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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTR-11/30/1964 MEETING OF NOVEMBER 30, 1964 A regular meeting of the Southold Town Trustees was called to order at 1:30 P.M. on November 30, 1964 at the Southold Town Clerk's Office, by President Alvah B. Goldsmith. Present: Alvah B. Goldsmith, Philip Weiler, John F. McNulty, Frank Dawson, George Simpson and Marion Regent, Secretary. Mr. Paul Stoutenburc�h appeared before the Trustees to discuss the dredging operations in the creeks of Southold Town. Mr. Stoutenburgh discussed the effects of conservation and preservation of wetlands and urged that consideration be given to this phase of the problem in the granting of future permits by the Board of Trustees. Mr. Stoutenburgh' s presentation was discussed by the Board and it was the concensus of opinion that much might be done to further conservation ideas without restricting development too drastically. The Southold Town Trustees considered the request of the Mattituck Park District that they be given the opportunity to purchase at a nominal fee those lands owned by the Town of Southold Board. of Town Trustees bounded as follows: East by Mattituck Park -District south by County Highway Route . 27A; west by Westphalia Road_ and north by Mattituck Creek. The Board voted to grant this request with Mr. McNulty abstaining as he is a member of the Mattituck Park Commission. Application of'.Frank Techet to dredge and bulkhead in front of his property on Wunneweta Pond, Nassau Point, Cutchogue, New York, was granted. 167 yds @ .04 and 75 ' of bulkhead @ .25. Fee $25.43 Paid. RESOLVED.that the Board of Trustees of the Town of Southold doebehereby authorizedi,the ,conveyance of all common lands, waters and lands under Water, or rights or other interests therein, subject, as to lands under water, to the public right of navigation and to the reparian rights of adjoining upland owners, as to Town of Southold acquired and now holds by virtue of any colonial patent or charter, situate, lying and being in the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, and State of New York; to the Town of Riverhead, Suffolk County, for the con- sideration of One ($1.00) Dollar. The following letter was sent to, the Southold Town Board and to the Suffolk County Department 'of Public Works in relation to dredging in Southold Town waters: With reference to the various proposed major dredging projects in the creeks' of Southold Town, the Southold Town Trustees, having jurisdiction over these lands under water, request 'that detailed plans of these projects be submitted to them for consideration and approval prior to any such project being undertaken. Application of Henry W. Prince to install two (2) mooring stakes in Town Creek was approved. Fee $1.00 paid. Application of Mary S. Morris, Southold Fishing Station,. Main Road, Southold, N.Y. to build a dock 80' long and 10' wide in -Budd.' s Pond, . Southold, was approved. Fee $55.00 '. Q1Lt�ti'L L-1 v Adjournment. PLaKiCIA L-,�'OWU. IIINTOM � ON 12 ACR!T12? This material from the biz! Department's official magazine— N. Y. STATE CONSERVATION DEPT. THE N. Y. STATE CONSERVATIONIST DIVISION OF CONSERVATION EDUCATION (A � n� n� Our ChangingShoreline .Y,�-� 30l by Dr. Alfred Perlmutter, Senior Aquatic Biologist, N.Y.S. Conservation Department LL along our coast, especially in boats, transportation, food and lodging mals without backbones) and by fishes. centers of dense population such and other items of expenditure of im- The algae and higher plants are the ae, Long Island, the once sparsely portance to the economy of the area. food of many kinds of shellfish and settled marshland and bay shores And who can place a price on the recre- crustaceans and of plant-eating fishes. have become areas of extensive building ational value of the sport fishery which They also furnish shelter and breed-space and development activities. Where for- enables the harried urbanite to escape for various aquatic animals. nierly the occasional home of the squatter to Nature from his usual daily grind? So there is an abundance of plant and or commercial fisherman stood, there is Even the incomplete information on animal life in the estuarine environment! now row after row of homes. Where the value of our marine fisheries indi. The eggs, young and adult stages of once we found miles of natural sedge cates that they represent a tremendous many species are numerous and a wealth " bank and beach, we are now confronted n Ug&,worthy_of reservation`_ of food is present. What does this have by elaborate bulkheads. Tied to thes Anything, therefore, that may am- age to do with our fisheries? A day in the bulkheads and floating on newly-dredge them is of concern to the fishery bi field would answer this question, so why channels are the family boats power gist. The changes in our marshlands not go along with us on a cruise in our by high horsepower engines. In add bay shores now taking place are a research vessel, "The Emmeline M." Our tion, extensive marinas have been an tential threat to our supply of first stop, which we shall call Station 1, continue to be developed to provide fo fishesand other__aquatic ani_ma is at the southeast corner of Great dockage of private boats whose owners— �` fh`i " - amine peconic Bay. A net is being readied to do not live adjacent to the water, for the shoreline area and its inhabitants sample the eggs and newly-hatched boats of cruising tourists and for fleets and their relationship to the coastal young fish together with the other small of boats for hire in the sports fisheries. populations of fishes. animal and plant life which serves as Bridges and roads are being constructed, their food. A conical net of fine silk bolt- new channels dug or existing ones deep- Estuarine Region ing cloth, 191/2 inches at the mouth and ened and widened, to provide better The shoreline marshlands and bay 61/2 feet long is sewed to a brass ring access to the water. shores are part of our so-called"estuarine and attached by a triple bridle to a At first glance it would appear that region." This is a term used by aquatic weighted line about two feet 'above the these changes would be of most interest biologists to describe the complex of weight. The net is lowered to the bottom to the political scientist, sociologist, marshlands, bays and river mouths along and the vessel steams slowly ahead tow- economist