Delivery Day 2026

On July 7, 2026, CSHH received the spat-on-shell oyster delivery from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk, marking the start of the fifth season of CSHH community oyster gardening! A total of 22 volunteers helped to distribute the approximately 97,000 spat-on-shell oysters across all four CSHH oyster gardening locations: Hempstead Harbour Club, North Hempstead Beach Park, Tappen Marina, and Sea Cliff Yacht Club.

A huge THANK YOU to all of the volunteers who helped bring the oysters to their temporary homes. This day would not have run so smoothly without their help!

From mid-July through September, teams of volunteers gather at each of the four locations and work together to clean the cages and oysters as well as measure oyster growth and record environmental observations around the cages.

The average size of the spat we received this year was approximately 0.5 cm. Once the oysters reach an average size of about 1.5 inches (3.8 cm), they will be “planted” in a nondisclosed conservation management area, usually in late September.

Slideshow above includes: spat-on-shell delivered by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk, oyster gardening crew at Hempstead Harbour Club, measuring spat with a vernier caliper, volunteer transferring spat-on-shell from the crates to cages, up-close image of the size variation of spat, CSHH staff and volunteers measuring and transferring the oysters to cages at Sea Cliff Yacht Club, bringing the oyster cages out at Hempstead Harbour Club (photos by Sebastian Li, Lisa Cashman, and Teri Moschetta on 7/7/26).