Fishers Island First to be Tapped for MPA Watch Pilot Program

(l) East Beach eelgrass meadow. Emily Bodell Photo. (r) Angela Kemsley (r) of MPA Watch, San Diego, Cal., trains volunteer Island monitors at Dock Beach. Justine Kibbe Photo

Fishers Island is the first community outside of California to be included in an MPA Watch pilot program launched in August, 2019. MPA (Marine Protected Area) Watch is a San Diego, Cal.-based community science program, where volunteers collect scientific data on coastal and marine resource use to share with scientists and policy makers.

Even though there are no Marine Protected Areas in the vicinity of Fishers Island, the pilot program is designed to demonstrate that the same monitoring protocol can be adapted and used anywhere.

Healthy seagrass meadows that surround Fishers Island comprise 25 percent of the remaining eelgrass in Fishers Island Sound. Human activity, however, including coastal construction, boating and beach recreation, inevitably shares space with seagrass, a vital marine resource.

The Fishers Island Seagrass Management (FISM) Coalition reached out to MPA Watch hoping to develop a volunteer monitoring program to quantify “human uses” of Fishers Island’s seagrass beds. The timing was right, and MPA Watch agreed to work with Fishers Island.

FISM Coalition, along with Henry L. Ferguson Museum, The Nature Conservancy—Long Island Sound Program, WildCoast and Resources Legacy Fund, brought Angela Kemsley of MPA Watch to Fishers Island to identify local monitoring areas and to train volunteer monitors. The monitoring areas include West Harbor, North Hill and East Beach.

FISM Coalition plans to work with municipal and state agencies, as well as the Fishers Island community, to establish Seagrass Management Areas around Fishers Island. Data collected by volunteer monitors will provide information critical to the creation of these Areas.

Human use monitoring is a great way to get involved with the stewardship of our precious eelgrass habitat! If you are interested in volunteering, or would like to learn more about the FISM Coalition and the monitoring program, please contact Emily Bodell, FISM Project Coordinator, at fishersislandseagrass@gmail.com. To learn more about MPA Watch, please visit www.mpawatch.org. 

The water appears to be “boiling” in front of the Conant home, east of Silver Eel Cove, early in August. “Boiling” water has also been observed off Wilderness Point, with lucky fishermen casting lines close to the disturbance.

“Boiling” water is usually caused by a feeding frenzy of larger fish during fall migration, when they move in and out of bait schools turning the surface into a “boiling” cauldron of activity, eating everything in sight.

Sarah Conant Photo

Osprey flies above abandoned nest at Four Corners on East End of Fishers Island. FIConservancy Photo

There are no answers. Just questions. The problem is reportedly not widespread, but there are fewer than half the fledgings on Fishers Island in 2019 (15) than there were in 2018 (34).

Ken Edwards Sr., speaking for the Ferguson Museum, said, “The site at Four Corners (Bagley Reid’s) was moved from the power line pole to the deMenil property, 100 feet to the south of the original pole, by the Fishers Island Electric Co. [for safety reasons], with most of the original nest [intact]. Birds came back but did not raise any young.

“Why so few young this year is a good question. The answer is not clear. Was it the cold wet spring? Not enough food?

“Osprey expert Alan Poole will be speaking at the Ferguson Museum on September 7. Join us, and perhaps he will have some answers.

“Thanks to Andrew Edwards and his drone for helping with the count.”

See Andrew’s osprey fledgling count on fishers island.net.

2019 Sunset on the Beach!

FIConservancy President Tom Sargent speaks to a packed crowd of FIConservancy supporters July 20 at the Fishers Island Club Beach Club.

A record-breaking heat wave did not deter nearly 450 people who attended FIConservancy’s annual Sunset on the Beach, Sat. July 20, 2019 at the Fishers Island Club Beach Club.

Festivities were quickly underway as guests started arriving at 6 p.m., enjoying oysters, shrimp, drinks and hors d’oeuvres. Those in attendance were there to enthusiastically support FIConservancy’s ongoing efforts to protect the natural resources of Fishers Island.

FIConservancy President Tom Sargent told the crowd that 85 percent of land east of the Mississippi River is privately owned. He urged Fishers Island landowners to begin taking small steps by planting native vegetation to attract insects, which are a good thing! Insects attract birds and are the foundation of the “food web“, the feeding relationship among species, each connected to the other for survival.

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