UConn's Long Island Sound Observatory

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With more than eight million people living in its watershed, Long Island Sound is one of the nation's preeminent urban estuaries. Long Island Sound provides the New York and New England region with an abundance of natural resources, including oysters, clams, lobsters, and a wide variety of finfish. Commercial and sport fishing, recreational boating, maritime traffic, and the coastal beaches all contribute over $5.5 billion dollars to the regional economy.

Unfortunately, Long Island Sound has historically served as the region's sewer, resulting in water quality degradation and critical habitat loss. In addition, the high concentration of development along the surrounding coastline has also prompted increased dredging for navigation, electric power transmission, and gas pipelines. Extensive wastewater treatment plant upgrades have been mandated over the past 30 years, and tighter regulations as to the positioning and timing of cable and pipeline laying operations have served to rectify some of these problems.

The goal of the Long Island Sound Integrated Coastal Observing System is the development of a sustained capability to observe the Long Island Sound ecosystem and an adequate capability to understand and predict its response to natural and anthropogenic changes.