Great South Bay Ecosystem-Based Management Demonstration Project Status, Lessons Learned, & Implementation Recommendations Nancy Kelley Executive Director TNC-Long Island January 11, 2008

Ecosystem-based management is an approach to managing ecosystems that considers the entire ecosystem, including humans. It promotes ecosystem viability and integrity, biodiversity, sustainability, and social values and principles.

TNC Charge Long Island 1.Draft EBM Plan using TNC Conservation by Design approach 2.Key research & monitoring to help prioritize threats or focus strategies 3.Opportunities & strategies for governmental alignment 4.Poll people to discern behaviors and perceptions of GSB 5.Primary land-based sources of nitrogen to GSB 6.Hard clam restoration 7.Seagrass restoration Demo site & watershed

GSB EBM draft plan uses best available science to identify a suite of “surrogates” that represent the estuarine system, their viability and threats.

Seagrass Meadows Winter Flounder Salt Marshes Representatives of sub-ecosystems, key processes, and human uses Barrier Island Complex Alewives Predatory Fish Horseshoe Crabs Piping plovers Hard Clams

What is our best estimate of how well Great South Bay is doing? How well are the surrogates doing? Are they in an acceptable range of variability? Life history, temporal & spatial distribution, key physical processes

Threats Across Targets Hard Clams Salt Marshes Alewives Piping Plovers Seagrass Meadows Horsesh oe Crabs Winter Flounder Barrier Island Complex Overall Threat Rank Project-specific threats (Common taxonomy) Breach contingency / Inlet Management ()Medium--- -High 2 Shoreline armoring (Other Ecosystem Modifications) LowHigh-Low Medium-High 3Development (Housing & Urban Areas)-High-Medium-Low-High 4Global warming (Temperature Extremes)Medium - -High-Medium 5Sea level rise (Habitat Shifting & Alteration)-High-Medium Beach nourishment (Other Ecosystem Modifications) -Low- ---HighMedium 7 Imbalanced Concentration and Composition of Nutrients (Household Sewage & Urban Waste Water) HighLow-- ---Medium 8 Harmful Algal Blooms (Invasive Non-Native/Alien Species) High---Low---Medium 9Dams (Dams & Water Management/Use)--High-----Medium 10 Direct take (Fishing & Harvesting Aquatic Resources) Medium-Low-- Medium- 11Dredging (Shipping Lanes)-Low-- - MediumLow 12Disease (Invasive Non-Native/Alien Species)Medium---Low--- 13By-catch ()------Medium-Low 14Inadequate culverts ()-LowMedium-----Low 15 Invasive Species (Plants, Phragmites) (Invasive Non-Native/Alien Species) -Medium-----Low 16 Loss of sea grass beds (Fishing & Harvesting Aquatic Resources) Medium-----Low- Threat Status for Targets and Project High Medium High

Preservation Restoration Research & Monitoring PolicyCommunication Measurable objectives to direct and evaluate performance Strategies

EBM Strategies Specific to Great South Bay ex. Hard clams restoration Specific to Long Island ex. Piping plover management State-wide ex. Seagrass management plan Region/Nation-wide ex. Multi-species fisheries management

Project Status GSB EBM Demo plan to be submitted end of Jan 2008 along with 1 st draft of the governance section Poll was completed in November 2007 and focus groups scheduled for mid-February First run of nitrogen loading models–field sampling Spring 2008 to ground truth model results Approx. 3 million adult clams transplanted into spawner sanctuaries 2 nd round of seagrass seeded in July 2007

Lessons Learned Stakeholders earlier in the process to develop a vision & provide ongoing input County & town involvement More transparent human use considerations throughout the Plan Socioeconomic analysis of cost/benefits of recommended strategies Adaptive management aspects of EBM require a commitment for long-term monitoring Implementation of Plan recommendations is key

Next Steps Scientific peer review Expanded education & outreach Public summary Historical trends of N loading & evaluation of mgmt options Restoration & monitoring