Along the banks of the Thames River in New London, lines of dome-shaped reef balls now shelter schools of fish, stabilize the shoreline, and bring new life to an area once threatened by erosion. What began as a small pilot in 2021 has grown into a thriving example of how science and community partnerships can protect the health of Long Island Sound.
Led by Maria Rosa, Associate Professor of Biology at Connecticut College, the project, supported in part by the Long Island Sound Futures Fund, uses reef balls – concrete domes created by the Reef Ball Foundation that mimic natural reefs – to protect shorelines while creating new habitat for marine life.
Building a Living Shoreline
The Thames River, Connecticut’s third largest river, runs along the edge of Connecticut College’s campus before flowing into Long Island Sound. It’s a busy waterway that supports naval operations, shipbuilding, and commercial traffic and it has been continuously dredged since the 1800s. Combined with sea-level rise and stronger storms, those pressures have left its shorelines, including the College’s waterfront, vulnerable to erosion.
Recognizing the need to protect both the campus shoreline and the river’s natural habitat, Rosa began searching for sustainable solutions. She first considered re-introducing an oyster reef, but after learning the project would not be permittable at this site, she turned to reef balls, a nature-based approach known as a living shoreline. Unlike seawalls or jetties, which block waves but also prevent natural sediment movement, living shorelines work with nature. The reef balls help slow waves, trap sediment, and provide shelter for fish and other marine life, allowing the shoreline to rebuild over time.
The first phase of the project, launched in 2021 with support from Kenny Chesney’s No Shoes Reefs initiative, installed 30 reef balls protecting about 35 linear feet of shoreline. Rosa and her students named the site Camels Reef, after the Connecticut College mascot. With additional funding in 2023, the project expanded to include 350 more reef balls, protecting 200 linear feet of shoreline and more than 1,200 square feet of habitat.
Within the first year, the team saw signs of success that most projects wouldn’t expect for five to ten years: sediment began to accumulate and new species appeared. At the start of the project in 2019, Rosa documented just five species at the site. By 2023, there were more than 30, including larval animals suggesting the reef was serving as a nursery ground. This fall for example, juvenile oyster toadfish and other larval fish were found in the reef for the first time, following records of adults of the same species from the past year.
The sediment has also changed dramatically. Rosa’s team measured an average of three centimeters of new soil, with some areas gaining up to five. “We’re seeing both terrestrial and marine sediment being added to the reef,” she said. “It’s enough to begin planting.”
This fall, Rosa and her students planted 1,000 plugs of smooth cordgrass (Spartina alterniflora), a native marsh plant, and plan to plant another 1,000 in the spring to help jump-start marsh formation. While the reef balls themselves provide habitat and help trap sediment, the true measure of the project’s success will be the growth of healthy marsh. A thriving marsh acts as a natural buffer, diffusing wave energy and reducing erosion, while also supporting greater biodiversity. Next summer they also plan to conduct a comprehensive biodiversity survey to document how species diversity and abundance have changed five years into the project.
Nature Thrives — and So Do Students
Rosa says one of the most exciting aspects of the project has been watching the site come alive. Bald eagles, mink, osprey, seals, blue crabs, and striped bass have all been spotted near the reef. “The difference between our reef site and the downstream control site is striking,” she said. “The sediment, the biodiversity—it’s a whole different environment.”
Students and volunteers have been involved in every step of the process, from building and deploying reef balls (each weighing hundreds of pounds) to planting grasses and conducting monitoring surveys. “Seeing the impact of their work firsthand motivates them to keep coming back,” Rosa said.
A Ripple Effect for Long Island Sound
The Thames River is a major tributary to Long Island Sound, carrying freshwater, sediment, and nutrients downstream. Healthy shoreline habitats here have far-reaching benefits for the Sound’s ecosystem, providing nursery grounds for fish, filtering pollutants, and buffering against erosion.
Projects like Camels Reef directly support the Long Island Sound Partnership’s goals of clean water, thriving habitats and abundant wildlife, resilient communities, and an informed public. As the reef grows, it helps improve water quality, trap excess nutrients, and build resilience to sea-level rise and storm surge – all while serving as a hands-on learning site for students and volunteers.
