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Spring 2004 - Text Version
Message From the Director
The Long Island Sound Study Stewardship Initiative is working to
identify places along the coast with significant biological,
scientific, or recreational value and develop a strategy to
protect and enhance those special places. Development of the
strategy is a commitment in the Long Island Sound 2003
Agreement.
The first phase of work, an inventory of the Sound's valuable
ecological and recreational resources, is nearing completion.
The second phase will identify critical coastal areas that
currently support these resources or have the capacity to do so
in the future. The initiative will help identify priorities for
land acquisition and protection, for increasing and improving
public access, and for managing use conflicts around
ecologically sensitive areas.
Coastal Area
Boundary for Stewardship Initiative
Identify the
special areas, the threats to these areas, and develop a
strategy to protect and enhance them. Sounds simple, right?
Wrong. The coastal areas of Long Island Sound are highly
developed and intensively used, resulting in conflicts among
conservation, recreation, and commercial uses. Land use
decisions are made locally and a variety of public and private
programs already exist to acquire land, improve public access,
and manage public lands. How can information on these "special
places" best be used? How can existing programs be made more
effective while avoiding redundancy? Where will the needed
funding come from?
To help answer
these and other questions, the Long Island Sound Study held
eight public meetings in February and March to present progress
to date and receive input on future efforts. At the meetings,
LISS partners described the inventory of Long Island Sound's
coastal ecological and recreational resources and displayed maps
of this information. Time was provided for attendees to comment
on whether important places or features were missed in the
inventory. And reaction was sought to some potential
implementation options for improving the stewardship of Long
Island Sound's coastal resources. All public comments and
responses to a survey will be posted on the LISS web site,
www.longislandsoundstudy.net,
and will be used to help finalize the strategy to improve the
stewardship of the Sound's special places.
Mark Tedesco
CAC Corner
By Nancy Seligson
The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) continues to play an
important role in the Long Island Sound Study (LISS). One of the
most important CAC activities is participating in and advising
on the LISS budget process. After participating in the LISS
budget process for the first time as the new CAC Co-chair from
New York, I realized that the CAC should be having more input on
the budget priorities and the budget process itself. The CAC
then worked with the LISS Office to change and improve the
process, making it more organized and open for input.
The budget is now
set up as four components. The first component is the base
program. These are the core, long-term programs of the Long
Island Sound Study. These include staff coordination, water
quality monitoring, the small grants program, and CAC support.
These activities will not be subject to the LISS Request for
Proposals (RFP) process.
The second
component is program enhancements. These enhancements are
short-term efforts needed to support implementation of the
Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) and the
LIS 2003 Agreement actions. These enhancements can be identified
by LISS work group in their two-year work plans. Examples
include mapping of tidal wetlands or submerged aquatic
vegetation, surveying public attitudes about Long Island Sound,
or computer modeling of pollution problems. The program
enhancements will be part of an open RFP process.
The third component
is the research program, which is announced in an RFP every two
years. The research RFP consists of research priorities
recommended by the STAC, with input from the LISS work groups
and CAC. These will include research topics such as submerged
aquatic vegetation, tidal wetlands, the Sound's food web, and
others.
The fourth
component is the implementation grants. These grants support
local implementation of actions to protect and restore LIS.
These funds are for projects to upgrade sewage treatment plants
for nitrogen control, nonpoint source pollution controls, storm
water controls, wetland restoration, and habitat restoration
planning and implementation. The LISS will utilize a grantee to
promote funding partnerships for these projects.
This improvement in
the budget process should advance the recommendations for the
CCMP, make it easier to apply for funding, and most importantly
speed up the cleanup of Long Island Sound.
Nancy Seligson
is the new New York co-chair of the LISS Citizens Advisory
Committee. David Miller, the previous co-chair stepped down
after many years, and will continue to represent the National
Audubon Society on the CAC. Nancy has been a member of the CAC
for 10 years representing NY for Save the Sound. She is
currently the co-chair of Save the Sound, chair of the
Westchester County Committee on
Nonpoint Source Pollution in Long
Island Sound and is an elected Councilwoman in the Town of
Mamaroneck, NY.
 Back to top
Long Island Sound Study Research Program
By Jane MacLellan
Scientific research provides a key to better understanding and
more effectively managing Long Island Sound. Recognizing the
important role that research plays in decision-making, the US
Environmental Protection Agency - Long Island Sound Office (EPA-LISO),
Connecticut Sea Grant (CTSG), and New York Sea Grant (NYSG)
developed a cooperative program to fund research in support of
the Long Island Sound Study. Initiated in 1999, the Long Island
Sound Research Grant Program awards funds to researchers whose
work helps meet the needs of decision-makers to improve the
management of Long Island Sound.
