By Howard Goldstein
It has also defined Long Island's South Shore, including the Merrick-Bellmore area, since the first native peoples settled along its rich waters.
This huge system, which extends from the western edge of the Town of Hempstead to the Town of Southampton in Suffolk, received direct federal monies for the first time on Oct. 18, 2002.
U.S. Rep. Steve Israel (D-Second District) announced that he had secured $500,000 in federal appropriations for the reserve on the 30th anniversary of the Clean Water Act.
Unlike Long Island Sound and Peconic Bay, the South Shore Estuary is not part of the National Estuary Program. Instead, the state and local governments manage it. Although it has received federal aid for specific projects, such as shellfish restoration, the estuary has never had specific funds earmarked for it in its entirety.
Israel secured the money in the House appropriations measure that funds the Veterans and Housing departments, NASA and the EPA. The measure is one of the 13 bills that Congress must pass annually to fund the federal government.
Jeff Fullmer, director of the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Council, praised the historic appropriation and said that it bodes well for the future of the estuary.
Indeed, people are applying enormous pressure to the fragile ecosystem. Some 1.5 million residents live in the Estuary Reserve, Fullmer noted.
Boaters and industrial pollution have badly degraded the estuary and reduced its once-abundant wildlife -- particularly fish and clams -- to only a fraction of their historic numbers.
"There are only a handful of commercial fishermen out there today. The estuary is part of our heritage. The history of settlement on Long Island is tied in with the estuary," Fullmer said. "People have recognized the bay since forever. Each community has a personalized name for it that connects it to their area...Great South Bay, Mastic, Moriches, Shinnecock...These are not real geographical boundaries but how people refer to the bay."
The estuary's bounty was once the stuff of legends. Mollusk beds that were so thick they encrusted entire bay bottoms attracted huge fleets of commercial shell fishermen.
"The peak of the hard-clam fishery was in the 1970's," Fullmer said. "In the '70s, you could walk from boat to boat, there were so many fishermen. Today, the clam beds are nearly gone."
Oysters and finfish have likewise declined. However, overfishing is probably not the culprit.
"Pollution was killing the bay. All the runoff from the storm drains goes directly into the estuary. The alteration of the natural freshwater flow into the estuary may also be to blame. But what was clear was that the life blood of the water industry was in bad shape."
Public concern for the bay led to passage of the South Shore Estuary Reserve Act by the New York State Legislature in 1993. It created both the Reserve and the Council, a group of South Shore representatives of various stakeholders.
Since then, local and state governments have worked with a wide range of private organizations and citizens in a cooperative effort to manage the bay.
"Bipartisan support for protecting and restoring the bay has contributed to the success," said Fullmer. "All the local and state politicians have been extremely helpful in promoting the estuary's restoration."
The South Shore Comprehensive Management Plan, signed into law by Gov. George Pataki on April 25, 2001, is a comprehensive effort on the part of local stakeholders and village, town, county and state governments to restore and preserve the estuary.
The biggest problem is believed to be non-point source pollution. Toxins can decimate aquatic life and render the survivors unfit for human consumption. Coliform bacteria (spread in human and animal wastes) are responsible for the closure of 30,942 acres of shellfish beds to harvesting throughout the reserve.
The $500,000 in federal appropriations will be used to deal with the problem of non-point source pollution.
The appropriations, unlike grants, are funds designated by Congress in special laws. The bill that includes the $500,000 passed the Appropriations Committee on Oct. 9, and is expected to become law once Congress returns from its recess. Only two bills, both dealing with defense, passed before Congressional recess this year.
"Long Islanders depend on clean water in the estuary for commercial and recreational fishing and for its long-term conservation...The federal government [should be] a partner in this effort to tackle the top source of water pollution in the estuary," Israel said.
