Shinnecock Bay
Shinnecock Bay, New York, is the easternmost estuary on Long Island’s south shore, approximately 122 km east of New York City. The bay consists of nine thousand acres of open water, salt marshes, intertidal flats, and seagrass beds. It is ecologically productive, and is an area of scenic beauty, with diverse opportunities for recreational fishing, wildlife viewing, commercial clamming, boating, sailing, diving, and scientific research. The bay is home to the Shinnecock Indian Nation, whose territory lies on the far eastern bay, and the Stony Brook Southampton Marine Station in Old Fort Pond.
Shinnecock Bay is a local focus for IOCS, and our scientists, staff, and students have logged thousands of hours on the bay collecting and then analyzing our fisheries monitoring data.
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IOCS has been involved with scientific research in Shinnecock Bay since 2011, and this research has taken many forms.
We are co-leaders of the Shinnecock Bay Restoration Program, and Dr. Ellen Pikitch is the Shinnecock Bay Hope Spot Champion.
Through the years, our students have used Shinnecock Bay as an area of focus for discovery and for honing their scientific skills.
Students have studied:
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Presence and distribution of microplastics
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Dietary and Migration patterns of summer flounder
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Invasive green crab distribution using eDNA
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Presence of new Elasmobranch species using
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Upcoming: using eDNA to characterize tropical fish species, and using an ecosystem model to understand change over time.