From left, Barbara Franco from the Smithtown Chamber of Commerce, Jim Fenimore Jr., Trisha Wiles, Michael Fenimore, shop owner Anna Fenimore, Jim Fenimore Sr., Nicholas Fenimore, Kevin McEvoy of The Atelier at Flowerfield and Bill Garthe of the St. James Chamber of Commerce. Photo by Heidi Sutton
The Shard Art Shoppe in St. James held a ribbon cutting and grand opening on Thursday, April 6. The shop, located at 2 Flowerfield, Suite 27 in St. James, offers mosaic glass art for sale, in-store parties and art classes for the community. “Creating mosaics is something that has brought me a great sense of joy and accomplishment. Therefore, I am thrilled not only to be able to share my pieces with others, but also to bless people with an opportunity to create their own masterpieces in my new store,” said owner Anna Fenimore. For more information, call 917-217-3958 or visit www.theshardartshoppe.com.
Smithtown East's Taylor Bigliani rockets the ball into the outfield. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
The Bulls were raging, and Taylor Bigliani was leading the way.
The Smithtown East softball team may have found itself behind early, but a fifth-inning rush by the Bulls, which bled into the sixth, triggered the mercy rule for a 17-5 win over West Babylon April 8.
After the Eagles ripped a solo shot home run over the fence in the opening inning, Bigliani, a first baseman, smacked a two-run double that put the Bulls out front for good.
Smithtown East’s Samantha Swenson slides safely into third base. Photo by Bill Landon
Smithtown East was swinging throughout the next two innings, but West Babylon’s defense was up to task, making play after play to hold off the threats. Smithtown East center fielder Kyra Dalli eventually drilled the ball to right center, driving in outfielder Rebecca Fields with a stand-up double as the Bulls pulled ahead 3-1.
“They had a tough defense, but we got the hits we needed today,” said Dalli, the leadoff hitter who went 5-for-5 on the day. “We were able to work through it.”
With runners at the corners, Smithtown East right fielder Samantha Swenson ripped a shot deep for a two-run double that plated Dalli and short stop Ashley DeGiorgio. Bigliani’s bat cracked next with another stand-up double that scored Swenson from second base for a 6-1 advantage.
West Babylon responded with a triple and a two-run single to close the gap, 6-3, in the top of the fifth inning, but DeGiorgio was able to apply the tag on a runner trying to steal second, to close out the inning. The Eagles would come no closer.
After Fields singled and DeGiorgio found the gap, a fly ball by Dalli dropped in to load the bases with one out.
Smithtown East’s Courtney Hohenberger throws the ball to first. Photo by Bill Landon
Swenson cracked a single to right field, scoring Field for a four-run lead, 7-3.
“West Babylon is a good team, but we were good offensively and we hit the ball when we needed to,” Swenson said. “And our coaches give us a lot of confidence.”
After a passed ball on a full count, Smithtown East took a five run-lead. With the bases still loaded and now two outs, Bigliani stepped into the batter’s box. She jumped on a pitch and hit a rocket to straight away center, over the fielder’s head for a bases clearing double and an 11-3 advantage.
“We never gave up, we kept hitting the ball so hard and we had a lot of energy throughout the entire game,” Bigliani said. “I didn’t expect this. I thought we’d be in a very close game, but we jumped on them right away and I’m proud of my team for that.”
West Babylon threatened in the top of the sixth when the team loaded the bases with two outs. On a Smithtown East fielding error, two runners made their way home, but Smithtown East pitcher Marina Amicizia shut the door with the final strikeout of the game.
“We don’t usually play them, so they were kind of a mystery for us,” Amicizia said. “Our team came out there strong and we were ready for anything. We were able to score runs when we had runners in scoring position, so we were very clutch out there.”
Smithtown East, again doing its best work with two outs, got another opportunity in the bottom of the sixth after West Babylon turned a double play. The Bulls’ bats never missed a beat, and after a Savannah Coffelt double, Dalli drove one through the right field gap to plate Coffelt for a 12-5 lead.
Smithtown East’s Ashley DeGiorgio dives for the out. Photo by Bill Landon
“We treat every team the same — we didn’t come in here cocky, but we hit the ball well, we adjusted well,” Coffelt said. “[West Babylon’s pitcher] was a little slower than other pitchers, and we’re not used to that, so I think we adjusted to that nicely.”
