Outreach by, and outcomes of, the Stony Brook - Southampton Coastal and Estuarine Research Program (SCERP)

Since a major objective of SCERP is to conduct research which will improve the health of, and services provided by, coastal ecosystems, SCERP has formed a series of partnerships with government and non-government organizations. These have included the Peconic Estuary Program, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, The Nature Conservancy, Suffolk County, the Town of Southampton, the Village of Southampton, the Town of Brookhaven, the Peconic Bay Keeper, Atlantis Marine World, Save the Forge, Lake Agawam Conservation Association, Mill Pond Conservation Association, Little Fresh Pond Citizen's Group, Plum TV, and more. These partnerships have lead to both major and minor policy changes from placement of estuaries on New York State's impaired water bodies list, to closure of lakes contaminated with cyanotoxins, to the development of management strategies to improve coastal water quality. Finally, research conducted by SCERP has been published in many of the world's top, international, peer-reviewed journals such as Marine Ecology Progress Series and Harmful Algae.