June 24, 1999 - Getting educated on the estuary6A - The Suffolk Times - June 24, 1999
Getting educated on the estuary
There are some advantages in having
been around for a long time. Just last
week I was invited to travel with a
group of distinguished scientists who
came from as far away as Mexico and
California to visit two of the important
estuaries we have here in the east. One
was the Jamaica Bay area near the busy
metropolis of the city of New York; the
other was our
own Peconic Bay FOCUS
estuary. I was to
help tell of some ON
of the local phe-
nomena and his-
tory that per- by Paul
tained to our Stoutenburgh
East End. The
idea was to compare the similarities of
estuaries here with those in other parts
of the country as part of a combined
study to see if there were lessons to be
learned from each, not only from an
environmental perspective but on eco-
nomic values as well, the overall theory
being that all estuaries worldwide have
similar characteristics and economic
values and each could profit from the
other.
Professor Ron Hellman from East
Marion headed up the study group and
worked out all the logistics of getting
everyone together with cars, boats,
food and lodging. Barbara and I were
not able to be with them the first day at
Jamaica Bay but were privileged to be
with the group in the Peconics.
Our tour started at the county's
Meschutt Marina on Shinnecock
Canal, where Dr. Robert Nuzzi had
previously arranged for us to use one of
the county's monitoring vessels. By 9:30
a.m. we were headed toward Flanders
Bay, which lies just south of Aque-
bogue and Jamesport. Here we could
see the great salt marshes that rim the
shore, with the vast pine barrens to the
south. These, like all salt marshes, are
vital in making estuaries function pro-
ductively. All were glad to hear these
were safely secured under our county
park system.
We were able to show our visitors the
mouth of the Peconic River and, by
maps, show its vast freshwater shed
that stretches as far west as Calverton.
5ulicik Times photo courtesy of Zahn Williamson of South Jamesport
Step back into the 130s to when eel grass flourished In our bays and a thriving Industry of scallops employed hun-
dreds. Here you see South Jamesport with its scallop shacks that lined the bayfront. It's winter and the scallop boats
lie In wait for the coming season.
This river is the major source of fresh
water into the estuary and its water
quality is a major concern for all. The
Riverhead sewage treatment plant on
the river and the impact of a major
duck farm were the topics of lively dis-
cussions.
As we swung around and passed
South Jamesport, I told of its role as a
major fishing village in the '30s. Like
New Suffolk and other areas in the
Peconic estuary, their heyday was
spawned by the weakfish that drew peo-
ple to party boats by the hundreds.
Not only was it the Peconic Bay's
weakfish and scallops that attracted
hordes of people to the fishing grounds
of the Peconic, but a scallop industry
flourished here and throughout the
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I if
bays as well. As we moved along, we
could see the shorefront of South
Jamesport, which was once lined with
scallop shacks. Like the shacks of New
Suffolk and other areas, they told the
history of a once - thriving industry.
It was the time when eel grass grew in
the bays and acted as a nursery area for
fish and shellfish alike. Today we have
no eel grass in our upper bays. It died
out back in the '30s and has never
recovered. Some of those very same
scallop shacks have now been convert-
ed into modern homes. They are still
only 12 feet wide on 14 -foot lots. Of all
the shacks that outlined South James-
port, there is only one left today in its
original uniqueness.
It was a time when our bays and
creeks poured forth their spoils of
weakfish, flounder, kingfish, porgies
and others along with the scallops,
clams and oysters. It was a time that
would never be seen again, for without
eel grass and its untold secrets, the trea-
sures of our bays will continue to
remain void of their past splendor.
From Flanders Bay we headed east
toward Robins Island and the hamlet of
New Suffolk. Here I told of the years
and years of citizens' efforts to try to
save the island from overdevelopment
and how in the nick of time it was
bought by Louis Bacon, who by work-
ing with the Nature Conservancy will
restrict his development of the island to
only a few new buildings. I was person-
ally involved in that working partner-
ship and can vouch for its success.