Swenson hit the ball over the center fielder’s head, scoring Dalli, and catcher Courtney Hohenberger found the gap to score Swenson for a 14-5 advantage. Again, Bigliani stepped into the batter’s box and belted the ball deep for a stand-up double that scored Hohenberger. Bigliani finished with seven RBIs on the day. Smithtown East third basemen Tori Hussey was up next, and her single drove in Bigliani, before Andrea Lichas knocked the ball through the gap to bring home Hussey for the run that triggered the mercy rule.
“We have a lot of girls that can really hit — they have very fast bats, so we needed to be patient and let the ball get to us because their pitcher wasn’t overpowering,” Smithtown East head coach Glenn Roper said. “My infield played really well, my pitcher did a really good job keeping them off balance, so I’m happy with how we played all around. We got timely hitting when we needed it, we made the plays when we had to and just tried to keep it simple and let the game come to us.”
I have had the privilege of teaching high school science (biology, chemistry and physics) for the last thirty years. For the last ten years, I’ve had the additional privilege and responsibility of developing and teaching an elective we simply call “Food Science.” It’s not your usual health class dietary guidelines, nor does it rehash the familiar mantras of counting calories and exercising to balance intake. Instead, we study the cultural, historical, scientific, political and economic contexts of our food system and how that system impacts our environments, both external and internal. This in turn enables students to make much more informed decisions about what they want to put in their bodies.
When it comes to sugars, confusion is the name of the game. There are dozens of ingredients that mark the presence of sugars in our food: maltodextrin, dextrose, invert sugar, cane sugar, high fructose corn syrup and starch, to name a few. Regardless of what the food industry calls them, your body sees basically three end products of their digestion: glucose, fructose and galactose. Which ones you eat, and how much, will dictate both their value and their danger to you.
You may have heard of three additional sugars — lactose, sucrose and maltose. Lactose is a combination of one glucose and one galactose. Also known as “milk sugar,” lactose is the nemesis of lactose-intolerant individuals who lack sufficient quantities of the enzyme that can digest it. Instead, bacteria that reside in their intestines get to process it, making painful amounts of gas as a by-product. Galactose can be converted to glucose in your body, but most individuals do not consume enough dairy to make this a source of concern.
Maltose is another type of sugar. It is a pairing of two glucose units and is the namesake for maltodextrin, etc. Consuming foods with maltose adds glucose to your diet — worth keeping track of as part of your total glucose consumption.
However, the most likely source of sugars in your diet is either sucrose or high fructose corn syrup. Sucrose, known also as table sugar, can be derived from sugar cane (cane sugar) or sugar beets (sugar.) Like lactose and maltose, sucrose is a paired structure, made of one glucose subunit and one fructose subunit. That is what your body absorbs regardless of the source (even organic.)
Sparing you the science behind its production, high fructose corn syrup is approximately half glucose, and half fructose too. Regardless of the marketing efforts by the Sugar Association and the Corn Refiners Association to make you believe one is better for you than the other, they end up, metabolically, in a virtual tie. Debating which to consume is a distraction from the consequences of consuming too much of either, or both.
Stock photo.
The consumption of sugar (the term is legally owned by the Sugar Association as the sole name for sucrose) used to be limited by the relative expense and difficulty in obtaining it from its tropical source. Now the record levels of corn production in America have made it relatively cheap to produce and distribute sugar’s nearly identical-tasting competitor, high fructose corn syrup. You can find it in soda for sure, but also in pickles, peanut butter, ketchup and pretty much anywhere sugar might be used for additional appeal to consumers.
This has paved the way for the combined consumption of these sweeteners to reach more than 150 pounds per year per person in America. This far surpasses the 60 pounds per year considered by some experts to be the maximum amount that can be metabolized without ill consequences including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, fatty liver, cataracts, personality and cognitive dysfunction, some cancers and (by the way) obesity.
Tying glucose and fructose consumption to the metabolic consequences noted above requires further discussion. And now, you are properly prepared for those lessons. As we say in Food Science class, “Chow!”
Chris Zenyuh is a science teacherat Harborfields High School and has been teaching for 30 years.
Suffolk County Police Fourth Squad detectives are investigating a motor vehicle crash that seriously injured a Farmingville man in Smithtown April 5.
Michael Lacorte was riding a 2006 Honda motorcycle east in the right-hand lane of Nesconset Highway, west of Terry Road, when he hit the rear of a 2015 Subaru traveling east. The Subaru was attempting to change lanes from the center to the right-hand lane when the crash occurred.
Lacorte, 29, of Farmingville, was transported via Smithtown Rescue to Stony Brook University Hospital where he was being treated for multiple serious injuries.
The driver of the Subaru, Caitlin OReilly, 30, was transported via Smithtown Rescue to St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center in Smithtown where she was being treated for minor injuries.
