Patchogue Bay

Patchogue Bay is a lagoon 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 the barrier beach, is owned by Brookhaven town because of a grant from the King of Britain long before the existence of the USA. It has been repeatedly adjudicated that the grant in the Dongan patent (Brookhaven Town, 1686) is valid.

However, since 1968, the Federal Government has been attempting to take title of and claim, by adverse possession, of the bay bottom of both Islip and Brookhaven Towns, extending outward from the barrier beach. It (the Federal Government) has repeated published intentionally erroneous maps (as the one below) showing boundaries of the Fire Island Seashore extending out into the bay when the real boundary is the shoreline of the barrier beach.

A number of habitats make up the bay bottom; the dominant eelgrass Benthic habitat in the cove's of Patchogue Bay which can be classified as muddy sandflat and sandflat habitats. Many species that are found in both habitats. Sandy bottom types worms, slipper shell, and blue mussel, and mud crab. Atlantic oyster dril, a predator of bivalves, is abundant in eelgrass beds in Patchogue and Bellport Bay, and rock crab. The distribution and abundance of benthic species in the bay's eelgrass community is likely controlled by a number of factors that include eelgrass stem density, water temperature and salinity, sediment type, predation, food supply, and human harvest. Much of the bay is open water, while marshes and flats have developed on the protected northern edge of the barrier beach that shelters Patchogue Bay and the mainland from the Atlantic Ocean. Extensive tidal marshes and flats have developed on the bay side of Fire Island as well. Eelgrass beds are concentrated in the shallow waters along the back side of Fire Island, Silversides, killifish, menhaden, and bay anchovy. Forage fish species are found throughout the various aquatic habitats in the bay at different times of the year. Atlantic silverside, the most dominant member through much of the year, in most of the bay. Bay anchovy is the major mid-bay water column occupant in the summer during its spawning time in late June and July. Killifishes include mummichog in the salt marsh habitats, striped killifish over sandy habitat, and sheepshead minnow in both habitats. Sticklebacks, including fourspine and threespine, are spring and summer spawners associated with submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV); although they are very abundant, their use as prey for other fish and birds is limited due to spines, body armor, and close association with vegetative cover. Northern pipefish s) is a zooplankton consumer preyed upon by both striped bass and summer flounder. American sandlance, probably the most abundant winter species, provides important forage for many species of special emphasis in the Bight. Summer flounder enter the bay in winter and spring and grow rapidly in the productive waters. The bay supports significant shellfishery for northern quahog and is a major spawning, nursery, and foraging area for blue crab.

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