Ellis Island public and the museum partially re-opened on October 28, 2013, after major renovations. Originally much of the west shore of Upper New York Bay consisted of large tidal flats which hosted vast oyster banks, a major source of food for the Lenape population who lived in the area prior to the arrival of Dutch settlers. There were several islands which were not completely submerged at high tide. Three of them (later to be known as Liberty Island, Black Tom Island and Ellis Island) were given the name Oyster Islands by the settlers of New Netherland, the first European colony in
Charles Island island were hunted by the Department of Environment Protection (now the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection) in February 2011 to protect the nesting birds. The waters around the island have bluefish, snapper blues, sand sharks, and horseshoe crabs. The waters west of the island have been a site for oyster farming since 2013, in an area of approximately . Charles Island Charles Island is a 14-acre (57,000 m²) island located roughly 0.5 mile (1 km) off the coast of Milford, Connecticut, in Long Island Sound centered at . Charles Island is accessible from shore via a tombolo (locally referred