Both vehicles were impounded for a safety check and the investigation is continuing.
Detectives are asking anyone with information about this crash to contact the Fourth Squad at 631-854-8452.
Ward Melville's Kerry McKeever moves into Smithtown East's zone. Photo by Bill Landon
By Bill Landon
Ward Melville jumped out to a five-goal lead early in the first half, and even after the Smithtown East girls’ lacrosse team battled back to trail by two, the Patriots fired back, securing a 17-11 victory to remain undefeated in Division I April 4.
Junior midfielder Shannon Brazier and teammate Kerry McKeever rattled off two early goals, while senior attack Kaitlin Thornton added one of her own for a 5-0 lead just six minutes in.
Smithtown East’s Isabella Costa maintains possession. Photo by Bill Landon
Smithtown East sophomore attack Isabella Costa broke the ice for the Bulls when her shot found its mark for an unassisted goal seven minutes later.
Ward Melville head coach Kerri Kilkenny said her team had to press the entire game — knowing it had to after escaping the last matchup with a one-goal win.
With 12 minutes left in the first half, McKeever notched her hat trick goal for a 6-1 advantage.
“When we play together like we did at the beginning, we can close it out with a win, but we couldn’t be complacent,” McKeever said. “We worked together, we found the open cutter on transition; having turnovers on the ride starts the attack, so those were really big [because] it got us the ball back on offense.”
Costa teamed up with senior co-captain and attack Julia Smith, as each trailed two goals to trail 7-5 with just over nine minutes before the break.
The Bulls went a man down with four minutes left, but Ward Melville did too less than a minute later to even the teams. The loss didn’t affect the Patriots though, as Brazier scored her third goal, senior attack Kassidy Rogers-Healion buried her penalty shot and junior attack Kerri Thornton dished one off to sophomore Alexis Reinhardt, who put the team out front 10-5.
“Smithtown is definitely a great team — we play well together and we have a really deep bench, so there’s no deviation when we put subs in,” Brazier said. “We’ve all played together since we were young, so we mesh really well together.”
Ward Melville’s Shannon Brazier shoots the ball past Smithtown East goalkeeper Patricia Werker. Photo by Bill Landon
Smithtown East senior co-captain Shannon Kavanagh’s stick spoke next, when a foul shot hit the back of the cage in the opening minute of the second half. But again, the Patriots didn’t let the scoring last for long, and went on another tare, scoring four consecutive goals before Costa countered, to cut the deficit to 14-7.
Smithtown East head coach Ann Naughton critiqued her team’s performance, saying it was below average.
“It’s obviously disappointing, and we’re going to have to learn from it,” she said. “Ward Melville came out and they wanted it more than we did. I always respect them — they’re a really good team so I’m not surprised by them at all.”
With just over nine minutes left, Ward Melville ran the clock before senior attack Hannah Lorenzen scored on a hand off for her fourth goal of the game.
“We know that they’re a good team, so we had to get on their hands when they were shooting so they couldn’t get off a great shot,” Lorenzen said. “And that helps our goalie [Samantha Tarpey], who was a big part of our win today.”
Tarpey had eight saves on the afternoon.
Smithtown East wouldn’t go quietly though, and with time running out found the net four more times.
“They always have potential — they’ve given us a run for our money in the past and I just told the girls don’t allow those quick goals to rattle you,” Kilkenny said. “Sometimes they get a couple of quick ones on you and the team will deflate, but the girls stayed on their game.”
James Clinch Smith poses for a portrait with his sisters.
By Kevin Redding
For the Smithtown Historical Society’s upcoming fundraising event, residents are encouraged to dress to the nines, party like it’s 1912 and shout at the top of their lungs, “I’m the king of the world!”
The organization’s Titanic Gala will “set sail” Saturday, April 8, at 7 p.m. at the Smithtown Elks Lodge, where those in attendance will dine and dance in Edwardian-era costumes, provided by Port Jefferson’s Nan Guzzetta, as if they’re first-class passengers on the infamous ship that more than 100 years ago collided with an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic Ocean.
James Clinch Smith
Upon entering the lodge’s expansive ballroom, residents will be able to pose for a photo with an actor portraying the Titanic’s Captain Edward Smith and survey reproductions of artifacts once seen in the massive ship, including china and jewelry. The event’s $85 entrance fee will go toward the historical society’s educational programs as well as the maintenance of its buildings.
Although the night will act as a celebration of the more joyous aspects of the Titanic — and give attendees an excuse to quote Jack and Rose — members of the historical society organized the event because the ship’s tragic end hits close to home in Smithtown.
