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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

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Photo from Unsplash/David Close

It’s summer, that time of year when our residents can enjoy the full splendors of our incredible seashores. 

It’s an opportunity for us to soak up sunrays and cool off in the ocean. But when enjoying a summer’s day at the beach, we must be on guard for sharks, remembering to take the appropriate safety measures.

Scientists are seeing rising shark populations in the surrounding waters of Long Island. Healthier waters have allowed marine life to thrive. And sharks, at the peak of the aquatic food chain, play an essential role in stabilizing the ecosystem. Rising shark populations suggest our conservation efforts are going rewarded.

Consequently, interactions with these apex predators have become more commonplace. Already this summer, there have been five reported shark encounters in Suffolk County waters.

As the likelihood of making contact with a shark increases, we must begin to adapt our behaviors to meet the demands of the changing environment and keep ourselves safe.

While we cannot eliminate the threat of shark interactions altogether, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation outlines ways to reduce these risks.

NYSDEC advises against swimming in areas with seals, schools of fish, splashing fish or diving seabirds. Swimmers should avoid bathing at dusk, night or dawn, as these are peak feeding periods for sharks.

We should also refrain from swimming in murky waters, stay close to the shore and swim in groups. And we must always remember to swim in front of a lifeguard and listen closely to their instructions.

Although a classic, the 1975 film “Jaws” did a tremendous disservice to sharks’ reputations. These marine creatures play an important role in regulating marine life; they are not monsters and are unworthy of the ridicule cast upon them by popular culture.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration maintains that most sharks are not a danger to humans as we “are not part of their natural diet.” Still, when we enter their waters, we must play by their rules. 

A little precaution can go a long way. By taking a few positive steps and proactive measures, we can all enjoy this summer — humans and sharks both.

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The SCWA Board is exploring a third billing tier targeting excessive water consumption

Last month, Charlie Lefkowitz, above, took over as chair of the Suffolk County Water Authority Board. He says the SCWA Board is exploring a third billing tier targeting excessive water consumption. Photo courtesy SCWA

By Raymond Janis & Aidan Johnson

As the county enters the hottest and driest months of the year, the Suffolk County Water Authority is urging residents to take preemptive measures to help mitigate potential water shortages.

Last month, commercial real estate developer, Three Village Chamber of Commerce president and former Town of Brookhaven Councilman Charlie Lefkowitz, a Setauket resident, took the helm of the SCWA Board. He takes the reins of the public benefit corporation at a critical juncture in its history.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration tracked record lows in rainfall throughout the region in 2022, with the county experiencing its sixth driest July on record.

In an exclusive interview, the newly installed SCWA chair maintained that while clean water is essential, the county is facing growing water quality and quantity issues. And with summer weather approaching, he said the water authority’s existing infrastructure would also be feeling the heat.

“Being on the board for the last year, I got some really good insight on how important protecting our groundwater and the constitutional right of everyone in Suffolk County to have clean drinking water,” he said.

Lefkowitz described the county’s water situation as being “very unique,” as it’s one of the largest water districts with a sole-source aquifer, whereby ratepayers receive 100% of their water from the ground.

“We have 1.2 million customers,” he said. “Eighty-five percent of the residents of Suffolk are customers of Suffolk County Water,” adding that the rest primarily rely upon private wells or smaller water districts.

But in some areas, notably along the East End, prolonged droughts coupled with heavy water consumption can put an undue strain on SCWA’s infrastructure.

“The East End and the North Fork get very stressed this time of year,” he said. “When you have pristine lawns, gardening, pools, waterfalls and multiple geothermal” air-conditioning units, the excess strain on SCWA’s pumps can become severe, creating water shortages in some areas of the county.

To counteract these trends, Lefkowitz stressed the need for residents systemwide to limit their water use.

SCWA’s existing billing schematic is two-tiered, placing an upcharge upon customers who exceed 75,000 gallons in a single billing cycle. Given the severity of water quantity challenges as of late, Lefkowitz said the SCWA board is now exploring creating a third tier.

“This is for excessive use of water,” he said. “When you look at someone who has a single-family home of 20-40,000 square feet, but they’re using millions of gallons of water, we have to really look at” disincentivizing overconsumption of water.

Lefkowitz said he is often asked why he promotes water conservation, as the initiative could likely diminish revenues. Given the environmental and financial realities, he maintained the environmental pluses still outweigh the economic minuses.

“We’re in that season now,” he said. “At the end of the day, water conservation is really important.”

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Pixabay photo
By Aidan Johnson

In the depths of the Long Island Sound, stationed among the crustaceans and fish, lie hundreds of thousands of lobster traps. 

These traps, a shadow of a once-vibrant lobster industry, have been abandoned for decades. Yet still active, they perpetuate a dangerous trend for marine life: ghost fishing.

Ghost fishing isn’t a supernatural phenomenon. It is a problem created by humans. It is the result of fishermen abandoning old but sometimes still functioning lobster pots and similar fishing gear in the Long Island Sound. While there are few lobsters left, those that remain can still be trapped, along with other sea life. With no way to escape, they end up dying a needless death.

The problems don’t end there, as Suffolk County Legislator Sarah Anker (D-Mount Sinai) explained. “People are like, ‘It’s fine, no one sees it,’” she said. “But that’s not true because a lot of these lobster pots are starting to break down. They’re partly plastic, and the plastic is polluting the water.”