Projects funded by
the Long Island Sound Research Grant Program in the past have
included research focused on living marine and marine-dependent
resources. For example, Dr. Richard French examined the health
of lobsters in Long Island Sound and the impacts that disease
pathogens, environmental stressors, and contaminants have on
this economically-important species. The goal of that study was
to help identify causes of Long Island Sound's lobster
population declines and provide insight for management and
recovery efforts. Another project that received support from the
Long Island Sound Research Grant Program is on-going research,
by Dr. Chris Elphick, focused on the population dynamics of
saltmarsh breeding sparrows. This project will increase the
understanding of the ecology of these specialized marsh birds
and provide a model by which alternative management scenarios
can be compared.
The third funding
cycle for the grant program was launched in August 2003.
Priority research topics, identified with the help of the Long
Island Sound Study Science & Technical Advisory Committee,
include eutrophication, submerged aquatic vegetation, food web
dynamics, and tidal wetland loss. The Research Grant Program is
highly competitive - in response to this year's announcement,
forty preliminary proposals were submitted for review with close
to $5 million in funds requested. Nineteen full proposals were
solicited for further consideration. From these full proposals,
EPA-LISO, CTSG, and NYSG selected the following projects for
funding:
1.A
Biological-Physical Numerical Simulation Model for the
Investigation, Prediction and Management of Oxygen Production
and Consumption in Long Island Sound: Data analysis and model
formulation. Dr. W. Frank Bohlen, UCONN
2.Natural Isotopic
Tracers for Anthropogenic Nitrogen in Long Island Sound. Dr.
Mark Altabet, Univ. of Massachusetts, and Dr. Johan Varekamp,
Wesleyan Univ.
3.Food Webs in Long
Island Sound: Review, synthesis and potential applications. Dr.
Roman Zajac, University of New Haven.
4.Application of
Remote Sensing Technologies for the Delineation and Assessment
of Coastal Marshes and their Constituent Species. Dr. Daniel
Civco, UCONN, and Dr. Martha Gilmore, Wesleyan University.
5.Understanding the
Role of Nutrient Enrichment in Tidal Marsh Loss in Long Island
Sound. Dr. Shimon Anisfeld, Yale University.
6.Temporal and
Spatial Changes in Copper Speciation and Toxic Metal
Concentrations in Long Island Sound: Effect of changes in water
temperature and dissolved oxygen levels. Sergio Sanudo-Wilhelmy,
SUNY Stony Brook
7.Assessment of the
Effects of Bottom Water Temperature and Chemical Conditions,
Sediment Temperature, and Sedimentary Organic Matter (Type and
Amount) on Release of Sulfide and Ammonia from Sediments in Long
Island Sound. Carmela Cuomo, University of New Haven.
Jane E.
MacLellan works for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and is the
Liaison to the Long Island Sound Study.
Back to top
Vanishing Tidal Wetlands
By Lisa Holst
For the last thirty years the value of wetlands to wildlife,
fisheries, and water quality has been widely accepted. New York
and Connecticut passed legislation to protect tidal wetlands
from outright destruction in the mid-1970s. Until that time
marshes were routinely filled to create waterfront land, dispose
of garbage and dredge spoils, or manipulated to manage waterfowl
or harvest salt hay. These obvious assaults were soon virtually
halted by the protective legislation, but a more insidious
threat lurked quietly in the background. In the late 1990s,
managers in the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection and the New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation began to document their own and others'
observations of vanishing salt marshes in the bays and river
mouths of Long Island Sound. These marshes appeared to be
drowning. They were getting wetter, no longer able to maintain
the delicate balance at the water's edge they have adapted to
over thousands of years. This loss of vegetation seems to have
been happening slowly and subtly over the last thirty years.
When the states
passed their coastal wetland protection laws, they inventoried
their salt marshes. It is this inventory that provides a
valuable clue in the struggle to understand the process and
causes of the recent loss of salt marshes. Using the mid-1970s
inventory, aerial photographs from more recent years, and
historic maps from as early as the 1800s, state managers have
been able to document cycles of wetland building and decline.
The overall acreage and locations of salt marshes are naturally
variable, shifting with storms, wave action, and other
influences like dredging and river currents. But, the losses
documented since the 1970s appear to be outside normal cycles of
increase and loss since the 1800s. The members of the LISS
Habitat Restoration Work Group recognized the potential harmful
impacts to water quality and living resources in Long Island
Sound that could be caused by the losses. In June 2003 the Work
Group convened a workshop involving regional and national
experts in tidal wetlands and coastal processes to set a
research agenda and recommend a course of action to address this
important issue.