James Clinch Smith, a descendant of the legendary Richard “Bull Rider” Smith, founder of Smithtown and one of town’s wealthiest and most prominent residents at the turn of the 20th century, was among the 1,517 passengers aboard the Titanic who died during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City in the early morning of April 15, 1912.
But before he ultimately drowned, the 56-year-old Long Islander saved as many lives as he could as the ship went down. “He was really a hero on that day,” Maureen Smilow, a board member on the historical society, said. “We want to remember the heroism and participation of [someone] from Smithtown at that time and remember him. And there were other people besides Smith on the Titanic who lived in this area. In addition to having a good time, we should remember the people who gave their lives.”
Brad Harris, the historical society’s president, said the group has long been in awe of Smith’s legacy and the idea of honoring him has been in the back of their minds for years. “As far as I’m concerned, I think it’s great to make people aware that we had in our midst an individual who got caught in this horrible tragedy and did his best to save others,” Harris said. “It’s a way to highlight the story of his life and commemorate his memory.”
Smith, alongside his friend Archibald Gracie, who survived the sinking, lifted women, children and babies into lifeboats as the water rose higher and higher on the ship’s deck. His heroics were documented in Gracie’s book “The Truth about the Titanic.” In it, Gracie wrote: “There could not be a braver man than James Clinch Smith … He was the embodiment of coolness and courage during the whole period of the disaster.”
Gracie added that words failed to express his feelings of admiration for Smith’s conduct amid such chaos. “The highest tribute I could pay him is this plain recital of what he did in the way of self-sacrifice,” he wrote, “knowing no such word as fear in saving the lives of others.” Born and raised in Smithtown Branch, Smith grew up to practice law with his father, the prominent Judge John Lawrence Smith. After both his parents died in the late 1800s he inherited 250 acres of land and millions of dollars, further fueling his passion for high-society living, which included horse racing and polo.
He wound up on the Titanic, heading back to Smithtown, following a visit with his sick wife in Cherbourg, France. Although his body was never recovered following the disaster, a memorial service for him was held at the St. James Episcopal Church in Smithtown on May 11, 1912. Photos of Smith and his family will be on display at the gala.
While not completely accurate, the gala’s dinner menu echoes what was served to first-class passengers on the Titanic, with dishes that include hors d’oeuvres, chicken marsala, sliced pork loin, steak with merlot reduction and a butter cream cake dessert. For further authenticity, the Kings Park High School orchestra will play live music that was performed on the ship during its maiden voyage.
The historical society’s executive director, Marianne Howard, said she’s thrilled that so many people so far have been enthusiastic about the event. “Everyone is getting excited and wanting to learn more about history,” she said. “People are doing a lot of research on the social and cultural aspects of history at that time [1912] in order to find out what people wore, what people would’ve eaten. I’m looking forward to seeing people enjoy themselves while celebrating and honoring our history.”
Tickets for the Titanic Gala are still available. To order, please call 631-265-6768 or visit www.smithtownhistorical.org.
A view of the Stony Brook house, a half a mile from the water. Photo from Donna Newman
Erratic weather patterns have become more prevalent, causing climate change believers to cite them as evidence of the declining health of the Earth. Still, for many people the changes have had no tangible effect on their daily lives. I experienced my first, rather distressing significant outcome of the climate crisis seven years ago. It had to do with my homeowners insurance.
Donna Newman. File photo.
We purchased our first — and only— home in northern Stony Brook in 1973. Major selling points for our little white cape cod house were: it was located in the renowned Three Village school district; it was on a large, beautifully landscaped piece of property in charming Old Field South; and it was not far from West Meadow Beach on the Long Island Sound.
When choosing homeowner’s insurance we selected a major company with a solid reputation. It was already providing our automobile coverage and even offered a discount if you took out multiple policies.
Over the years I only remember submitting one insurance claim, when a burst pipe damaged the wall-to-wall carpeting in our living room and dining room. Even through major hurricanes like Gloria and Sandy we never experienced any flooding in our basement.
Then in 2010 — quite out of the blue — a letter arrived from the company informing us it would no longer be able to provide us with the homeowner’s insurance we had counted on for 27 years.
What? Why?
We always paid our premiums on time. We had only one claim in all those years. I was completely bewildered.
I placed a call to the office of the president of the company and was told that, due to recent statistical data evaluations, the company had determined it was necessary not to renew coverage for anyone living within a mile of the water.
“But,” I argued, “you have insured us for 27 years. Our house is in the exact same location as it always has been. I just don’t understand.”
She explained that things had changed; that there would be no exceptions; and that I needed to look for a new insurance carrier.
