I disagree with the "Shellfish Hatchery would benefit area" letter Sept. 11. According to Nelson Marshall's book, "The Scallop Estuary, The Natural Features of the Niantic River", the primary, negative influence impacting the health of the river is "nutrient loading". The author explains this "loading" is caused by septic seepage that causes a "matting" of a plankton and a smothering of eel grass and a limiting of the growth of scallops and other mollusks. Creating a shellfish hatchery will not clean up the river. The Town of East Lyme currently only has sewers on Smith Avenue and the Pine Grove area that border the Niantic River.

The author feels East Lyme must move quickly to install sewer systems along the whole of the western shore to assure and promote the health of the river.

Of course everyone would want scallops to recover and a young business owner to succeed. But why is the shellfish commission allowed to lease over 6 acres of river to a private company? Structures on a waterway are never safe. Wouldn't a less controversial and more healthy hatchery site be located between Waterford Island and the Waterford shoreline?

John Hughes

Waterford