A dozen elementary school youngsters ran over to get a peek at the young crab that Biba Wanni netted out of the Bellport Village marina waters last Thursday.

“Why isn’t it pinching you?” asked one young boy.

Then, “Can we release it now?” said a concerned little girl.

Wanni, a staffer with the Boys & Girls Club of the Bellport Area, explained that the way she was holding the creature, the crab couldn’t bite with its claws. Also, it was a male from its markings.

(It was released later.)

Talk about enthusiastic high spirits last Thursday morning—a gorgeous day for a collaboration with the village, the BGCBA, Friends of Bellport Bay, and Center for Environmental Education and Discovery.

The kids were going to Ho-Hum Beach. Woo! Hoo!

But also, the youngsters had Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine, an environmentalist even before his time beginning his political career as a Suffolk County legislator, to pose with the kids on the Whalehouse Point vessel.

“Bellport has always been a great village with great things for their neighbors,” he said. “And I can’t say enough about the mayor. Maureen [Veitch] is an inspiring leader. I support everything the village does.”

Apropos to the environment, Romaine and Veitch discussed a number of initiatives on the dock, including sewers. Romaine said he’d had coffee with Veitch a couple of times.

“We have a sewer treatment plant at Harrison Avenue and County Road 101,” he explained. “We will bring the pipe down to Montauk Highway and Station Road, particularly because of the new housing development there to help out [D&F Development Group principal Peter Florey].

Then, we can take a look at Station Road to South Country.”

But back to the Boys & Girls Club event. “We’re heading out to Ho-Hum Beach on the ferry with about 40 kids,” explained Maria Slavnova, FoBB co-director. “We also have CEED leadership. We’ll be there for a good time and seine netting for creatures. Then we bring them back to our Bellport Bay tank at CEED.”

Slavnova explained that her group would teach the youngsters about the importance of oysters as a keystone species that provides resources for crabs and fish and filters the water. “They’re not just for eating,” she said.

BGCBA program director Sherika Adams discussed the organizational collaboration, including the David Duffy Jr. Foundation, a Bellport charity. Executive director Kim Livingston joined Adams.

“We’ve been doing this every year,” said mayor Veitch of the BGCBA students’ trip to Ho-Hum Beach. “We try to partner with organizations and church groups,” she said. “It was supposed to be 100 kids, but only about 40 signed up with parents and chaperones. You have to be careful at Ho-Hum; there are riptides and currents there. And we can’t give away the ferry rides; it’s not legal. So, this is linked to a marine curriculum.”

CEED’s Eric Powers, site and co-founder director and wildlife biologist, was ready to go with a full day ahead. Later, he was releasing quail babies.

“Look at these eager beavers,” exclaimed CEED board member Lisa Anderson, who had biked down.

Dad Reggie Prosper was patiently waiting to go on the ferry with his son Aiden, a BGCBA member for two years. His son was excited, he said.

“He told me ‘I need a chaperone,’” Prosper explained. “My wife couldn’t make it, and my work boss said ‘okay.’”