“What about longevity,” I countered. “What about loyalty?”
She said it wasn’t personal and that she was sorry.
I threatened to drop the auto coverage on our two cars and to tell everyone I knew about this upsetting turn of events.
“Whatever you need to do,” she replied, and she apologized again.
So it was that, already in the year 2010, climate change was being taken very seriously by big insurance companies seeking to minimize their liability.
I began to wonder if we’d even be able to get insurance, considering that “things had changed.”
It took us some time to locate a company that would provide the same level of insurance coverage we’d previously obtained. Thankfully, with the help of a local broker, we were able to get a policy with a much smaller company that we had never heard of before.
And here we are in 2017, hoping that our policy with our current insurer will be renewed come the fall. We’re also hoping we’ll never again have the need to file a claim.
Donna Newman is a former editor of The Village Times Herald.
Ben May is a Mount Sinai High School senior student. Photo from Ben May.
It doesn’t take much to start helping the environment.
Eight-year-old me was exploring a stream with my brother and our friends. As we began heading home, I spotted a large plastic container sitting on the bank. Everyone else seemed to ignore it, but I wandered over to examine its contents. After a quick examination, I decided it contained nothing of interest and threw it back to the ground. My brother yelled up at me to ask why I was not recycling it.
I responded, “No one else is going to do that, why do I have to clean it up?”
With a stern face, he said, “For exactly that reason.”
From this quick conversation, my outlook on the world was forever changed. Humanity faces many challenges, but not everyone chooses to help confront them. The environment is in danger of destruction; it is our obligation to save it.
I began my environmental activism at Mount Sinai High School. As a sophomore, I founded the Environmental Outreach Club. This club implemented a recycling program and facilitated annual beach cleanups each year with a turnout of more than 70 students. It amazed me how many people were ready to help. Even a small group of passionate youth can make an observable difference. Then, last fall, I found myself one of three high school students on the planning committee for the first Long Island Youth Ocean Conservation Summit. This event, where participants heard from environmentalists such as Fabien Cousteau, was meant to bring about youth-driven conservation efforts. Since earning a minigrant from the summit, the Environmental Outreach Club has been pressing for the elimination of one-use bottles and cans from the cafeteria of Mount Sinai High School.
Thus far, we have installed three water bottle refill stations throughout the school and plan on selling reusable bottles at the cafeteria. We hope to later replace the vending machines with beverage fountains to eliminate the need for one-use cans and bottles. Local projects usually have the most powerful impact to someone’s community with small-scale actions creating large-scale changes; however, national endeavors bring a far-reaching aspect to environmentalism.
Last year, I had the honor to be a member of the seven-person Sea Youth Rise Up delegation to lobby President Barack Obama (D) to establish a new marine protected area off the coast of Cape Cod. We met with the Environmental Quality Council at the White House, ran a live international broadcast on World Oceans Day, filmed a documentary and visited the United Nations in New York City to bring attention to the cause. As a teenager, it is difficult to enact change at the federal level, but this opportunity enabled me to engage in debates that directly affected legislation. When Obama heard our collective voices and established the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument, which protects large sections of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Cod, I realized change can be created by anyone — no matter their age. After returning from the Sea Youth Rise Up campaign, I was appointed communications coordinator for the national Youth Ocean Conservation Summit organization, was a guest speaker at this year’s Long Island YOCS, and have been invited to speak at an upcoming TEDx event in London this June.
From my limited personal experience so far, the world of environmentalism is composed of smart, passionate people. Today — even when temperatures and sea level are rising, fish stocks are being depleted, water is becoming scarce, petrochemicals are being added to the oceans at an exponentially increasing rate and a mass extinction is occurring — I am still extremely hopeful. After meeting other people who help mitigate these ailments of our society,both by small-scale and large-scale actions, I am confident in our collective ability to save our world.
Over my few years of being an environmental advocate, I have learned two things: the opportunities to get involved are endless, and an open door foreshadows more doors to come. Every opportunity that presented itself to me has been the product of some previous action I had taken — all tracing back to my brother yelling at me to throw out a piece of plastic.
Ben May is a Mount Sinai High School senior and is the founder of the Environmental Outreach Club at the school.
Residents that would be affected by 1, 3 and 6 feet of sea level rise on Long Island. Image by TBR News Media
Coastal communities on Long Island face a monumental challenge in the century ahead that will determine the fate of the most inhabited island in the United States.
Sea level has risen by about a foot in the New York metropolitan region since the start of the 20th century, and the pace is accelerating, according to the New York City Panel on Climate Change in 2015. According to NASA, the last three decades are the warmest 30 years of the last 1,400. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency attributes sea level rise to global warming caused by greenhouse gases released in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels.
