Suffolk County is leading the state in protecting its waterfronts and the industries and communities the waters affect.
Sponsored by Suffolk County Legislator Catherine Stark (R-Riverhead), the bill is modeled after the Farmland Preservation Program, which is the oldest purchase of development rights (PDR) program in the nation – started in 1974. It’s preserved about 11,000 acres of farmland since the program’s start and over 20,000 acres have been preserved throughout Suffolk through a collaborative effort between the County and its municipalities.
Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine (R-Center Moriches) signed the bill into law in Greenport on Monday afternoon.
Stark’s bill aims to protect the near-3,000 maritime businesses that employ nearly 40,000 Suffolk residents that account for 6.1% of the county’s economy, according to NOAA. The marine and aquaculture economies serve as a valuable chunk of the county’s economy, as well as that of the State’s overall aquaculture haul.
In 2023, New York State fisheries landed over 17 million pounds of fish that are valued at more than $28 million. The Long Island Association’s Blue Economy Report found that, in 2023, water-related industries account for nearly 68,000 jobs – 5% of the region’s total.
“This is the first initiative in the nation to protect working waterfronts in perpetuity,” Legislator Stark told The Messenger. “This will allow for key industries to remain intact and not be developed. For example, the sale of Gossman’s in Montauk put the commercial fishing industry at risk with the loss of the ice house. We also have to protect the docks and marinas used by our marine industries.”
Stark adds that Suffolk’s GDP of $3 billion was produced by the marine sector.
“By protecting and promoting this industry, we can promote the growth of these businesses and protect them from outside pressure to sell,” said Stark.
The legislative intent of the bill finds that in recent years, “the commercial fishing, aquaculture, and maritime industries are facing mounting pressures to sell their real property for development of waterfront properties that would severely limit and call into doubt the continuing availability of working waterfront properties.”
The bill also takes into account that coastal communities in Maine, Maryland, and Rhode Island have developed programs to protect their working waterfronts, leading Stark and the County to take the initiative further in their own right.
Regarding the environment, Stark believes that preserving these picturesque and renowned coastlines will also get ahead of overdevelopment.
“Allowing it to remain as a working waterfront protects our environment and economy. It’s a win-win.”
In the text of the legislation, “aquaculture” is defined as any “enterprises directly or indirectly concerned with the cultivation of shellfish or aquatic plants grown under controlled conditions, including but not limited to kelp and seaweed, for human use, consumption and/or resource restoration.” Facilities include municipal and private docks, piers, wharves, packhouses, processing facilities, pack out facilities, boat builders, boat repairs, storage, and ice houses.
“Coastal waters” include sounds, bays, shallows, marshes, lagoons, bayous, ponds, and estuaries.
Stark’s bill also creates a Working Waterfront Committee, similar to the County’s Farmland Committee. It will be composed for marine industry workers. Each township will be able to choose a representative, along with a member of the County Executive’s Department of Economic and Development.
The seventeen-member committee will have four appointments from the County Executive, pursuant to approval by the County Legislature. Such members will serve at the pleasure of the Executive. Ten members shall be designated one from each town and will serve at the pleasure of the respective Town Councils. Two members of the County Legislature are to be appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the Legislature’s Presiding Officer and one member of the Legislature to be appointed by the Minority Caucus.
At least two, but no more than three, members of the committee, including those appointed by the County and towns, are to be a member of one or more of the following groups: commercial fisheries business, baymen, aquaculture industry, and recreational fishing/boating industry.”
One of the four members appointed by the County Executive shall be the commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and Planning, or his/her designee, as the non-voting chair.
The committee will have the power to invite government officials, aquaculture, commercial fisheries, and marina advocates, as well those with applicable technical expertise to participate in non-voting capacities or otherwise assist in the committee’s functions.