Lessons Learned and Looking Ahead
Rosa admits the project wasn’t easy to get off the ground. “When I first started, people told me it wouldn’t work,” she said. “But I thought, if you build the habitat, the species will come—and they have.”
From her initial vision of an oyster reef to today’s thriving living shoreline, Rosa sees success not just in the ecological results, but in the engagement the project inspires. “This wouldn’t have been possible without our students and volunteers,” she said. “Their work has made a real difference.”
Looking ahead, Rosa hopes to expand the reef even further, potentially adding another 200 linear feet of reef balls to extend protection toward the mouth of the Thames River. That will require new permits and careful design to match the varying shoreline slopes and habitats along the river, but Rosa is confident in the project’s future.
“This is just the beginning,” she said. “We’re building something that protects our campus, supports wildlife, and strengthens Long Island Sound for years to come.”
Visitors explore the Camels Reef site, where an “Experiment in Progress” sign highlights the ongoing research and monitoring behind this living shoreline project. Photo by Erica Casper/CT Sea Grant.
The Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) has always played an important role in advancing the goals of the LIS Partnership and strengthening collaboration across stakeholders. It has been my privilege to be a member representative of the CAC for over thirty years and the NY Co-chair for the past twenty years. Now more than ever, the CAC is indispensable to the on-going success and productivity of the LIS Partnership.
As I step down from my NY Co-chair role on the CAC, I’m reminded of how far we’ve come. Thirty years ago, citizen voices and contributions to science were often overlooked or undervalued by the Partnership. Discussions were largely driven by existing federal and state budgets and competition between agencies and partners to secure the biggest share rather than collaborative decision-making for impact.
As funding fluctuated with the political winds, the CAC remained a steady voice working consistently to educate our congressional leaders and make the case for the critical need and national importance of cleaning up Long Island Sound. Our CAC membership ranges from very local site-specific organizations to regional and national nonprofits. Through our extensive networks and relationships, CAC members have significantly contributed to success of the Partnership at every level.
It has been such a pleasure to watch CAC members grow more sophisticated in engaging with their networks, the public, legislators, federal agencies, and LIS Partnership leadership. My NY Co-chair predecessor David Miller, along with CT Co-chairs John Atkin, Sandy Breslin, Curt Johnson and Holly Drinkuth played pivotal roles in strengthening communication, quantifying needs, drafting legislation, contributing to management plans, and securing attention and funding for the extensive work needed to restore Long Island Sound.
As the Partnership has grown in budget, staff and programs, the advisory role of the CAC has become increasingly integral to the success of the Partnership. Each year, the CAC provides a Priority Letter to the Management Conference outlining the most pressing needs for the upcoming year – now enhanced by input and guidance from the Science and Technical Advisory Committee (STAC). To further increase our collaboration and impact, we hold an annual joint meeting with the STAC to discuss science and implementation priorities.
Each year, the CAC travels to Washington D.C. to meet in-person with our congressional representatives sharing updates on successes, on-going needs and emerging issues critical to the LIS Partnership. Our fabulous CAC Policy Subcommittee actively tracks federal, NY and CT legislative sessions and our members work together to provide expert letters to agencies and lawmakers.
Recently, with our eyes on succession, we amended the CAC Bylaws to include four Vice Chair positions: two from NY and two from CT. The impressive level of experience, expertise and commitment of our new Vice Chairs gives me confidence that the CAC will continue to grow in influence and play an even more integral role supporting and guiding management of the LIS Partnership in the future.
I leave the CAC with a heart full of great feelings for the work we’ve accomplished together, the close friendships, the mentors and mentees, and the lessons learned along the way. From moments of laughter and exhausting meetings to the expansive knowledge and riveting science, the successes in all areas of LIS cleanup and protection – especially decreases in hypoxia, and seeing dolphins return to LIS – have kept me going.
Of the many roles I’ve had in my career, serving as CAC co-chair has been the most rewarding. Thank you LIS Partnership partners!
Read the 2025 Fall/Winter issue of Sound Matters, the Long Island Sound Partnership newsletter. The Fall issue highlights the Long Island Sound Partnership’s busy summer, including the launch of a new management plan with new goals and objectives for the next 10 years, celebrating 40 years of the Partnership’s efforts to restore Long Island Sound, and unveiling a name change from the Long Island Sound Study to the LIS Partnership. You can view a PDF here.
