Farmingville, NY – -On May 25, Supervisor Ed Romaine joined members of the Setauket Harbor Task Force as they brought in the season’s first Sugar Kelp harvest. This season, the growing location was moved from Setauket Harbor to Port Jefferson Harbor just offshore by the northwest mooring field. Sugar Kelp is a brown-colored native seaweed that thrives in the cold waters of the Long Island Sound and other areas of the northeast. Aquaculture farmers seed juvenile Kelp on long lines attached to buoys or docks in November and December, and then they wait until spring to harvest the fast-growing crop. Kelp is an excellent dietary source of fiber, vitamin C, vitamin K, iron, calcium, magnesium, iodine, and other trace minerals; it can be used dried, powdered, fresh, cooked, and fresh frozen. Pictured left to right are Setauket Harbor Task Force co-founder, Laurie Vetere, Supervisor Ed Romaine, Setauket Harbor Task Force co-founder, George Hoffman and Bay Constable Connor Reid.
The Setauket Harbor Task Force is a volunteer organization which works for clean water and healthy harbors. It was founded in 2014 by local Setauket residents who love the harbor and want to protect and preserve it. For more information about Sugar Kelp and to learn more about the Setauket Harbor Task Force, go to www.SaveSetauketHarbor.org.
