Is Science Properly Informing Decision-Making for Public Investments for Nutrient Control in the NY Bight Region?

The purpose of this two-day workshop is to bring together scientists and managers to discuss the important issues surrounding nitrogen and nitrogen controls in the New York Bight and associated estuaries from Barnegat Bay in New Jersey to Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts.  Anthropogenic nitrogen is a major cause of coastal water quality degradation but nitrogen control is expensive and has had limited success to date.  The workshop results and report will be incorporated into the planning process of the New York Bight Regional Ocean Science Council as it develops plans for ecosystem-based management in this region.  

Over the last 50 years the Bight and especially these estuaries have experienced varying degrees of human impact particularly from anthropogenic nitrogen (N), with most exhibiting evidence of eutrophication.  A good example is the seasonal hypoxia in western Long Island Sound.  This entire region is subject to significant atmospheric N loadings due to the prevailing winds from the Midwest.  Major additional N sources, particularly in the region’s urban and suburban areas around come from sewage treatment plants and stormwater runoff.  Fertilizer runoff from suburban development and agriculture is also important in some locations (e.g. Barnegat Bay).  N controls have been adopted in most cases, at great public expense and with limited results.  In addition, there is controversy over the role of climate change on some of the eastern estuaries such as Peconic and Narragansett Bays where warming has caused surprising shifts in the nitrogen cycle so that some scientists and stakeholders think that nitrogen controls have already gone too far.

Dates: 

• July 7  10 AM-5 PM
  
  
• July 8    9 AM-3 PM

Location: 

Stony Brook Manhattan
401 Park Avenue South, 2nd Floor
New York, NY 10016