The University of Rhode Island’s Environmental Data Center recently completed a major update of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) mapping for the Long Island Sound (LIS) and the Peconic Estuary (PEC), marking the first region-wide survey of this kind since 2017 for LIS and 2014 for the Peconic. The project, funded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through NEIWPCC in collaboration with the Long Island Sound Partnership (LIS Partnership) and the Peconic Estuary Partnership (PEP), collected new high-resolution aerial imagery and underwater video surveys during the summer and fall of 2024. Since 2002, eelgrass meadows in the Long Island Sound have been intermittently monitored through aerial surveys and field observations. These surveys provide valuable insight for resource managers into the distribution of eelgrass habitat and how it changes over time.
Eelgrass (Zostera marina Linnaeus) is a common SAV species found in shallow subtidal environments of LIS and PEC. Eelgrass, and other underwater grasses such as widgeon grass (Ruppia maritima), form underwater meadows or beds that provide essential nursery habitat for fish and shellfish, stabilize sediments, improve water quality, and sequester “blue carbon.” Blue carbon refers to carbon dioxide that is captured and stored in coastal and marine ecosystems. Both the LIS Partnership and PEP Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plans highlight eelgrass as a species of critical concern. Because eelgrass is highly sensitive to water clarity and nutrient conditions, its distribution serves as a vital indicator of estuarine health.
Following National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Coastal Management protocols and an approved EPA Quality Assurance Project Plan, both true color and infrared aerial photography were captured over the two estuaries in June and July. Field crews then collected underwater video surveys in September and October using GPS-linked cameras to validate eelgrass locations.
Analysts used Esri ArcGIS Pro software to interpret eelgrass beds from ortho-photography (aerial photographs that have had the distortion removed), incorporating field data and historical maps. More than 8,000 underwater video points informed the delineation of hundreds of SAV polygons – shapes drawn on digital maps that outline where SAV was observed – with an overall mapping accuracy of 84%. This process of capturing true-color aerial imagery over a large region and then interpreting images by eye with the aid of mapping software is referred to as “Tier 1” mapping. This mapping technique is part of a widely accepted seagrass monitoring framework that is used for quantifying the area and distribution over large regions.
In the Sound, 2,041 acres of eelgrass were mapped across 261 individual polygons, with the largest eelgrass meadow spanning 179 acres in Groton-Long Point, Connecticut. A comparison of the 2017 and 2024 LIS mapping found a net gain in eelgrass presence of 473 acres. Meanwhile, 800.6 acres of eelgrass were mapped across 112 individual polygons in the PEC. Here, the largest eelgrass meadow covers 132.8 acres and is located off Shelter Island in Coecles Harbor, New York.
Publicly accessible interactive maps, aerial imagery, and data are now available through Esri’s ArcGIS Online platform using the following links:
Regular Tier 1 assessments, ideally every one to three years, help track the recovery and resilience of these valuable underwater habitats, ensuring that managers and restoration partners can make informed decisions to protect and restore eelgrass meadows. The full report is available here and on the NEIWPCC Resource Library.
The article originally appeared on the NEIWPCC website in November 2025.
Media Contacts:
Map showing the locations of the 14 projects awarded support through the second round of the LIS Resilience Planning Support Program. Nine New York projects are shown with purple markers and five Connecticut projects with teal markers.
Soundwide (Nov. 7, 2025) – Fourteen coastal communities in the Long Island Sound region have been awarded $909,121 in planning support to advance resilience-focused projects through the second round of the Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program. The program is a collaboration of New York Sea Grant (NYSG), Connecticut Sea Grant (CTSG), and the Long Island Sound Partnership.
The Long Island Sound (LIS) Resilience Planning Support Program was launched in October 2023 by a team of NYSG and CTSG Sustainable and Resilient Communities (SRC) Extension Professionals who are focused on developing resources and tools to assist Long Island Sound communities in achieving their sustainability and resilience goals. The Program aims to address a major barrier that many communities face: a lack of capacity and resources to identify, conceptualize, and develop resilience projects to respond to changing environmental conditions. Participating communities are matched with qualified contractors to assist them with assessing local environmental risks, conceptualizing project ideas and conducting preliminary planning efforts to prepare for future funding opportunities that support project design and implementation. No match is required from the communities. The Program is funded by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) through the Long Island Sound Partnership.