The first day of
the workshop was devoted to invited presentations by state
wetland managers, and regional scientists describing the
observed losses and other pertinent research on marshes and sea
level rise. Two keynote addresses were delivered, one by Donald
Cahoon, of the United States Geological Service, regarding fine
scale marsh elevation measurement techniques, and one by R.
Eugene Turner, of Louisiana State University, about the role of
organic and inorganic matter in the maintenance of marsh
elevation. All of the talks generated animated discussion among
participants.
The second day of
the workshop was devoted to small group discussions about the
causes and effects of marsh loss, and developing recommendations
for research, monitoring, management, and restoration activities
to address the loss. These recommendations have been compiled
into a report to the Management Committee of LISS. The research
recommendations were also distilled by the Habitat Restoration
Workgroup into priority areas of investigation contained in the
recent LISS Research Request for Proposals.
Lisa Holst works
for New York State Department of Environmental Conservation as
the State Wildlife Grant Coordinator.
Back to top
Continuing Research in LIS Lobster
Mortalities By Antoinette
Clemetson
The lobster fishery in Long Island Sound continues to suffer
from low abundance. Although there were reports of lobster
mortalities in summer 2003, these events were not comparable to
the mortalities that occurred in 1999. While there hasn't been a
reoccurrence of paramoebasis, and this organism is reported to
have significantly declined in the aquatic environment (paramoebasis
was diagnosed in lobsters by UConn researchers in the 1999
event), shell disease and calcinosis remain problems. The few
lobstermen that have managed to remain in business are lamenting
the poor fishing conditions.
The Long Island
Sound Lobster Research Initiative, a collaboration funded by the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA)
National Marine Fisheries Service, Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection, and Sea Grant College Programs
(Connecticut, New York, and the National Office) was formed in
2000. Nineteen research and monitoring projects were initiated,
supported by more than $6.6 million, to help understand the
causes of the lobster die-off in LIS. The research focused on
disease, effects of warm water temperatures, pesticides, and
hypoxia. The results of the research will be presented at the
4th Annual LIS Lobster Health Symposium to be held in New York
October 4, 2004. Some of the work is summarized below.
Calcinosis, a
disease that was first diagnosed in Long Island Sound lobsters
in 2002, is apparently confined to populations in areas from
Oyster Bay to Mattituck, NY. Dr. Al Dove at the Marine Disease
Pathology & Research Consortium Laboratory at Stony Brook
University is conducting research on this disease, which is
being attributed to prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures
in the bottom waters that causes metabolic and respiratory
failure. The long term effects of high temperature cause the
lobsters' metabolism to get out of synchrony, and there is an
abnormal accumulation of calcium carbonate deposits in the
antennal glands (or 'kidneys') and the gills. These deposits
resemble the kidney stones that are frequently diagnosed in
humans. The gills become fouled and the lobsters eventually
suffocate. Dr. Dove's team has evidence that high temperatures
have a role in causing the disease.
Shell disease
continues to be on the increase in a generally westward
migration in Long Island Sound, and it is now prevalent in the
central basin in areas such as Huntington, NY. Research found
that communities composed of several bacteria species are
associated with shell lesions. At least three or more (up to
eight) different bacteria occur in every location, although the
exact compositions of these bacterial colonies vary. The
research team led by Drs. Andrei Chistoserdov and Roxanna
Smolowitz are focusing on two bacterial species -
Pseudoalteromonas gracilis and Cytophaga sp., because both were
isolated from shell lesions taken from infected lobsters to
date.
There has been
renewed interest in pesticide research with the resurgence of
the West Nile virus. Dr. Anne McElroy, assisted by Ms. Ann
Zulkosky at the Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook
University, is investigating the sensitivity of lobster larvae
and juvenile lobsters to pesticides and has found that they
react differently to these chemicals. The experiments tested
pesticides that were likely to be used in mosquito control
programs within the vicinity of Long Island Sound (methoprene,
malathion, sumethrin, resmethrin, and piperonyl butoxide - a
chemical that is used to make pyrethroids work more
efficiently). They found toxicity increases when Stage II (2-3
day old) larvae are exposed to a constant dose of resmethrin.
The tests were conducted at varying temperatures to determine if
it affects lobster mortality in Long Island Sound. At the
highest temperature tested (24§C) even larvae that were not
exposed to pesticides were negatively affected, whether or not
they were also exposed to resmethrin. This means that
temperature is a major stress factor that could make lobsters
susceptible to disease, or other stressors. McElroy and Zulkosky
are assessing sublethal dose (and elevated temperature) effects
on the immune system in young lobsters.
Visit
www.seagrant.sunysb.edu/LILobsters
to download a copy of Lobster Health News or to obtain
more information.
Antoinette
Clemetson works for New York Sea Grant and is the LIS Lobster
Community Outreach Specialist.
