Mission: Established in 1997, Peconic Baykeeper is a licensed member of Waterkeeper Alliance. Peconic Baykeeper is the only independent, not-for-profit organization solely dedicated to the protection and improvement of the Peconic and South Shore estuaries of Long Island. We work to reverse the environmental degradation of the past and promote new strategies and policies to protect and improve water quality. We identify pollution problems that impact our waters and work towards affecting change that provides for improvements in water quality and habitat protection. Our collaboration with other stakeholder groups and local government is essential towards this goal.
Results: *Established a vessel sewage No-Discharge Zone for the Peconic and South Shore Estuary Reserve.
*Compelled Suffolk County to stop dredging hundreds of miles of ditches in tidal wetlands.
*Halted a marina project in Shinnecock Bay that would have destroyed habitat and degraded water quality.
*Moved New York State to designate the Forge River as "Impaired Waters&";, an unfortunate distinction that is the catalyst for corrective action.
Programs: Peconic Baykeeper serves as a public advocate and community educator through its clean water programs and initiatives.
Kevin McAllister has been essential to theSoMAS program at Stony Brook University as well as largely to the Southampton campus MarineScience program. The colloboration between the Peconic Bay Keeper and the Marine Science program has been immensely successful and vital to the community. In order to produce change in the way of thinking in a coastal area, we all need to pull together our individual resources to bring about improvement in the environment. The Peconic Baykeeper is performing such a service.
Peconic Baykeeper was instrumental in helping boating organizations in the Great South Bay achieve the launch of additional pump-out boats in the Town of Islip (1 boat) and the Town of Brookhaven (2 boats).
The one pump-out boat in the Town of Islip withdrew thousands of gallons of waste in just their first season from the recreational boaters in their area of the Great South Bay. That was a huge environmental improvement and success.
The increased number of pump-out boats in the Great South Bay then enabled the Peconic Baykeeper to apply for, and win, the formal designation of a "No Discharge Zone" for the Great South Bay.
In my experience, the Peconic Baykeeper is "the real thing". They worked selflessly and achieved the outcomes described here. They are a true asset for the Great South Bay, Peconic Bay and nearby waters.