This year’s 14 awarded projects—nine in NY and five in CT—include community resilience plans, shoreline adaptation plans, strategic plans, natural resource inventories, watershed management plans, and development of stormwater remediation strategies and conceptual design plans. Find more details below and view the full Award Slate at: www.lisresilience.org/planning-support-program-awards.
A third round of the LIS Resilience Planning Support Program will open in early December 2025, with up to $1.5 million available. Interested communities can learn more during the LIS Resilience Planning Support Program session on Friday, December 5, 2025, part of the upcoming 4th Annual SRC Workshop. This session will highlight projects completed from the 1st Round of the LIS Resilience Planning Support Program. For more information, please visit lisresilience.org/annual-workshop.
“I’m proud to see the federal funds for which I voted last year flow to local initiatives that strengthen our shoreline and safeguard our clean water. Protecting the Long Island Sound and our coastal communities is not only an environmental priority, but also an economic and public safety imperative. In Congress, I will continue to advance these efforts by advocating for robust funding and leading bipartisan legislation to reauthorize the Long Island Sound Program through 2029—ensuring that Long Island’s clean water, healthy habitats, and climate resilience remain national priorities for years to come,” said Congressman Nick LaLota.
Congressman Joe Courtney said, “Long Island Sound and the Connecticut River are jewels of our region. As co-chair of the Long Island Caucus, I have partnered with Sea Grant to keep federal funds flowing through numerous budget cycles. This type of investment is exactly what people who care about the health of Long Island Sound were seeking to achieve. The Sea Grant team at UConn Avery Point has once again done a great job of identifying where to invest with highest value to achieve the goal of a healthy Long Island Sound, ensuring the environmental, economic, and recreational sustainability of our state.”
“Throughout my 30-plus years in public service, I have dedicated myself to cleaning up pollution in and around the Long Island Sound, reducing nitrogen emissions from sewage treatment plants and stormwater runoff, and restoring and reseeding shellfishing beds in our harbors,” said Congressman Tom Suozzi. “Since coming to Congress in 2017, I have helped deliver a 1,000% increase in funding to improve the Long Island Sound. I am grateful for the bipartisan and collaborative efforts of many, including New York Sea Grant, the Long Island Sound Partnership, and the EPA, who have overseen significant improvements in water quality, including in Great Neck, whose award we are celebrating today. Protecting and preserving the Long Island Sound, our ‘National Park,’ is a top priority and a shared responsibility.”
“Congratulations to all of the recipients of this year’s Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program, including the Hen Island Nature Society and the Rye Sustainability Foundation,” said Congressman George Latimer. “These important investments will help protect our natural habitats and monitor the health of our ecosystems. We must continue to support projects like these through robust funding now and in the future.”
“The Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program is equipping communities with actionable plans and innovative project concepts to address environmental risks and support long-term sustainability,” said New York Sea Grant Director, Rebecca Shuford. “This year we had 41 applications to the Program, underscoring the need for this important planning work. New York Sea Grant is proud to contribute to this partnership, and we look forward to seeing the positive environmental and economic benefits these projects will have locally and regionally.”
“The impacts of this unique, match-free Program are far-reaching,” said Connecticut Sea Grant Director, Sylvain De Guise. “Through this initiative, we are building community capacity across the Long Island Sound region to address some of the most pressing challenges, including flooding and extreme weather. Connecticut Sea Grant is proud to help communities take critical steps toward achieving their resilience and sustainability goals. We look forward to supporting even more communities through the next round of the Program.”
Donna Koch, Mayor and Dave Weber, Trustee of the Village of Northport, NY said, “The Harbor Walk Study has the potential to shape Northport’s storm resilience for decades to come—and it would not be possible without the dedication and expertise of New York Sea Grant and the Long Island Sound Partnership. Through this resilience planning grant program, they have provided funding that our small Village could not have otherwise allocated, and for that we are truly thankful.”