Despite the fact we still enjoy four seasons in New York and have endured more than one snowfall this winter, evidence of climate change is here. While our weather may not seem to be changing significantly, our climate is, and with that comes an array of issues.
A look at Bayville, one of the rare North Shore communities vulnerable to sea level rise prior to the next century. Image by RPA
Long Island, and the New York metropolitan region as a whole, is uniquely vulnerable to the dangers presented by climate change, especially accelerated sea level rise. The New York metropolitan area has about 3,700 miles of coastline and is home to about 23 million people. In December 2016, an independent urban research and advocacy organization released a detailed study on the effects 1, 3 and 6 feet of sea level rise would have on Long Island, among other areas.
“I would say on the whole people are not responding to this as urgently as they need to or as seriously as they need to,” Rob Freudenberg, vice president of energy and environment for the Regional Plan Association said in a phone interview. Freudenberg oversaw the production of “Under Water,” RPA’s report released in December, which provides a chilling look at the future of Long Island. “It’s very hard in a way to kind of paint the picture that nobody has lived yet,” he said. “Our data and maps try to show people where these rising sea levels are going to affect them, but until people live that, it just doesn’t hit home.”
The report details the consequences for Long Island when — not if — sea levels rise by another foot, a threshold that could be reached as soon as the 2030s. More than 7,000 South Shore residents would be permanently flooded should that occur. The South Shore faces a far more imminent threat than the North Shore. However, Freudenberg said the North Shore will have similar issues to worry about around the turn of the next century. He attributed the differences in vulnerability to the North Shore’s rough highlands, which will be able to sustain sea level rise for longer, compared to the South Shore’s bays, beaches and wetlands, which could face threats as soon as in a decade.
“The South Shore will really need to start making plans to change development and how they do things today,” Freudenberg said. “The North Shore has some time but they should be thinking about it. Ideally what we’re recommending for municipalities to do is take a look at these numbers, take a look at where these areas are in the communities and start thinking about how they would plan for them as these numbers come.”
The RPA is not the only entity anticipating hazardous sea level rise around the metropolitan area in the coming decades. In February, New York State adopted official sea level rise projections based on peer-reviewed research of scientists in the hopes of helping state agencies and coastal communities prepare to fundamentally change their future plans for vulnerable lands.
“I would say on the whole people are not responding to this as urgently as they need to or as seriously as they need to.”
— Rob Freudenberg
“New York is already experiencing the impacts of our changing climate in the form of severe storms and weather events, and our sea levels are rising about two times faster than the global average,” New York Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos said in a statement.
The state’s adopted projections call for between 2 and 10 inches of sea level rise by the 2020s, 8 to 30 inches by the 2050s, 1 to 5 feet by the 2080s and up to 6 feet by 2100.
RPA’s projections follow a similar arch, though the report suggests those hurdles can be cleared much sooner. Between 3 and 6 feet of sea level rise would cause about 40,000 people living on Long Island to be permanently inundated with water. At an increase of 6 feet, about 165,000 Long Islanders would need to live elsewhere and about 20 percent of the region’s power-generating capacity would be threatened. With 3 feet of sea level rise, more than half of LaGuardia Airport could be permanently flooded.
“We built in places that in hindsight we should not have built in — low-lying areas that are meant to be temporarily flooded with water,” Freudenberg said. “The good news is that sea level rise isn’t happening at a destructive rate tomorrow. We have time to plan in places like the North Shore where geography gives us a further advantage, so we have even more time to plan. That being said, we need to be making decisions today to ensure the protection, or if we have to leave some of these areas, we have to start laying out those decisions today and planning for it. That’s kind of what we encourage municipalities to do, not to hide their heads in the sand and wait until the water is here. We need to think proactively about this.”
The report laid out a few options, though RPA expects to release another report with a wider range of potential actions and solutions in the coming months. For now, pumping more sand onto beaches or constructing higher sea walls around communities and infrastructure; elevating structures; and phasing out new development and subsequently beginning the process of relocating resident’s and business from vulnerable areas are the three responses RPA has suggested — none of which would be easy or cheap.
“I don’t think we’re making the decisions that we need to today and I don’t think we have enough reliable sources of funding to make those changes.”
— Rob Freudenberg
Freudenberg called on local municipalities to begin planning for the inevitable. He said the biggest obstacle is establishing a reliable revenue stream to begin the process of adapting the region for a soggy future.
