Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program

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Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program

Restoring water quality, habitat, and fisheries in western Shinnecock Bay. Science-based. Multi-pronged. A model for other estuaries.

Within Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Our scientists have long documented declining water quality and "harmful algal blooms" such as brown, red, and rust tides in Shinnecock Bay. At the same time, there are less and less shellfish to filter the water. Poor water quality conditions are now all too common -- in Shinnecock Bay and in estuaries all around the world

. These poor water quality conditions are harmful to habitat and fish communities that live in the bay. These conditions are not good for humans either! Many people love to use bays and estuaries for fishing, swimming, boating, snorkeling, paddle boarding, kayaking, birding, clamming, and sailing. It's hard to enjoy our waterways when they are polluted. The Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program was created in 2012 in response to these water quality problems. Professors at Stony Brook University's School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (SoMAS) founded the program to restore the bay to its former health. Our goal, simply, is to "Turn Brown Tide Blue." We are increasing the natural filtration capacity of the bay by planting millions of adult hard clams and building new oyster reefs. More filtration within the bay can help reduce the impact of excess nitrogen and keep harmful algae in check. We are also seeding new eelgrass beds and experimenting with how macroalgae harvesting can reduce nitrogen levels in the water. It's an "in-the-water" solution that is being done right now, since remedies to the septic system issues in Suffolk County, while moving in a great direction, will take years to fix. Join us in this effort by donating, volunteering, or sharing our story!

08/21/2026

Last week, our team caught a tagged horseshoe crab in our trawl survey. Turns out, Cornell Marine Program tagged it 4 years ago in Moriches Bay! Have no fear, our prehistoric friend was returned back to the bay alive and well 🌊

08/11/2026

Today our field team was lucky enough to have some help from one of our friends over at Seatuck Environmental Assoc. 🦈 It was a busy day with lots of exciting species in the net! 🐡

07/27/2026

First tropical fish of the trawl season! Who knows the name of this super cool species? Comment below! 🌊🐠🌴

07/23/2026

The water in eastern Shinnecock Bay was so clear on Monday that we ✨almost✨ convinced our volunteers that we were in the tropics 🌴🐠

07/22/2026

Meet Eliza! She will be interning with us throughout the 2026 field season.

Eliza is currently a Marine Conservation and Policy (MCP) masters student SoMAS . For her program, she will be completing a capstone project with ShiRP, using our eDNA data of migratory species. With this data she is analyzing changes in species frequencies and detections in comparison to our water quality data. This project with provide us with a deeper understanding of how migratory species seen in Shinnecock Bay are impacted by environmental phenomenons such as poleward shifts.

We look forward to having Eliza aboard and seeing her results! 🐟

07/09/2026

Yesterday our field team had the pleasure of helping our friends at and the collect eDNA 🧬 samples in the Great South Bay! It was a beautiful day out on the water ☀️Keep an eye out for some cool updates on our eDNA work outside of Shinnecock Bay this year! 👀

06/03/2026

Happy June! Our field work team is looking forward to another exciting summer! We can’t wait to see the variety of tropical larval drifters that make their way up the Gulf Stream into Shinnecock Bay this year.

03/18/2026

🫡 We were so honored to be recognized by the Suffolk County Legislature last week during its meeting on March 10, 2026.

🏆 Legislator Ann Welker presented us with an official Proclamation that celebrates the Shinnecock Bay Hope Spot.

🤝The Proclamation recognizes our partners who helped make it a reality, including the Shinnecock Nation, Mission Blue, and The Explorers Club.

On hand to accept the Proclamation with short remarks were Dr. Ellen Pikitch, Dr. Chris Gobler, and Margeurite Smith, along with Sunshine Gumbs, Michelle Johnson, Rainbow Hill, and members of Dr. Pikitch’s Institute for Ocean Conservation Science.

Many thanks to the Suffolk County Legislature and especially Legislator Welker!

Gobler Laboratory Institute for Ocean Conservation Science School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Mission Blue The Explorers Club Ellen Pikitch

09/19/2025

This week, for the first time in our time series, we identified . This species is not to be confused with the inshore lizardfish, which is seen frequently in our trawls.

09/04/2025

✨What are your hopes⁉️💫 We asked this question at the 79th Annual Shinnecock Powwow, where community members shared their hopes for Shinnecock Bay on postcards. Shinnecock Bay has been a MissionBlue since 2022, and now has an Indigenous Advisory Council to help lead the way. Thank you to .cassiani , all of the IAC members, and to for hosting the Shinnecock Bay Hope Spot booth.

Address

Stony Brook Southampton Marine Station
Southampton, NY

Website

http://www.shinnecockbay.org/

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