Community-based Restoration in the Great South Bay

Leveraging Conservation Cooperation to Ecosystem Scale

Hidden within our bays, estuaries and other nearshore waters lie forests of kelp, meadows of seagrass and gardens of coral – underwater habitats not unlike those witnessed on land. Home to an abundance and diversity of fish and shellfish, these productive ecosystems nourish marine communities and provide valuable economic benefits as they host commercial fisheries, buffer shorelines, clean the water and support tourism and recreation. Yet centuries of human activity have made them some of the world’s most threatened and degraded ecosystems.

With increasing pressures on our coasts, new and innovative approaches are needed to sustain the immense biological wealth found within nearshore waters. That is why The Nature Conservancy is taking successful strategies used on land – the acquisition and management of natural resources through ownership, easements and leases – and testing them in the sea.

In 2002, The Nature Conservancy acquired the majority of the famous “Bluepoints” oyster property and secured ownership of more than 13,000 acres of submerged bottomlands in Great South Bay – approximately 20 percent of the total area – on Long Island’s south shore. Surveys of this parcel confirmed the catastrophic decline of hard clam populations in Great South Bay and underscored the need for shellfish restoration in this system.

This work is having an exciting effect on efforts to revive Great South Bay. The Conservancy’s ownership stake and the initiation of restoration activities on the Blue Points property has helped jump start efforts to restore the larger ecosystem, which has been plagued since the mid-1980s by outbreaks of toxic algae and declining shellfish stocks. In 2004, the Conservancy formed a coalition of partners including the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), state and local resource managers, scientists and fishermen – the Bluepoints Bottomlands Council – to help guide management activities on the Bluepoints parcel.

Since then, the Council has expanded its purview and developed a broader vision statement for the restoration and conservation of all of Great South Bay. Through its Community-based Restoration Program, NOAA has contributed more than $300,000 to support shellfish restoration, which has in turn leveraged more than $300,000 in non federal contributions to the restoration of this ecosystem.

The leasing or acquisition of submerged lands is an innovative strategy that, combined with other practices and widely disseminated to partners, could significantly affect marine conservation around the world. Holding an interest in land – submerged or otherwise – provides a seat at the table where local and regional decisions affecting critical habitat are made. Conserving nearshore ecosystems will improve water quality, protect wildlife habitat and benefit economies and livelihoods of local communities for generations to come.

For More Information:

• Where We Work: The Nature Conservancy on Long Island, New York
  Since the early 1950s, The Nature Conservancy has been active on Long Island, which supports a variety of ecological features unique in New York.
• Places We Protect: Long Island: Atlantic Ocean Beaches and Bays
  Learn about this dynamic environment which provides essential habitat for hundreds of species of birds, plants, fish, shellfish, sea turtles and marine mammal, including several rare or endangered species.
• How We Work: Global Marine Initiative
  Across the Conservancy, our Global Marine Initiaitive works to establish new tools for the conservation of estuarine and coastal ecosystems, including leasing, purchasing and restoring submerged lands.
• Success Story: A New Underwater Frontier: Great South Bay, New York
  The Nature Conservancy has entered a new frontier in marine conservation with the acquisition of 11,500 acres along the bottom of the Great South Bay, off Long Island, New York.
• Save of the Week: Conservancy Leads Plan to Restore Great South Bay Ecosystem
  Nature Conservancy scientists hope that the restoration project in the Great South Bay will pave the way for more marine-based conservation on Long Island and throughout the Conservancy.
• How We Work: Nature Conservancy Partnerships
  The Nature Conservancy pursues non-confrontational, pragmatic, market-based solutions to conservation challenges. This makes it essential for us to work collaboratively with partners – communities, businesses, government agencies, multilateral institutions, individuals and other non-profit organizations.