I explained how the waters around
the island have been used recently for
various types of aquaculture such as the
raising of oysters on racks that rest on
the bay bottom, and how the unpollut-
ed waters of the bays were used for
cleansing clams that were brought in
from restricted (polluted) areas to be
cleansed under strict government regu-
lation.
New Suffolk scallop shacks
If we could have looked closely
enough at New Suffolk we would have
seen aloi)g the back reaches of School-
house Creek the remnants still standing
of its early scallop shacks. I remember
these local waters well at that time for it
was here one would have to keep a sharp
eye out for oyster stakes that once
marked the oyster beds throughout our
bays. Occasionally one of these oyster
poles would break loose and drift ashore
only to claimed by a lucky resident who
carried the 20- foot -or -more slender pole
home to be used for a flagpole. One of
my most cherished photographs is of the
last oyster boats snuggled up against the
old weathered - shingled oyster building
there in New Suffolk.
As we headed east we passed Nassau
Point with its long tongue of sand
stretching south. Further along we
passed Roses Grove, that legendary
weakfish mecca where party boats lined
up so thick in those early years it
seemed, from a distance, that one could
walk from one boat to the other.
In the '30s weakfishing was done by
See Focus, next page
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Style, meet substance
GUESTS INVITED to New Suffolk
resident Christine McCabe's house
for dinner know they can expect a
great meal and a wonderful time.
Everything else is a mystery.
Will they dine in the
exotic tea pavilion by the
pond, on the romantic
balcony, by the snug fire-
place in the living room,
or in the intimacy of her
bedroom? On which of
her extensive collection
of platters and plates will
she serve the food? What
will she pull from her
backyard garden to create for the
meal and to embellish it?' "I never like
to eat off the same plates all the time
or in the same place," says Christine,
so she's not about to inflict that
drudgery on her friends.
Christine first arrived in the United
States from England with $45 in her
pocket. With pluck and remarkable
vitality, she's thrived by means of her
wonderful creative gifts ever since.
Originally a stylist in the fashion
industry, she made a switch to free-
lance food stylist. Her touch often
enhances magazine covers of regular
clients Family Circle and Good
Housekeeping. Recent cookbook
credits include "Fresco" and the
poultry volume of the "Food and
Wine" cookbook series. For a time
she also co -owned and managed a
hotel on Shelter Island.
Christine's New Suffolk roots go
back 37 years, but she's been in her
present house for only half a decade.
With just weekends in which to get
the projects done, she's transformed
the dwelling from an ordinary ranch
house on an average lot into an an-
tique country cottage with many out-
door environments.
For Christine, making things stylish
and beautiful is no obligatory
afterthought; it's an expression of her
essential being. And it's not some-
thing created with offstage minions
and a large production budget, but by
the boundlessly energetic Christine
herself — working in tandem
with her husband, Hugh Dangler
— using salvaged materials and
yard sale acquisitions.
She approaches cooking for
guests in the same
resourceful way,
selecting an inex-
pensive ingredient
for the main course
and then lavishing
effort upon it to
make it memorable.
While I watched one
afternoon, she con -
verted an ordinary
Perdue roasting chicken into an
elegant boned creation filled with
sausage, aromatics and rosemary,
reconstructed larger than life and
ready for cooking and saucing
with a simple white wine glaze.
She put together her signature
summer fruit crisp, an assem-
blage of strawberries, peaches
and rhubarb with a nut topping.
I trailed after Christine as she
headed to the vegetable garden
to pick leaves from the many
varieties of lettuces she grows
and gathered the chive flowers and
calendula blossoms that were to
adorn this pristine salad. When I later
expressed my sense of awe to one of
that evening's guests, she further
demoralized me by informing me that
Christine had spent the morning var-
nishing the wood floor.
In her weekday New York City life,
Christine loves to dine out to stay on
top of the ever - evolving food scene.
