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September 29, 2021

Fair Haven oyster hatchery advances to final approvals 

Photo | Contributed A schematic of the oyster hatchery planned for Fair Haven.
By Liese Klein

A plan to modernize the historic oyster industry in New Haven’s Fair Haven neighborhood took another step toward reality with approvals from the city’s planning commission.

Copps Island Oysters of Norwalk won a unanimous thumbs up for its plan to build a new oyster house and hatchery at its properties on Quinnipiac Avenue at the Sept. 23 commission meeting. The company’s expansion plans prompted Gov. Ned Lamont to predict that the state could become “the Napa Valley of oysters.”

If Copps Island gets the expected OKs from the city’s Historic District Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection in the coming months, the project could break ground as soon as next spring, said Paolo Campos of Patriquin Architects. 

Planning Commissioner Carl Goldfield welcomed the effort, citing Fair Haven’s role in oyster harvesting that started with native Americans hundreds of years ago. 

“Rather than just approving more one- and two-bedroom condos, we’re really bringing history up to date,” Goldfield said. 

Commissioner Ed Mattison suggested adding a public aspect to the project to create a tourist attraction, perhaps a walkway from a neighboring restaurant.  

“You’ll make it quite an enterprise because it is fascinating to see what is needed in order to help nature,” Mattison said. 

Campos and Copps Island Special Projects Manager Lauren Gauthier outlined the whole oyster-hatching process, from spawning to “setting,” in which the oysters sit outside in a large tank and are encouraged to root themselves in empty shells. 

Constant circulation of river water to the tanks will keep smells down and actually improve the funky flow of the Quinnipiac, Campos said. 

“We’re mimicking nature in this building,” Campos said. “[Oysters] live and grow in estuaries, places where the water is murky because there's stuff growing in it, algae… dirt and other biologicals. Oysters grow there because they feed on all of that stuff, they eat it, they process it, they clean the water.” 

A modern hatchery will help update the process to minimize the risks of storms and temperature fluctuations in the Sound, which can wipe out whole generations of baby oysters. 

“Historically it’s been hit and miss — any kind of environmental factor that throws things off even by a little bit and you don’t know for the next three or four years what you’ve got,” Campos said. 
“The purpose of this site is to think of this as a 21st century operation.”

Contact Liese Klein at lklein@newhavenbiz.com.

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