The solution, the county legislator insisted, is to remove the ghost gear as soon as possible. New York state law, however, prohibits the removal. 

“No person other than the licensee shall set out, tend, haul or unduly disturb, or take or remove lobsters from, a lobster pot or trap or other commercial gear, or damage, take, remove or possess such gear,” New York’s Environmental Conservation Law states.

While there have been efforts to remove the equipment, the near million derelict traps still there continue to take a toll on sea life. “My vision is to have a massive flotilla … go out to Long Island Sound, remove hundreds of thousands of lobster pots and ghost gear,” Anker said.

The problem gets worse with the realization that some of the fishermen aren’t around anymore, Anker added. “Maybe they’ve left the area, they’ve passed away, they’re no longer fishing in the area. There’s all kinds of reasons and it’s really a detriment to our local nautical community.”

To address these concerns, Anker is working with New York State Assemblyman Fred Thiele Jr. (D-Sag Harbor) to draft legislation that could allow the state to remove the ghost gear after a designated period of time.

Organizations such as the Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County have joined the efforts to remove as many ghost traps as the law currently permits. “What happens is they pay the fishermen about $850 to charter their boat for the fishermen to go and then retrieve these pots,” Anker said.

According to a CCE statement made in March, 19,000 traps have been recovered from the Long Island Sound under this initiative. The traps are then recycled or returned to their owners, and burnable debris from them is converted into renewable energy.

Cooperation of the fishermen has helped the process. “These are local fishermen, and they want to do more,” Anker said. “They’re out there trying to make a living doing what they can.” 

She added, “We have one of the largest seafood industries in the country and we have to keep our water clean.”

Anker is also working on a separate $2 million project funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that is focused on cleaning up the Sound and removing marine debris.

While there still may be many lengths to go before the Long Island Sound is free from ghost gear, with the help of lawmakers, organizations, and fishermen, the Sound floor could soon be friendly to all sea life, Anker hopes.

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Floating humpback whale offshore of Delaware. Photo courtesy the Marine Education, Research & Rehabilitation Institute

This year has been tough for the population of humpback whales, as eight of them from Maine to Florida have had so-called unusual mortality events as at Feb. 7.

Indeed, a 41-foot humpback whale was discovered washed up Jan. 30 at Lido Beach on the South Shore. The whale likely died after a vessel strike, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Officials said.

Threats to whales in the area include getting hit by boats, becoming entangled in fishing lines and ocean noise.

The last of these potential dangers to humpbacks has received considerable attention from some members of the popular press, who have suggested that the process of installing wind farms along the coastline has or may create the kind of noises that can cause trauma to whale ears and that might throw a whale off course in its search for food.

To provide a broader context, unusual mortality events have been occurring for humpback whales since 2016, as 180 have been stranded along East Coast states since that time, according to NOAA data.

Scientists were able to study about half of the total humpback whale strandings from 2016 and attributed about 40% to ship strike or entanglements. The rest either died from starvation, parasites, inconclusive causes, or were in places where it would have been difficult to study and analyze them. 

The combination of whales distracted by feeding and boat traffic has led to some of the deaths.

“Our waterways are one of the busiest on Earth,” said Nomi Dayan, executive director of The Whaling Museum & Education Center of Cold Spring Harbor. “During busy eating months, when they are gorging, it’s harder to pay attention” to what’s around them.

Many of these humpback whale deaths occurred during periods when wind farm activity was low along the Eastern Seaboard.

“What we’re seeing right now [in terms of whale strandings] is something that has been going on for years,” said Lesley Thorne, associate professor in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. 

In a press conference last month, officials suggested that the wind farms, which are designed to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, cut down on carbon emissions and slow global warming, are not likely to make what is already a challenging period for humpbacks even worse.

“At this point, based on the information that we do have, we do not believe the evidence supports that those planned construction activities would exacerbate or compound these ongoing unusual mortality events,” Ben Laws, biologist with NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources, said during a Jan. 18 conference call with reporters.

‘What we’re seeing right now [in terms of whale strandings] is something that has been going on for years.’

— Lesley Thorne

As part of the investigation process, NOAA has brought together an independent team of scientists to coordinate with the Working Group on Marine Mammal Unusual Mortality Events to review data, sample stranded whales and determine the next steps for this investigation.

The scientists include marine mammal stranding network members, academics and veterinarians with local state and federal biologists.

At this point, most of the surveys off the coasts of New York and New Jersey are “characterizing the seafloor and the sub-bottom for engineering purposes for the foundation of offshore wind facilities as well as looking at cable burial risks along that route,” Brian Hooker, marine biologist in the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, said on the press call.

Slower boat speeds

Reducing boat speeds in areas where whales are likely hunting for food or migrating can reduce the likelihood of vessel strikes and, in the event of contact, can improve the outcome for whales.

“What’s been demonstrated in the past is that, with faster vessels, collisions are more likely to occur and it’s more likely for that collision to be fatal,” Thorne said. The specific speeds or thresholds that are more likely to cause fatal collisions vary depending on the whale species.

The whales around Long Island include sei whales, North Atlantic right whales, finback whales, minke whales and, rarely, blue whales, according to Dayan.

Some management strategies for a host of whales such as the North Atlantic right whale include seasonal management areas, in which boats around a particular area during a specific season are required to travel more slowly.

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