“The support we have been receiving from the LIS Resilience Planning Support Program will help us bring forward community driven solutions for a historically flood-prone area in Mystic,” said Sabit Nasir, Sustainability and Resilience Manager for the Town of Groton. “By investing in green infrastructure and engaging locally, we are not only going to address the flooding of today but creating long term resilience and a foundation for years to come, creating a better connection for residents and their natural environment.”
“Shoreham Village is over 100 years old, and unfortunately, our drainage system and storm water management system are also 100 years old. The existing system is a patchwork of failing facilities, and the topography of Shoreham Village is much like a funnel, so even small rainfalls contribute significant pollution into the Sound. We need to modernize our stormwater management capacity,” said Edward Brickley, Stormwater Management Officer for the Village of Shoreham. “Being awarded this Planning Grant will allow us to begin the process of protecting the ecology of the Long Island Sound and to create a more resilient infrastructure to protect the properties in the Village. We view this as the critical first step and are very thankful for Sea Grant and the Long Island Sound Partnership for making it possible.”
“The Great Neck Village Officials Association (GNVOA) is honored and pleased to be one of the awardees for a project to identify, conceptualize, and develop resilience to changing environmental conditions,” said Steven Weinberg, President of the Great Neck Village Officials Association. “Nine villages and the Town of North Hempstead make up the Great Neck peninsula. The opportunity to assess risk and to have a plan for shore restoration and flood mitigation to be adopted and implemented by the villages across the Great Neck peninsula is a vital and welcome development in intermunicipal work for all of our residents.”
“Salonga Wetland Advocates Network (SWAN) is extremely fortunate to be included in the Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support program. Thanks to the expertise and funding being provided by the Long Island Sound Partnership, Sea Grant and GEI, the Fort Salonga community will soon have a science-based plan to protect Fresh Pond and surrounding areas from the effects of a changing climate,” said Charlie Muller, President of SWAN. “Fresh pond is a thriving wildlife habitat and valued recreational and scenic asset in the local community.”
“Rye Sustainability Foundation is thrilled to receive this award from the Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program,” said James Ward, City of Rye Council member and Rye Sustainability Foundation Co-Founder/Director.. ”This support will allow us to refresh the City of Rye’s Natural Resources Inventory which was originally created in 1979. The new NRI will serve as a baseline for future planning efforts and resilience projects. It will also be incorporated into our Comprehensive Plan that kicks-off in early 2026. Thank you, New York Sea Grant and the Long Island Sound Partnership!”
“We are pleased to have our resilience planning grant submittal accepted for funding,” said George Hoffman, Co-Founder and Trustee of Setauket Harbor Task Force. “A major goal of the Setauket Harbor Task Force was to fund a comprehensive look at how the various stakeholders and municipal entities manage the Port Jefferson harbor complex and provide new strategies for effective and cooperative management.”
“We are grateful for the planning support that we have received from Connecticut Sea Grant and the Long Island Sound Partnership,” said Neighborhood Housing Services of New Haven. “Through this support, we aim to establish a stormwater counseling program that will promote the development of stormwater infrastructure on private properties in Connecticut’s key coastal urban watersheds, thus reducing nonpoint source pollution from flowing into our local waterways and the Long Island Sound. Our target communities will enjoy the benefits of a healthier aquatic environment while playing an important role in its improvement.”
“Our Village of Head of the Harbor rises above the waters of Stony Brook Harbor and, as a result, we serve as a channel for stormwater runoff into the Harbor. This results in the degradation of the water quality of Stony Brook Harbor and Long Island Sound, as well as severe damage to our roads. Many of our local roads were built by simply paving over dirt carriage paths, and they cannot withstand the impact of stormwater rushing towards the Harbor, said Michael Utevsky, Mayor of Head of the Harbor, NY. “We are hopeful that the new grant from NY Sea Grant and Long Island Sound Partnership will help us find long-term solutions to these problems and result in more stable roads and cleaner waters.”
