'Off to college': Oysters, grown slightly, head to harbors

On a recent Sunday, a group of volunteers set off into Oyster Bay Harbor on a 26-foot vessel loaded with a few dozen oyster-filled cages.

The oysters were tiny at the start of the summer — smaller than the size of a fingernail. Every couple of weeks, volunteers came to the sandy shores of Beekman Beach in Oyster Bay to maintain them. They cleaned their cages of sea squirts and other harmful critters that inhibit shellfish growth.

A few weeks ago, the volunteer group sent the mollusks — by then, grown to about an inch and a half wide — over the boat into a protected area in Oyster Bay Cove.

By descending to the bay bottom, the shellfish should have the best chance to survive and form clumps of oyster reefs. Those efforts should help replenish the dwindling population of filter feeders.