Thu., November 1, 2012 3:15pm (EDT)

Sandy's Damage Under The Sea, Through The Eyes Of Oyster Farmers
By Jeff Cohen
Updated: 7 months ago

Norman Bloom takes his boat out to meet his son, Jimmy, whose boat is idling over the company's oyster beds, about a mile offshore from Norwalk. They worry that the waves and the turbulence may have suffocated the oysters under silt. They could have been banged around, which would break them. And they may have just cracked open and died, Jimmy fears.
Norman Bloom takes his boat out to meet his son, Jimmy, whose boat is idling over the company's oyster beds, about a mile offshore from Norwalk. They worry that the waves and the turbulence may have suffocated the oysters under silt. They could have been banged around, which would break them. And they may have just cracked open and died, Jimmy fears.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy wrapped up a post Hurricane Sandy news briefing earlier this week by talking about sewage discharges into Long Island Sound. "Suffice to say in the immediate time being, no one should eat the clams or oysters," he said.

That's right. Because of water quality issues, the state put a temporary stop to oyster farming, but that's usually a short-term thing and it happens fairly regularly after a big storm.

But Hurricane Sandy may have had a far more lasting impact on some in the oyster industry in terms of pure destruction of the oyster's fragile habitat.

Norman Bloom and his son, Jimmy Bloom are oyster farmers at Norm Bloom and Son in Norwalk, Conn. Their family has been raising oysters for three generations now on 2,000 underwater acres of oysters in Long Island Sound. And, on Wednesday, two days after the storm, I tagged along as the Blooms were finally able to get out on the water to assess the damage.

Check out the slideshow above to see what they found.

Cohen is a reporter with WNPR in Connecticut.


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