EEA, Inc. has over thirty years of experience in addressing resource management and marine impacts of proposed major developments in the waters around New York City, Long Island, and New Jersey. 

Collecting Data on a Striped Bass

EEA has two full-sized research vessels , full service marine sampling equipment, a biological laboratory and
a qualified staff of marine biologists and technicians.
    
Dr. Roy Stoecker Aboard the R/V Cormorant


Dr. Roy Stoecker, Ph.D heads the Marine Division.   Dr. Stoecker is co-founder of the firm with over twenty five years of experience in applied marine biology.  Dr. Stoecker has managed many significant environmental studies in the fields of wetlands and marine ecology, water quality, Essential Fish Habitat (EFH), and environmental health.  Many of Dr. Stoecker's project accomplishments involve design of large scale scientific/ environmental programs, and he is well known within the regulatory, conservation, engineering and development community.
   Other Marine Division contacts:  Michelle Nannen and MaryBeth Billerman.

 

EEA has been involved in a number of very exciting projects with the marine biology division.  Here is a sample of just a few of these programs.  Check out our newsletters to learn about other exciting and innovative EEA projects.

 

Audios:
Videos:

Emptying the Trawl Net
Aging Flounder
Measuring Fish
Measuring Fish 2
Horseshoe Crab

Placing a Throw Trap
Throw Trap Sampling

Teresa Rotunno explains
throw traps:
 Why use throw traps?
What is a throw trap?
What do we learn?
Different from seining.
Baby lobster


Seining

Seining 2
Seine Booty

 

Atlantic Coast of Long Island: Fire Island Inlet to Montauk Point, NY
Client: United States Army Corps of Engineers

Catching the Sunrise Along the 
Southern Shores of Long Island

EEA, as ecological subcontractors to the joint venture URS Greiner/Moffat and Nichols, has been working on both the Fire Island Interim Plan (FIIP) and the Storm Damage Reduction Reformulation Study. Both of these projects focus on natural resource assessments for storm damage protection. Listed below are representative studies included in the overall project.Projects developed under the FIIP include an Environmental Assessment (EA) for NEPA.  The natural resources section, completed by EEA, included 
descriptions of the proposed action, alternatives to the proposed action, affected environments, and environmental consequences of the proposed action and alternatives.
 
EEA worked with USACE on the Natural Resources sections of the Draft EIS (FIIP) and the larger Reformulation Project and Cumulative Impact Analysis which spans 83 linear miles along Long Island’s south shore; in addition to a number of related ecological field studies.  EEA’s tasks are highlighted below.

 

 
Data Reports
 » West of Shinnecock Environmental Assessment Form
 » Fire Island Interim Environmental Impact Statement
 » Storm Damage Reduction Reformulation Study: Mitigation Screening
 » Data Gap Analysis/Interim Progress Memorandum

Benthic Collection aboard the R/V Kingfisher

 

 
Field Biological Studies
»Eastern Shore Zone Intertidal Benthic Invertebrate Survey
    A comparative study of beach invertebrates on the West Hampton barrier island.
»Reformulation Benthos Studies I, II, and III: Napeague toEast of Fire Island Inlet
   Survey of the infaunal environment in the proposed Borrow Areas of the Reformulation study.
»West of Shinnecock Inlet and Cherry Grove: Offshore Borrow Area Multi-Species
   Sampling
      An intensive fisheries field sampling program  requested by the NYSDEC.
»Reformulation Study: Intertidal Wetland and Estuarine Finfish Study
   A baseline survey of the backbay habitats of the Reformulation Study Area.

   

 
Ecological Mapping

»Analysis of Historic Vegetation Zonation Changes Associated with Breach and Overwash Events, Sediment, Breaching and Aerial Vegetation   A comparative examination of vegetative patterns at historic breach and overwash locations on the barrier islands.

Barrier Island View
»Mapping the Backbay Sub-Aquatic Vegetation (SAV) Beds     An aerial/GIS analysis on backbay submerged aquatic eelgrass beds and other macroalgae occurrences.

»GIS Biological Data Input
A comparative analysis of the sites using a Geographic Information System (GIS) database.

»Survey of Backbay Benthic Habitats     Anaysis of the backbay habitat of Pike’s Beach using a state-of-the-art acoustical profiling technique known as RoxAnn.  RoxAnn recorded bathymetry, sediment types, macrobenthic invertebrates, and re-establishment of SAV’s into areas disturbed by the breach/closure activities.

 

Use and Standards Attainment Project
Client: City of New York Department of Environmental Protection

 In order to evaluate the potential for New York Harbor waters to support recreation, fish survival and fish propagation, a variety of ecological studies were performed by EEA, as subcontractors to HydroQual, Inc., at twenty-three waterbodies over a four-year period.  An extensive fisheries sampling program was performed which involved otter trawl, gill net, killipots and ichthyoplankton sampling.  Benthic grabs were collected to identify infaunal assemblages.  Artificial panels were deployed and retrieved in order to characterize the epifaunal community structure.  In addition, an intensive Quality Assurance/Quality Control program was performed.  EEA assisted in the development of the QA/QC plan, as well as Field Sampling and Analysis Program (FSAP) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) manuals.

 

Eelgrass Habitat Criteria Studies in the Peconic Estuary
Client: Suffolk County Department of Health Services

EEA conductedthis study June 1997 through September of 1998.  The Eelgrass Habitat Criteria Study was composed of five  areas: (1) water quality analysis; (2) sediment chemistry; (3) hydrodynamic processes; (4) eelgrass transplantation; and (5) eelgrass monitoring.  The ultimate goal was to determine a set of criteria that may be used as a guideline for future eelgrass transplant locations with optimal restoration conditions.  Recommendations were made for future management goals regarding nutrient loading and priority studies.  EEA supervised an intensive transplantation and monitoring program during the 1998 growing season in the Town of East Hampton and in the near shore environment off  Robin's Island.  Fifteen locations were monitored within the Peconic Estuary represented by a myriad of eelgrass conditions, including areas supporting lush, transitional, and stressed eelgrass beds as well as areas that lack eelgrass entirely.

 


Eelgrass Collection in the Peconics

Tidal Creek Characterization Study in the Peconic Estuary
Client: Suffolk County Department of Health Services

EEA designed a study to characterize and compare ten tidal creeks within the Peconic Estuary over several seasons by collecting natural resources and land-use data.  The primary goal of the study was to understand the relationship between nutrient inputs, primary productivity, and surrounding land-uses. Bathymetric surveys were conducted for each of the tidal creeks in the spring of 1998 by using an echo sounder supported by a digital translator for GIS mapping.  A ranking model was developed for comparing each creek's ecological, geophysical, hydrological and land-use components.

Marine Division contacts:  Michelle Nannen and MaryBeth Billerman