The economic foundation of Suffolk County for centuries: farming and fishing. As to farming, great strides have been made in the last 50 years in preserving farming — and keeping Suffolk among the top agricultural counties in New York State.
Last week, I was driving on County Route 48, running through the North Fork. Since I was last on it, there seemed to be more and more vineyards, huge vineyards on both sides of the highway. Much credit is due to Louisa and Alex Hargrave, who had the insight to understand that Suffolk County would be a good place to grow European varieties of grapes, and the courage to start a vineyard in Cutchogue in 1978 along Route 48.
There are other vineyards now in Suffolk, on the South Fork and in the western portion of the county. Suffolk has become a major U.S. center for growing wine grapes, the base for, as the road signs declare, “Long Island Wine Country.”
Critical to this — and the continuation of farms of all types in Suffolk — was the first-in-the nation Suffolk County Farmland Preservation Program of 1974, predicated on the sale of development rights. And in the five East End towns, the Peconic Bay Community Preservation Fund has been pivotal.
But what about fishing?
In 2021, a “Commercial Fishing Survey Report” was issued by the Suffolk County Department of Economic Development and Planning, done in collaboration with New York Sea Grant, Cornell Cooperative Extension Marine Program and Long Island Commercial Fishing Association.
It said: “Suffolk County’s commercial fishing heritage spans more than 400 years … Our wild-caught fisheries, ports, fishermen, and support industries all contribute to the production of sustainable fresh fish for consumers locally and beyond, supporting our seafood shops, retail food stores, restaurants, and tourism industries. Marine employment on Long Island contributes close to 34,000 jobs and nearly $1 billion in wages.”
It continued to note how, in 2018, “Montauk, the state’s largest fishing port, was ranked the 57th-largest commercial fishing port in the U.S. in pounds landed. Together, the ports of Montauk and Shinnecock alone landed over 18 million pounds of fish in 2018, valued at $23 million.
“The East End of Long Island has long dominated the regional commercial fishing industry due to its access to a multitude of both local and federal water fished species that migrate both inshore and offshore along the New York Mid-Atlantic Bight.”
The report noted that the county department’s “mission is to foster a comprehensive understanding of how to grow, improve and conserve Suffolk County’s amazing resources within both the built and natural environments. Our goal is to implement initiatives and projects to realize a Suffolk County that is modern and sustainable, where ambition, quality of life and economic growth thrive.
“Suffolk County has a rich agricultural and maritime heritage. These industries are the backbone of the Long Island way of life. Not only do our farms, farmstands, vineyards, marinas, fisheries, pack houses, and docks generate the tourism dollars that support our local restaurants and service industries, but they also provide the fresh seafood and produce that feed people both locally and across the globe.”
And now has come an initiative for “Conservation of Working Waterfronts.”
Those involved in the fishing industry in Suffolk need berths for their boats and maritime facilities. But the coastline of Suffolk has become, increasingly in recent times, a place of development for housing and businesses capitalizing on those nice water views.
This “pressure on development on the waterfront here is at the extreme,” said Suffolk County Legislator Ann Welker of Southampton last week. She and County Legislator Catherine Stark of Riverhead are sponsoring a measure, supported by County Executive Ed Romaine, for the “conservation of working waterfronts.”
It speaks of “in recent years, the commercial fishing industry … facing mounting pressures from development of waterfront that severely limit and call into doubt the continuing availability of working waterfront properties that act as docks, piers, and packhouses enabling commercial fisheries to contribute their important catch to the food supply.”
It goes on that “many coastal communities have developed programs and procedures to preserve working waterfronts” and says, “Suffolk should follow the pioneering lead of these communities by incorporating working waterfronts utilized by the commercial fisheries business as a protectable category of real property under … the Suffolk County Code.”
The bill would add to the Suffolk County Code, under its section headed “Conservation Easements,” a category, “commercial fisheries business.” It defines this as “any enterprise directly or indirectly concerned with the commercial harvest of wild or aquacultured marine organisms.”
As to a definition of “conservation easement,” it says: “An easement, covenant, restriction … in real property … which limits or restricts development.”
The Board of Trustees of the Suffolk County Department of Parks, Recreation and Conservation would have initial jurisdiction over “granting of a conservation easement” to “working waterfront property.” Then, there would be a public hearing before the Suffolk County Legislature, a vote by it, and if “adopted by the County Legislature,” a legal agreement.
A model for the measure is a “working waterfront” program in Maine, says Welker. She notes that in Maine, the “pressure on waterfront development has been extreme like here.”
Welker, before becoming a county legislator, was the first woman to be a member of the Southampton Town Trustees, established in 1686 to regulate coastal activities in Southampton. It describes itself as “the oldest continually elected board in North America.”
As the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association says online about the program to our north: “Working waterfront has always been a limited resource on the coast of Maine. With intensified gentrification, shifting marine resources, climate change, and amplified pressure on the fishermen and fishing businesses, the future of seafood-based working waterfront is more in jeopardy than ever. MCFA works with fishermen, partners, and communities to build and deploy tools to better protect and invest in the crucial infrastructure Maine needs for fishing communities to thrive.”
What’s good for Maine is good for Suffolk County, more so now than ever.
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