November 20, 2025
Beth Young
Fishers Island, in the relatively cool and clean waters between Southold and Connecticut, is one of the few local places where you will find healthy beds of seagrass.
These grasses, which include eelgrass, are not seaweed — they are rooted to the seafloor and are susceptible to damage by human activities. Famed eelgrass beds once surrounded Long Island and provided habitat for the now-stressed Peconic Bay scallop.
The Fishers Island Seagrass Coalition, a partnership between the Henry L. Ferguson Museum and Fishers Island Nature Conservancy, [and other Island stakeholders] was founded in 2017, and has been working to protect the healthy eelgrass beds around Fishers Island.
The coalition is currently at work on an innovative proposal to install 17 “Eco-Moorings” in areas where people had been accustomed to anchoring their boats, in the hopes of protecting eelgrass beds from the damage caused by the sweep of anchor chains along the seafloor.
The Eco-Mooring System involves installing a helix anchor into the seabed from above, using hydraulic equipment, attaching a system including a polyfiber rope to the anchor, with flotation to keep it off the bay bottom.
“There are a lot of seagrass meadows around Fishers Island, which has one of the greatest concentrations of seagrass,” said Southold Town Justice and Fishers Island Councilwoman Louisa Evans as she explained the program at the Southold Town Board’s Nov. 18 work session.
She added that the Coalition works on “how best to protect the seagrass and how to educate people on how important seagrass is everywhere and how we should protect what we have.”
“People anchor off in the different harbors where the seagrass is, and the anchors scour and just kill the seagrass beds,” she said. “They’ve put in one Eco-Mooring in a trial spot, and it’s really helped not scarring the seagrass bed.”
Ms. Evans said Fishers Island Seagrass Management Coordinator Hannah Vaghts is writing a grant proposal seeking funding from the National Estuary Partnership’s Watersheds Grant program to install at least 17 new Eco-Moorings, which would be implemented in 2027.
“These would be guest moorings to try to prevent people from anchoring in the seagrass here,” said Ms. Evans.
She added that the grant would likely require matching funds from the town, which may cover the cost of maintenance of the moorings, estimated at about $400 a year. She said she did not yet have a price for the total cost of the project.
“They’ll be looking for money, and we’re hoping to support it,” said Ms. Evans, who is retiring at the end of this year. She added that the project will likely come before the Town Board again for a letter of support and a request for matching funds after incoming Fishers Island Justice/Council member Kate Stevens joins the board in January of 2026.
“Its not so much the money but the town’s involvement that will strengthen our application,” said Ms. Stevens, who was in the audience.
Ms. Evans said the Fishers Island Harbor Committee would also like to put together a mooring plan for East Harbor, similar to an existing one for West Harbor, which would have to be approved by the Southold Town Board and Town Trustees.
“East Harbor became, particularly during Covid, a place where so many boats go in there,” she said. “It’s not just a problem with seagrass. People are going on the beach, littering, doing bonfires. People that live there don’t even go down there anymore. It’s just so crowded, and it’s taken a huge toll on the seagrass.”
Town Supervisor Al Krupski said the Long Island Sound National Estuary is also working on a plan to harvest one million seeds from existing eelgrass beds to try to plant them elsewhere. He urged the Fishers Island Seagrass Coalition’s involvement in that project, if it isn’t already involved.
Ms. Evans said the Town Board and Trustees would approve the mooring plan, but the Harbor Committee would be in charge of it, and the Town Trustees wouldn’t need to be involved in enforcing it because the moorings would not be within their jurisdiction.
“It’s a great idea,” said Mr. Krupski.
Learn more about the important impact of
Eco-Moorings from Fishers Island Seagrass Coalition HERE