“The Town of Stonington is grateful for the support and funding provided through the Long Island Sound Resilience Planning Support Program,” said Danielle Chesebrough, Stonington First Selectman. “We look forward to collaborating with Resilient Land & Water to develop a comprehensive, town-wide Sustainability and Resilience Plan that unifies existing resiliency initiatives, identifies data gaps through robust community engagement, and prioritizes projects for implementation. This plan will help Stonington better understand current conditions and future risks related to sea level rise, severe storms, stormwater management, and tideland preservation. It will also establish a clear framework for addressing these challenges. Together, we are advancing a stronger, more resilient, and sustainable future for our community.”
For more information, please visit www.lisresilience.org or direct questions by email to LISResilience@gmail.com.
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About the Long Island Sound Partnership
The Long Island Sound Partnership, established by EPA and the states of Connecticut and New York in 1985, brings together federal and state agencies, local governments, communities, universities and industry to protect and care for the health of the Sound and its connecting rivers and bays.
For more information, visit lispartnership.org
About New York Sea Grant
New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program. Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.
Learn more at nyseagrant.org
About Connecticut Sea Grant
Connecticut Sea Grant (CTSG), based at UConn’s Avery Point campus in Groton, is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of our marine resources through research, education, outreach and technology transfer.
Learn more at seagrant.uconn.edu
Each year the Long Island Sound Partnership develops a work plan as part of the National Estuary Program. The work plan describes the activities conducted with EPA funds to help achieve the goals of the LIS Partnership’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. The 2025 Work Plan covers LIS Partnership activities planned with 2025 federal funds that will be conducted from Oct. 1, 2025 to Sept. 30, 2026 (fy26). It also highlights projects that were undertaken from Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 30, 2025 (fy25) with 2024 federal funds.
The 2024 Year in Review issue of Sound Update highlights some of Long Island Sound Partnership’s projects and achievements from 2024. This issue includes stories about the development, the Long Island Sound Community Impact Fund, and the new Long Island Sound School Network.
Aug. 12, 2025 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMore information: Nancy Balcom, Connecticut Sea Grant associate director, Nancy.balcom@uconn.edu
A survey of more than 3,700 Connecticut and New York residents shows the majority view Long Island Sound as a major asset to the quality of life and economy of the region.
The survey by Connecticut Sea Grant on behalf of the Long Island Sound Partnership was conducted in 2024, 18 years after the first public perceptions survey of the estuary was completed. Survey respondents are residents of the Long Island Sound (LIS) watershed—the land area that drains into the estuary—who are a representative sample of the regional population. Nearly 9 million people live in the LIS watershed.
“General impressions of Long Island Sound are overwhelmingly positive,” said project manager Nancy Balcom, associate director of Connecticut Sea Grant. “Sixty percent of respondents agreed that ‘being near Long Island Sound makes [them] feel peaceful and happier.’ Sixty-one percent said the Sound provides recreational opportunities, 58 percent said it has a positive economic impact on the region, and 60 percent would call Long Island Sound ‘a national treasure.’”
Several questions from the 2006 survey were repeated in 2024 for comparison. For example, they were asked, “From a public health perspective, how safe do you think it is for adults and children to swim in Long Island Sound?” Sixty percent said they view the water as very safe or somewhat safe for swimming, while 26 percent believe it is somewhat unsafe or very unsafe. While still high from a public health perspective, 26 percent is an improvement over the approximately 38 percent who felt that way in 2006. Further, in the 2024 survey, 54 percent of residents said they felt it is safe to eat fish and shellfish from Long Island Sound, while 25 percent believe it is unsafe and 21 percnet were not sure. In 2006, about 41% of those surveyed felt it was unsafe to eat the Sound’s fish and shellfish.
The earlier survey was undertaken by the Stony Brook University Center of Survey Research for the Long Island Sound Study (recently renamed the Long Island Sound Partnership), a cooperative organization of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Connecticut and New York Sea Grant programs and multiple state agencies and nonprofits focused on restoring and caring for the estuary. The partnership celebrated its 40th anniversary on June 20 with the release of an updated Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan for the Sound.
Including both a survey and four focus groups, the recent survey was managed by Connecticut Sea Grant in conjunction with many local partners and the consulting firm OpinionWorks of Annapolis, Maryland. Funding was provided by the LIS Partnership and EPA.
