Community-driven FLUPSY floats debut at Woodbine Marina, filtering harbor water and bringing leaders together for a common cause

“We all work and live and play on the harbor, and it’s really all of our responsibility to care for it.”

These words by former Northport Village Trustee Mercy Smith, who initiated the FLUPSY program that debuted yesterday at the Woodbine Marina, remind us why these innovative techniques to benefit our waterways are critical.

Oyster FLUPSY (Floating Upweller System) floats are used to grow and protect shellfish in open water until they are large enough to survive, at which time they are released and work to filter our waterways. The floats provide a constant heavy flow of water that passes over the shellfish, which are natural filter feeders and help to remove nitrogen from the harbor. Pumping the water through the oysters provides a much healthier diet and allows them to grow much faster than they would if they were sitting at the bottom of the bay, according to Barry Udelson, the Marine Resource Specialist and educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension.

“Once they reach a certain size, we are able to put them out into the harbor. A legal size oyster, which is about three inches, can filter up to 50 gallons [of water] a day,” Barry explained. Multiply that by 100,000 oysters from this initial installation, and even more than that over the years, and you’re talking about large quantities of harbor water being filtered right here in Northport.

The newest floats at the Woodbine Marina, which includes two docks, are part of a sister program with the existing structure at Gold Star Beach in Huntington. The Northport project required the support of several key players, including the Northport Village Board, the Town of Huntington Board (with the initial sponsorship by Trustee Joan Cergol), the Huntington Harbor Master, Legislator William Spencer’s office and Cornell Cooperative Extension.

The FLUPSY began as a way to celebrate the 125-year history of Northport Village. In 2018, then Trustee Mercy Smith spearheaded the 125th Anniversary Committee. In an effort to give back to the Northport community, Mercy and about thirty other committee members set a plan in motion to raise funds to support this FLUPSY program. “We wanted to create a project that would give back and have a lasting impact so that when the 150th anniversary came around, they would see the benefit from it,” Mercy told the Journal.

Mercy said the Village Board gave 200 percent to get this done, with countless resolutions, agreements and research needed to finalize the project. When she resigned from her trustee position, Trustee Dave Weber stepped up to lead the FLUPSY program. “When you move on to a new role and have to give up your baby, it’s tough,” Mercy said at yesterday’s debut. “And I can’t think of anyone else who cares more about this harbor and cares more about this project than Dave, and I have the utmost confidence in him and his leadership to carry this forward.”

Mercy also thanked the Highway Department and Parks Department for building the FLUPSYs. “We talked about outsourcing them, given the pandemic, but these guys came in and actually created and built them,” she said. With the help of Village Administrator, Roland Buzard, and Cornell Cooperative Extension, they were able to come up with the best design to replicate the structure that already exists at Gold Star Beach.

Trustee Dave Weber will be heading the program and Northport Village resident Sean Tamaro will work as the on-site supervisor. Another goal of the program is to spark the interest of young people in environmental causes, said both Trustee Weber and Cornell Cooperative Executive Director Vanessa Lockel. This summer, two interns are working at the Gold Star and Woodbine locations: Gillian Storch, a Harborfields senior who is interested in animal science, and Elisa Hustedt, a Walt Whitman High School graduate who is attending SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry for Environmental Engineering. These young interns work every weekday, from 8:30am-3pm.

“What’s better than the start of an aquaculture program right here in our backyard to support, safeguard and help maintain our marine environment, the backbone of our village?” said Trustee Weber.

The FLUPSY program was made possible with the extreme generosity of John Engeman Theater owners Kevin O’Neill and Rich Dolce, who donated proceeds from a special production of “Saturday Night Fever.” Those funds went directly into building the FLUPSY docks, as did donations from Bethpage Federal Credit Union, Long Island Board of Realtors, Northport PBA, Northport Historical Society, The Observer, Prince Charming Graphics and Northport residents.

And the community support doesn’t stop there. The Northport Native Garden Initiative, run by Village residents Nicole Tamaro, Sara Abbass and Matt Gorman, announced that they’ll be matching donations to the FLUPSY program up to $500.

There will also be a “brick fundraiser” through the Rotary Club of Northport that will kick off on August 14. Community members will have an opportunity to purchase bricks to fill a 900-square-foot patio that goes around the Christmas tree at the entrance of Village Park. The bricks can be customized with up to three lines of characters; brick sales will support the beautification of the park and raise funds for the FLUPSY floats that will keep the program going beyond the initial two-year investment.

Despite its launch being delayed by over a year due to Covid, the FLUPSY program symbolizes what can happen when community leaders, business owners and residents put their heads together and work to achieve a goal. As Barry from Cornell reminded us yesterday at the Northport FLUPSY debut, “No one group or town can do enough to fix everything, but if you start getting smaller groups and partners, everyone involved together, then you start having a much bigger impact. And that’s what this is all about.”