She credits the Greenwich Village
restaurant Babbo with the inspiration
for her dinner's first course, grilled
shrimp with mint oil. Chances are this
dish never was so just - picked and fab-
ulously presented in its place of ori-
gin.
Grilled Shrimp with Mint Oil
serves six
1 cup mint leaves
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt, pepper to taste
18 large shrimp, peeled with tails left on
THE
JOY OF
local
COOKING
by Barbara
Michelson
June 24, 1999 • The Suffolk Times • 7A
6 lemon wedges
Blanch mint leaves in boiling water
for 30 seconds. Drain and put in a
bowl of ice water to chill. Drain well.
Combine with extra - virgin oil in
blender. Set aside.
Shell beans and rinse. If using
fava beans, remove the tough
outer shell from individual beans
and discard. Bring stock to a boil.
Add beans and cook until very
tender but not mushy. Drain.
While beans cook wash and
dry arugula. Set aside six sprigs
for the garnish, then chop arugu-
la into one inch pieces. Fold
arugula into hot beans. Salt to
taste. Set aside while shrimp
marinate. . .
Mix lime juice, lemon juice and
olive oil and season with a bit of
salt and pepper. Marinate shrimp
for a half hour at room tempera-
ture. Soak bamboo skewers in
water. Thread shrimp on skewers
and grill until just cooked.
Make a mound of beans on
each plate. Prop three shrimp up
around mounds. Drizzle with a
bit of mint sauce. Garnish with a
sprig of arugula and a wedge of
lemon.
*A large can of Progresso
canellini beans may be substitut-
ed for the beans and stock. If using
the canned beans, heat well before
combining with arugula.
Focus on nature...
►From previous page
chumming with shrimp. Every boat had
its shrimp cart. People made their living
by shrimping in our creeks where they
sold them by the quart. As a party boat
anchored into the tide, the shrimp
would be tossed out to draw the fish in.
Every boat would come in with 50 to
100 or more weakfish.
In our travel eastward we passed the
Morton Wildlife Sanctuary or, as we
knew it, Jessups Neck. Our destination
was West Creek in Shelter Island, the
host spot for the brown tide. It's here
that the brown tide seems to start first.
Like many of our creeks on Long
Island, West Creek has attracted the
second homeowner, and why not? What
could be more desirable? Beautiful
homes on the water, boats well protect-
ed from storms, access to some of the
best boating and fishing waters in the
world. But — it all comes with its bag-
gage of hidden problems: improper sep-
tic systems,-heavy use of pesticides and
fertilizers on lawns to the water's edge,
all of which could find their way into our
creeks; oil and gasoline from boats;
bulkheads that eliminate the nutrient
factory of the marsh grass; the list goes
on and on. From West Creek we headed.
to Dering Harbor on the north side of
the island. Here we ate lunch and heard
a presentation by Dr. Vito Minei, who
heads up the Peconic Estuary Program.
Questions and answers flowed from all.
Our last stop was at Coecles Harbor,
where for the past three years research
director Dr. Darcy Lonsdale has been
studying the brown tide in cooperation
with Woods Hole. This devastating phe-
nomenon has eluded scientists for years
but slowly its secrets are being unrav-
eled and hopefully in the near future a
solution will be found.
It is the hope of the group we were
traveling with that government and the
people will rely more in the future on
the importance of scientific investiga-
tion of our estuaries in trying to solve
not only environmental problems but
economic ones as well, since each is
dependent on the other. It is an ambi-
tious project but the only true hope we
have for solving these problems now
and in the future.
Christine McCabe In her garden.
3 tablespoons lime juice
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
4 cups light fish stock or 2 cups water
and 2 cups clam broth or 4 cups
water and 1/2 fish bouillon cube
5 pounds fresh fava beans or 2
pounds fresh canellini or cranberry
beans*
1 large bunch arugula
salt, pepper to taste
We put the North Fork
on your plate.
THE SUFFOLK TIMES.
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