“I think we’re not adequately prepared for that,” he said. “I don’t think we’re making the decisions that we need to today and I don’t think we have enough reliable sources of funding to make those changes. Like we say in the report, there’s 3,700 miles of coastline in our region — we are not going to be able to build a wall to protect all of that. We’re going to have to make choices about where we do protective measures versus where we do the other end of the spectrum, which is where we have to leave, or retreat areas. Either way we don’t currently have enough funding to do any of those.”
Freudenberg also warned rising sea levels will make the region more vulnerable to storm surges in the event of another Hurricane Sandy. In a 2015 op-ed in The New York Times, Stony Brook University professor of physical oceanography at the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences Malcolm Bowman expressed a similar concern.
“In the future, relatively modest storms riding on an ever-increasing sea level will do as much damage as rare, once-in-a-century storms do now,” Bowman wrote.
Freudenberg made sure not to understate the road ahead for those who live and work on Long Island.
“It’s going to be the biggest investment we make in our region over the next 50 to 100 years,” he said.
Fishing is a nearly $2 billion industry on Long Island, bringing hundreds of jobs to Suffolk County annually. Rising water temperature has the potential to drastically change the business.
Water temperatures have been consistently increasing, and scientists and professionals said this trend could disrupt and permanently alter the species of fish that reside in local waters.
Lobster
More than twenty years ago, Northport and other coastal towns and villages on Long Island enjoyed a prosperous lobster fishing market. Flash forward to 2017, and that market is a distant memory. In the late 1990s, the lobster population effectively “died out” in the Long Island Sound. Kim McKown, unit leader for marine invertebrates and protected resources for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation said at the time scientists declared it “acommercial fishing disaster.”
“Researchers felt that it was the perfect storm,” McKown said in a phone interview. She said studies done concluded increased water temperatures led to added stress for lobsters, which affected their immune system and caused their demise. It was discovered lobsters in the Sound had suffered from hypoxia, a lack of oxygen in the water. Hypoxia is caused by warmer water, as warm water is able to hold less oxygen than cold — and this condition can also cause an increase in nitrogen levels, another harmful effect on fish. Hypoxia has occurred in the summer months in the Sound for decades, varying in longevity and density.
According to the Long Island Sound Study, “Sound Health 2012,” conducted by the NYSDEC, the area where hypoxia occurred in that summer “was the fifth largest since 1987 — 289 square miles, about 13 times the size of Manhattan.” It also lasted “80 days, 23 more than average between the years 1987 and 2012.” As water temperature levels rise, so does the duration of hypoxia in the water.
“Water temperatures were so high [then], scientists also found a new disease in lobster.”
—Kim McKown
“Water temperatures were so high [then], scientists also found a new disease in lobster,” McKown said. The disease was calcinosis, which results in calcium deposits forming crystals in the lobsters’ antenna glands. It was discovered in the remains of dead lobsters.
According to the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, the organization tracking lobster population in southern New England, including the Long Island Sound, the population has continued to dwindle since the late ’90s. A record low population count occurred in 2013 and the organization said the stock is “severely depleted.”
“These declines are largely in response to adverse environmental conditions including increasing water temperatures over the last 15 years,” the ASMFC said in a study.
Huntington fishing captain James Schneider substantiated the data based on his own observations, saying the lobster population has not bounced back in full since then, although he has started to see more in recent years.
Winter flounder
Lobsters are not the only species in the Sound impacted by increased water temperatures. “Ask any fisherman the last time they caught a winter flounder,” Mark Tedesco, the director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Long Island Sound Office, said in a phone interview. “They’ll probably tell you, boy, there aren’t too many of them out there.”
Tedesco’s claim was backed up by another captain. “Winter flounder have been diminished big time,” Northport fishing captain Stuart Paterson said in a phone interview.
He remembers fishing for winter flounder all the time as a kid in the spring and the fall. That’s no longer the case. “It’s really been a shame,” he said.
The ASMFC’s tracking of winter flounder proves the fish has had a species dip mirroring the southern New England lobster. In 1984 winter flounder landing, or total catch, was at almost 35 million pounds. In 2010 the winter flounder hit their lowest landing total — just 3.5 million pounds.
“The flounders are on the same levels as the lobsters, it’s a slow and grueling comeback,” Schneider said. He also said he saw winter flounder suffering from a familiar foe — hypoxia and increased levels of nitrate.
The reason for the disappearing fish is indicatedin its name — a winter flounder has a hard time thriving in a Long Island Sound with warming temperatures. The ASMFC cites habitat degradation as one of the reasons the population has decreased, along with overfishing and low genetic variability.