Long Island Sound Draft Environmental
Impact Statement Update
By Ann Rodney
The Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the
Designation of Dredged Material Disposal Sites in Central and
Western Long Island Sound, Connecticut and New York was
published on September 12, 2003 for public review and comment.
This DEIS was developed and produced by the US Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), Regions I and II, and the US Army Corps
of Engineers, New England and New York Districts (ACE). The DEIS
is a document that assesses the potential environmental impact
of a proposed action. In this case, the proposed action is the
designation of one or more disposal sites in Long Island Sound
for dredged material.
The DEIS describes
the environmental effects of designating a dredged material
disposal site(s) in western and central Long Island Sound. Open
ocean, upland, beneficial use, treatment technologies, and four
open-water alternatives for dredged material disposal were
evaluated and a required "No Action" alternative. Initial
screening eliminated the open ocean, upland, beneficial use and
treatment technology alternatives. The remaining alternatives
(four open-water and the No Action alternatives) were then
assessed. The potential primary effects identified include the
temporary increase in suspended solids and burial of aquatic
resources. The EPA's Preferred Alternative is to designate the
Western Long Island Sound and Central Long Island Sound Dredged
Material Disposal sites.
The comment period
originally ran from September 12, 2003 to October 27, 2003.
However, a request for an extension to the public comment period
until November 17, 2003 was received and granted. A second
extension was requested, and granted extending the public
comment period to December 15, 2003, and additional public
hearings were held to receive comments.
Original and
Modified Zone of Siting Feasibility
The next step is
for the EPA and the ACE to review any and all comments received,
which is currently underway. The EPA and the ACE will produce a
document called a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS)
that will include a response to any and all comments received
during the 95 day comment period. Once the FEIS is published,
anticipated in the spring of 2004, it will be available for a
formal public comment period.
Back to top
Information on this project can be found at the website
www.epa.gov/region01/eco/lisdreg/. This website will be
updated as information becomes available.
Invasive Species in Long Island Sound
By Jane MacLellan
A management issue of critical importance to the Long Island
Sound ecosystem is the introduction of invasive species.
Invasive species are those that are not native to the Sound and
whose introduction can negatively impact the environment, the
economy, and public health. The Long Island Sound Study is
working with researchers at academic institutions and state
agencies to develop a comprehensive list of invasive species
that are present in Long Island Sound. The effects of invasive
species introductions can be devastating, and efforts to
eliminate populations once they have become established are
challenging and costly. One invasive species that has become
common throughout Long Island Sound is the green crab. Green
crabs, which are native to Europe, are believed to have been
introduced to Long Island Sound more than 150 years ago. Green
crabs are voracious predators that devour economically important
native species, such as scallops. By developing a list of
invasive species present in the Sound, the Long Island Sound
Study will produce a record that can serve as a baseline for
future monitoring and management efforts.
Jane E.
MacLellan works for the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and is the
Liaison to the Long Island Sound Study.
WWW.LONGISLANDSOUNDSTUDY.NET The
Long Island Sound Study has a new, easy to remember, and easy to
use website.
Longislandsoundstudy.net
includes links to publications and other information that will
help expand your knowledge about the Sound, including Sound
Health 2003, Long Island Sound Study environmental indicators,
the summary of our management plan, and back issues of Sound
Update.
The home page
highlights new Long Island Sound Study projects as well as other
programs of interest to the Long Island Sound environmental
community. The home page also includes a search engine that
links users to some of the most recent articles about Long
Island Sound and to real-time water quality monitoring. The
kids/teachers page includes tours in and around the Sound.
You can also use
the site to find other Long Island Sound programs and projects,
including Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection's
Long Island Sound monitoring program and New York City's Harbor
Water Quality Survey.
Come visit the
site. We welcome your feedback on the new design and suggestions
for further improvements.
What’s An Estuary? Now You Know.
Estuaries are the most productive ecosystems on earth. Thousands
of species of fish, birds and mammals use estuaries as a
nursery, call it home, and a source of food. Estuaries are
unique in that they are protected bodies of water, often
partially enclosed by reefs, barrier islands or fingers of land.
Estuaries, like Long Island Sound, are where rivers meet the
sea.
"What's An Estuary? Now You Know" is a
national campaign to make "estuary" an everyday household word
like "river" or "bay" by the year 2005. The campaign is
sponsored by the Association of National Estuary Programs, the
National Estuarine Research Reserves, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service, Restore Americas Estuaries and Living on the Edge.
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Long Island Sound Study
EPA Long
Island Sound Office
888 Washington Boulevard
Stamford, CT 06904-2152
Phone: (203) 977-1541 Fax: (203) 977-1546
Last Update on:
08/10/05
URL:
http://www.epa.gov/region01/eco/lis/index.html
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