With high winds predicted for the weekend, oyster farmers across the bay discussed whether or not to move their floats into the protected area of the Bluefish River, a curve of water that runs from the back side of the bay inland. High winds can be dangerous to the oyster crops as they pose the risk of dragging floats across grants, destroying thousands of oysters in their path. Throughout the day, Kevin claimed, "Nah, we won't move ours. We're just going to secure everything down on the float, as we have a new anchorage system in place." As the day went on Brian jokingly commented, "It's like the lead up to a hurricane with citizens denying their need to evacuate." By noon, half of the floats had been moved to the river and finally Kevin gave in. There are two different ways to move a float: Solo or tag team. To move the float solo, we attach the float to our boat and we push the float from the back. With two boats, one boat attaches on either side of the float, pulling the float together. This was our strategy. It was quite a sight to see boats pushing floating sheds across the bay that day!
Floats protected in the Back River during the storm:
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