That’s not to say all flounder species are vanishing from the water. Fishermen agree flukes, also known as summer flounder, are seeing steady growth.
“There is a lot more fluke flounder than there used to be,” Paterson said. “Their stock is vibrant.”
The trend is not surprising to the Long Island Sound Study. “Many cold water species common in Long Island Sound have been declining in abundance over the last two decades, while many warm water fishes have been increasing,” its “Sound Health 2012” report stated.
“Historic sea surface temperature data…show[s] a significant warming trend along the U.S. coast… that exceeds local atmospheric temperature increases and is comparable to the warming rates of the Arctic.”
—University of Connecticut study
Lori Severino, public information officer for the NYSDEC said in an email as black sea bass numbers have increased, fish like winter flounder have dwindled.
“A number of colder water species have declined, including American lobster and the winter flounder,” she said.
Long Island Sound Study leader Tedesco said he wouldn’t rule out the possible impact of water temperatures in the shifts in population of fish species in the Sound.
“Fishermen are used to seeing changes in populations, and sometimes that’s because of fishing pressure but it can also be because of these larger changes in climate,” Tedesco said.
The future of species in the Sound is far from clear if climate change continues and water temperatures continue to rise.
“It’ll change the mix of species,” Tedesco said. “You had one species [lobsters] that were obviously important
to humans, but also helped structure the environment in the Long Island Sound. You lose that and there are other species that will take its place — and we’ll see that [happening] if waters continue to warm. Some species will get a competitive advantage over others.”
In a study conducted by the Connecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection and the University of Connecticut from 1984 to 2008, it was proven — from tracking finfish in the Sound — water temperatures were causing warm water fish species to increase and cold water fish species to decrease. It also confirmed average catch in the spring has significantly decreased throughout the years — when the water is colder — while mean catch in the fall has increased, when the water is warmer.
“Collectively the abundance of cold-adapted species declined significantly over the time series in both spring and autumn,” the study found. “In contrast the abundance of warm-adapted species increased.”
The Connecticut research also said the trend in the Long Island Sound is consistent with trends and forecasts at larger biogeographic scales.
“Historic sea surface temperature data recorded from 1875 to 2007 show a significant warming trend along the U.S. coast north of Cape Hatteras [North Carolina] that exceeds local atmospheric temperature increases and is comparable to the warming rates of the Arctic,” the study continued. “It should be expected that the warming trend along the northeastern coast will continue.”
NYSDEC spokesperson Severino agreed North Shore water is rapidly warming.
“The western north Atlantic, Long Island Sound included, is one of the fastest warming places on the earth,” she said.
And the fishermen on Long Island may be discovering firsthand what a more powerful predatory species could do to diversity among fish in the Sound.
Black sea bass
“The problem is the predation from the black sea bass, we see lobster antenna in their mouths when we catch them,” Schneider said. “They’re expanding and spreading.”
His fellow North Shore fisherman agreed. “They’re eating everything — they eat juvenile everything,” Paterson said. “I would say [black sea bass] is 200 percent above even where they were last year.”
Severino, confirmed the warming water temperature in the Sound has played a part in the black sea bass population increase.
“Black sea bass are aggressive, highly opportunistic predators feeding on everything from amphipods to crabs to squid to fish.”
—Lori Servino
“Shifts in the distribution in the number of fish possibly associated with warming waters have been seen over the last decade,” she said in an email. “Generally, fish formerly associated with the Mid-Atlantic [area] are now more prominent in southern New England, including … the Long Island Sound. Black sea bass is an example of this.”
Severino also agreed black sea bass can be a formidable carnivore.
“Black sea bass are aggressive, highly opportunistic predators feeding on everything from amphipods to crabs to squid to fish,” she said. Further upstate in New York, the same changes in aquatic life are happening.
Hemlock forests, known for the shade and cool temperatures, have been declining due to an increase of an invasive insect population that’s thriving due to warmer winters. As hemlock habitats decline, so do New York state’s fish — and the brook trout that rely on that habitat.
“The loss of brook trout will cause changes in New York’s fishing economy and may have disproportionate effects on small, fishing-dependent communities in which millions of dollars are spent by tourists who come to fish for trout,” a study entitled “Responding to Climate Change in New York State” said. The report was carried out by Columbia University, CUNY and Cornell University for the state Energy Research and Development Authority. “Hunting, fishing and wildlife viewing make significant contributions to New York state’s economy. More than 4.6 million people fish, hunt or wildlife watch in the state, spending $3.5 billion annually.”
The future of the Long Island Sound remains uncertain, but in a warming climate the one thing guaranteed is change.
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