The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said Monday that areas of the Long Island Sound will close this weekend to shellfishing.
The closures are imposed during holidays to protect public health from potentially contaminated shellfish associated with increased boating activity in shellfishing waters. Boaters are reminded to use pump-out facilities to help protect these waters.
Since 1995, DEC has designated these areas as temporarily uncertified for the harvest of shellfish during the Fourth of July and Labor Day holidays. DEC will designate the following areas, all on the north shore of Long Island, as closed to the harvest of shellfish beginning at sunrise on Friday, Sept. 4, and continuing through Wednesday, Sept. 9:
- 445 acres in a section of Oyster Bay Harbor, town of Oyster Bay, Nassau County
- 50 acres in the area known as the Sand Hole, town of Huntington, Suffolk County
- 347 acres in northern Port Jefferson Harbor, town of Brookhaven, Suffolk County