “knowledge and events being the best way to get people involved” that the environment can be saved.
The second? The Oyster Hatchery.
Diminutive as they may seem, oysters are key to protecting the environment of the bay, and by extension, the health and way of life of the people who live there. As mentioned previously, oysters naturally filter the waterways they inhabit and improve problems with water pollution. But oysters can’t do it alone. That’s where Mr. Gilmartin comes in. This humble hatchery isn’t what you’d find glamorous, but it serves a vital role for the local community and environment that too many people overlook. As a Senior Biologist at the hatchery, his work lies in cultivating new oyster “seeds” and “spawning sanctuaries,” or places where oysters can spawn with increased chances of survival. It’s work that requires expertise of people like Mr. Gilmartin.
And of course, we can never forget the humble oyster.
Reflection
This essay was prompted by how, as diminutive as they may seem, local actions can be utilized to enact changes that neither higher levels of the state nor a single person can fix. In news about global warming, sweeping governmental policies or slogans of individual responsibility are always the ones that receive the public's attention. Few have ever stopped to consider the midpoint of the two extremes, with it serving as a bridge between both possessing the personal nature of a community, as well as having a collective element in its policies. Like employing a myriad of various tools in a toolkit instead of just one to repair the cracked seams and defunct engine of a run-down vehicle, using a variety of methods and having diversity in our ideas to fix the environment is the single best way to restore our failing ecosystems. Mr. Gilmartin's life work is one of many tools in the toolkit, one where we as individuals, communities, entire nations, and even as all of mankind overcome climate change. It's my greatest hope to spread the message of how local policy and action can be used to combat what I believe to be the most critical crisis mankind has ever seen.