Great South Bay is a lagoon

Lagoon

A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...

 situated between Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

 and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is approximately 45 miles (72.4 km) long. It's protected from the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 by Fire Island

Fire Island, New York

Fire Island is one of the outer barrier islands adjacent to the south shore of Long Island, New York. It is approximately long and varies between broad. Fire Island is part of Suffolk County. It comprises a number of hamlets, census-designated places , and villages, all of which lie within the...

, a barrier island

Barrier island

Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...

, as well as the eastern end of Jones Beach Island

Jones Beach Island

Jones Beach Island is one of the outer barrier islands off the southern coast of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York. It is named for the father of Thomas Jones. It is sometimes referred to as Oak Beach Island, and the former home of the infamous Oak Beach Inn. It is separated from Long...

 and Captree Island.

Robert Moses Causeway

Robert Moses Causeway

The Robert Moses Causeway is an long parkway in Suffolk County, New York. The parkway, originally known as the Captree Causeway, connects West Islip on Long Island to the barrier beach islands, such as Captree Island, Jones Beach Island, and the western tip of Fire Island, to the south. It is...

 adjoins the Great South Bay Bridge

Great South Bay Bridge

Great South Bay Bridge is a bridge connecting the Robert Moses Causeway from Long Island's mainland over the Great South Bay, connecting to both Captree and Jones Beach Islands on the southwest central side of Long Island New York....

, which leads to Robert Moses State Park

Robert Moses State Park (Long Island)

Robert Moses State Park - Long Island is a state park that is located in the state of New York.The park lies in southern Suffolk County on the western end of Fire Island, one of the central barrier Islands off the southern coast of Long Island...

.

The bay is accessible from the ocean through Fire Island Inlet

Fire Island Inlet

Fire Island Inlet is an inlet on the south shore of Long Island, New York, USA.It connects the Great South Bay with the Atlantic Ocean, passing between Robert Moses State Park on the south and Oak Beach and Captree State Park on the north.The inlet is directly south of West Islip, the nearest...

, which lies between the western tip of Fire Island and the eastern tip of Jones Beach Island.
The bay adjoins South Oyster Bay

South Oyster Bay

South Oyster Bay is a natural harbor along the western portion of the south shore of Long Island in New York in the United States. The harbor is formed by Jones Beach Island, a barrier island on the southern side of Long Island. It is approximately 3 mi wide between the two islands, and...

 on its western end and Patchogue

Patchogue Bay

Patchogue Bay is a bay on the south-central shores of Long Island in the U.S. state of New York.Part of the Great South Bay, Patchogue Bay is a cove between the points of land known as Blue Point and Howells Point, and across which ferries run south to Fire Island.The Patchogue Bay bay bottom up to...

 and Moriches Bay

Moriches Bay

Moriches Bay a lagoon system on the south shore of Long Island. The name Moriches comes from Meritces, a Native American who owned land on Moriches Neck.Two Townships both Brookhaven and the Southampton share Its shoreline in Suffolk New York....

s at the east end.

In the early 17th century, European settlers first encountered the native Meroke tribes. Among the earliest British families were the Smith, Carman and Hewlett families

Rapid population growth on the northern shore of the bay has made it a popular destination for yacht

Yacht

A yacht is a recreational boat or ship. The term originated from the Dutch Jacht meaning "hunt". It was originally defined as a light fast sailing vessel used by the Dutch navy to pursue pirates and other transgressors around and into the shallow waters of the Low Countries...

s and other pleasure craft. During spring and summer, Great South Bay is a popular area for boating and fishing.

Environmental concerns

The rapid population growth

Population growth

Population growth is the change in a population over time, and can be quantified as the change in the number of individuals of any species in a population using "per unit time" for measurement....

 around the shores of Great South Bay has led to numerous environmental problems. Eel grass beds, an important habitat for many fish species, have been lost from the western reaches of Great South Bay, in particular where the waste water treatment plants of the western communities pollute the bay. In the mid-bay and eastern part of the bay, storm water runoff, which contains pollutants and excess nitrogen

Nitrogen

Nitrogen is a chemical element that has the symbol N, atomic number of 7 and atomic mass 14.00674 u. Elemental nitrogen is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, and mostly inert diatomic gas at standard conditions, constituting 78.08% by volume of Earth's atmosphere...

 from fertilized lawns and inefficient septic

Septic

Septic may refer to:* Septic tank, a component of a small scale sewage disposal system* Septic equation, a polynomial equation of degree seven* Septic shock...

 systems, has led to increases in algae and other pollution-related issues.

In the late nineteenth century Great South Bay provided many of the clams

CLaMS

CLaMS is a modular chemistry transport model system developed at Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. CLaMS was first described by McKenna et al. and was expanded into three dimensions by Konopka et al....

 consumed throughout the region and even the country. The first oysters to be exported from the US to Europe came from Great South Bay. By the latter 20th century, a significant percentage of the habitat was lost and the clam population was dramatically reduced, devastating the neighboring communities that depended on it. In the 19th century thousands of baymen worked the waters of Great South Bay. Now, only a scant few can be seen.

External links

• Back To Baysics - Environmental awareness campaign in efforts to making our Great South Bay great again.