or local historian. Why should the coasts. Within this estuarine region ing the net in the bottom layer of water. the fishery biologist and conservationist are found the most fertile waters of the This continues for two minutes at which be concerned? The answer to this ques- sea. Into it chemical salts are drained time the net is raised to a higher level tion is to be found in the value of the off the land after rains or are carried of water and another two-minute tow is marine fisheries to all our people and continuously by surface and underwater made. By this method, over a ten minute- the relationship of these fisheries to the streams and rivers. Decaying marsh vege- period, five two-minute tows are made shoreline regions. tation adds additional chemicals includ- through each of five layers of water be- Our commercial and sport fisheries ing essential vitamins. These materials tween the bottom and water surface. The of the Marine District take more than nourish the abundant plant life charac- contents of the net are emptied into a jar. 50 species of fishes and at least 13 spe- teristic of the estuarine environment. In this tow we take one pint of a swarm- cies of shellfish. While the total value Here the microscopic plants, the phyto- ing mass of small plants and animals of the fisheries resource is unknown, plankton, are so numerous as to often (plankton). We cannot help thinking some figures are available on our com- color the water yellow, green or brown. how much more life is present"here than mercial fisheries. In 1958, for example, The seaweeds—green, red and brown in the ocean waters'off Montauk, where about 96 million pounds of seafood from algaes—grow in profusion as do the only yesterday a ten-minute tow of the our marine waters were landed for which higher types of marine plant life such same net yielded but a few ounces of the commercial fishermen received close as the sedges and. eel grass which fre- plankton. to eight million dollars. However, we quently emerge as islands at low water ` do not know the additional value ac- only to vanish with the rising tide. Plankton Check cruing to the community from`-service All of the plant life in turn serves as Now let us return to the laboratory and maintenance of the commercial fish- food for the varied animal life. The mic- where we have facilities to examine our eries, nor for their processing and hand- roscopic plants are eaten by the micro- plankton catch under the microscope. ling at the wholesale and retail levels. scopic animals, the zooplankton, which Here we can identify the eggs of many Even less is known about the value of the also feed on one another. In turn both of the important commercial and recre- sport fisheries. It has been found that the microscopic plants and animals are ational fishes. Among them are the eggs more than 600,000 people engage in the eaten by young crustaceans and fishes of the porgy, butterfish, mackerel, weak- sport fisheries in New York's marine and by jellyfish, sponges, shellfish and fish, blackfish and kingfish. Newly- waters each year. No figures are avail- some of the larger crustaceans and fishes. hatched'young of these species are found able on the value of their catch nor on Finally, these animals are devoured by as well as the young of the blowfish and the money spent on fishing gear and the larger flesh-eating invertebrates (ani- winter flounder. Also common are the L_v OCTOBER'NOVE\IRER, 1939 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT .OF THE INTERIOR Fish and Wildlife Service Bureau of Sort Fisheries and Wildlife S9 Temple Place Rost-o.ny Massaciusetts 021.1.1. December 1, 1964 Mr. Paul Stoutenbur. gh Eastern Long Island Wetlands Preservation . Association P Y Cutchogue, New York C. 0 Dear Mr. Stoutenburph: Reference is made 'to your letter of November 19 , 1964 and attached clipping. We- do plan to set up an office on Long Island in the near fu- tore. Although the details are not complete , it is probable that an office will be established in Bellport about the first of the year. Our biologist in charge of this office will be instructed to get in touch with you at the earliest opportunity. A part of his duties will be to work with and through you and the many organizations and individuals interested in preserving our natural resources. A copy of the application filed with the Army Engineers by the Suffolk County Department of Public Works -to dredge Broadwater Cove, East Creek, and Mud Creek is attached for your information. In accordance with established policy, this Service has in:�- tiated studies on possible effects of the project on fish and wildlife, Our biologists have found_ that the proposed dredg- ing could destroy some valuable and irrpulaceable marsh -7371ands and wi11 damage shoal areas of importance to shellfish and wat.er..oul. As the result of these preliminary findings we have, requested the Corps of Engineers to delay issuing any permit -to the Suf- folk County Department of Public Works until. December 31, 1964 During; this time we will complete our studies., coordinate our work with the New Fork State Conservation Department and our own Bureau of Commercial 7isheries , and prepare a formal re- port to the Corps of Engineers. In all probability our report i t page 2 to the Corps will either recommend that the permit to, be denied or that it be issued only with conditions whereby damages to fish and wilflife would be prevented or minimized. A copy of our report to the Corps of Engineers on this project will be sent tb you. i4e anticipate that the Corps will , as in the past, disre and our report. and recommendations and issue an unrestricted per- mit to dr' edp,.e to the Suffolk County Department of Public Works, Because -so many people from Lonp., Island are aware of the im- portance of their wetlands and the need to conserve their shrinking natural resources, a statement representing the . viewpoint of the i1. S . Fish and Wildlife Service toward these wetlands was recently prepared. A copy is' encloseda Your Particular attention is called to -those sections dealinF with the need for action at the Town and County level by the: citi_ tens of the town and county. We greatly appreciate your interest in these matters. and an�- ticiT?a1 e future coordination with the Eastern Lonp., Is:l.and an- ' Preservation Association. Sincerely yours, Thomas A. Schrader, Chief Division of Technical Services Attachments C D p Y