While respondents to the recent survey expressed positive feelings about the Sound, only one-third were even aware that they live in the LIS watershed.
“There’s still work to be done here to build awareness of location and connection,” said Balcom. The survey report (https://lispartnership.org/2025/08/2024-public-perception-survey/) shares perceptions on topics ranging from water quality to access, outdoor activities to personal priorities, environmental behaviors to stewardship practices and communication preference. Feedback on renaming the Long Island Sound Study was gathered from the focus group participants.
Among the findings:
“The Long Island Sound Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan (CCMP) includes a new goal for an Informed and Engaged Public, which focuses on inspiring the public to appreciate, value, and protect Long Island Sound,” said Nicole Tachiki, acting director of the EPA Long Island Sound Office. “Understanding current public perception is the first step in considering how we increase appreciation of the Long Island Sound. These survey results provide a basis for making improvements and assessing our goals.”
The survey release is strategically timed to help guide actions to implement the new CCMP. It will provide ideas for new programming to engage and inform more Connecticut and New York residents living in the LIS watershed and help address identified critical actions outlined in the CCMP that protect and preserve the Sound for all.
This survey sample produces a margin of sampling error of no more than ±1.6 percent at the 95 percent confidence level, meaning that if every adult resident of the region had been interviewed, the actual results could be expected to fall within that margin at least 95 percent of the time.
Connecticut Sea Grant, based at the UConn Avery Point campus in Groton, is one of 34 Sea Grant programs supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in coastal and Great Lakes states that encourage the wise stewardship of our marine resources through research, education, outreach and technology transfer.
The news release was written and distributed by CT Sea Grant on Aug. 12, 2025.
Celebrate 40 years of collaborative conservation on August 16 with the Long Island Sound Partnership. The program, formerly the Long Island Sound Study, marks its 40th anniversary with events events in Connecticut, New York City, and Long Island. Each will include a boat ride to commemorate the Partnership’s start on Aug. 15, 1985 when EPA, the states of Connecticut and New York toured areas of the Sound on a research vessel and announced a $1 million research grant to study pollution and water quality problems plaguing the Sound. The initiative led to the formation of the Long Island Sound Study, which changed its name to the Long Island Sound Partnership this June.
Besides the boat trip, each location will feature hands-on science activities, arts and crafts, and games. All events are from 10 am to 2 pm, include free lunch and desserts, and are free and open to the public. Some activities, including boat rides, require advance registration.
Southeastern Connecticut
Location: UConn Avery PointAddress: 1084 Shennecossett Rd, Groton, CT 06340Highlights: Boat trips with Project Oceanology, touch tanks (from Mystic Aquarium), science stations, games, art, and moreRegister here.
The Bronx
Location: SUNY Maritime Address: 6 Pennyfield Avenue, Bronx, NY 10460Highlights: Boat trip aboard Sea Lab 41, oyster exploration, art activities, raffle prizes, and more. Register here.
Nassau County
Location: The Waterfront CenterAddress: 1 West End Ave., Oyster Bay, NY 11711 Highlights: Boat rides aboard the Ida May, seining, fishing lessons, arts and crafts, morning beach cleanup, and more.Register here.
The Long Island Sound 2024 Public Perceptions Research Study was developed and conducted for Connecticut Sea Grant and the Long Island Sound Partnership to assess residents’ perceptions, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to the Sound.
This comprehensive study consisted of a representative survey of 3,709 residents of Connecticut and the portions of New York State within the Long Island Sound watershed, conducted between June and August 2024, and four focus groups held in October 2024 and January 2025 to better understand important issues that emerged from the survey. This research was developed and conducted in close collaboration with the sponsors by OpinionWorks of Annapolis, Maryland.
Taken together, these two research phases provide a thorough analysis of public perceptions of the Sound, residents’ connections to the Sound and nearby waters, and their interest in and willingness to become more engaged with both the enjoyment and the restoration of Long Island Sound.
The focus groups also provided feedback on whether to rename the program from the Long Island Sound Study. Based on this input, the program was renamed the Long Island Sound Partnership in June 2025. Because the survey and report production began before the name change, the report refers to the Long Island Sound Study rather than our new name, the Long Island Sound Partnership.
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