Long Island Sound: The Inland Sea
Tom Andersen
THIS FINE PIECE OF WATER
An Environmental History of Long Island Sound
New Haven, Yale University Press, 2002
A celebration of Long Island Sound was the programming theme at the Custom House Maritime Museum in 2014. The great estuary was first mapped by Adriaen Block 400 years ago; author Andersen, who spoke about the Dutch explorer at the Maritime Society's annual meeting, is associated with the advocacy group Save the Sound. His book traces the impact of humankind on these waters from earliest times to the alarming 1987 discovery of hypoxia (oxygen depletion) that was soon identified as the reason for fish kills and the lobster and oyster die-off. Once the problem was identified, the slow restoration of the health of the Sound began on many fronts, and continues today. This book still resounds as a call to vigilance by all who value these scenic waters as an indispensable commercial and recreational waterway and a rich source of food. Chapters on the prehistoric origins of the Sound and Adriaen Block's 17th century explorations provide a fascinating backdrop to the later story.
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James S. Latimer, Mark A. Tedesco, R. Lawrence Swanson, Charles Yarish, Paul E. Stacey, Corey Garza, editors
LONG ISLAND SOUND: PROSPECTS FOR THE URBAN SEA
New York, Springer, 2014
This is a landmark in the recorded history of Long Island Sound. While trying to locate a copy of an earlier study, The Urban Sea (1976), we happened on this brand new title, snapping it up despite the hefty cost typical of science books. Chapters describe the Sound's human history, geology, oceanography, geochemistry, pollutant history, biology and ecology in order to provide "a firmer foundation for improving ecosystem-based management of the Sound -- particularly as we confront climate change." The material on oceanography and geochemistry is technical, but a useful summary of the socioeconomic history of the Sound ("transportation," "industrialization," "fishing," etc.) is wholly accessible, while chapters on geology, biology and ecology will reward the diligent lay reader.
Fifty-seven researchers and educators contributed to the effort, sixteen of them associated with programs at two nearby institutions: the University of Connecticut at Avery Point, Groton, and Mystic Seaport. The editors hail from Environmental Protection Agency offices at Narragansett, RI and Stamford, CT; and from SUNY Stony Brook, NY; the New Hampshire Fish and Game Dept.; and California State University/Monterey Bay.
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Ruth Ann Bramson, Geoffrey K. Fleming, and Amy Kasuga Folk
A WORLD UNTO ITSELF: THE REMARKABLE HISTORY OF PLUM ISLAND, NEW YORK
Southold, NY. Southold Historical Society, 2014
The authors begin with the early history of this small island near the north shore of Long Island, when Native Americans fished there and grew corn, continuing through the colonial era, the wars of independence, and the installations established there in modern times: the U.S. Army's Fort Terry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal Disease Laboratory, opened in 1956 to address the scourge of Foot and Mouth Disease. New London is never very far away in this outstanding work of local history: its ferries to and from Long Island pass Plum Island several times daily, and the index contains over sixty references to "New London," "Thames River," "Groton," and other Connecticut localities.
Ever since the government announced its intention to move the Animal Disease Laboratory to Kansas the future of the island has hung in the balance - between being sold for development or preserved as a wildlife refuge, as long demanded by environmentalists and preservationists. When this Book of the Month was first published the fate of Plum Island had not been decided, but in December, 2020, Congress included a stipulation in the COVID-19 Relief Bill that the island could not be put up for auction and the wild areas will continue as habitat for several species of endangered wildlife.