The Peconic Bay is the parent name for two bays between the North Fork and South Fork of Long Island in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

of New York. It is separated from

Gardiners Bay Gardiners Bay is a small arm of the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 10 mi (16 km) long and 8 mi (13 km) wide in the U.S. state of New York between the two flukelike peninsulas at the eastern end of Long Island. It is bounded o ...

by Shelter Island. Peconic Bay is divided by Robins Island into the Great Peconic Bay on the west and Little Peconic Bay on the east. The west end of Great Peconic Bay is also called Flanders Bay. Great Peconic is a shallow bay, less than deep, while Little Peconic reaches depths of over . The

Shinnecock Canal The Shinnecock Canal (also known as the Shinnecock and Peconic Canal) is a canal that cuts across the South Fork at Hampton Bays, New York. At long, it connects Great Peconic Bay and the north fork of Long Island with Shinnecock Bay and the A ...

provides access from the Great Peconic Bay to Shinnecock Bay. The two Peconic Bays are often collectively referred to as "the Peconics". The Peconics are a

tidal estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environment ...

system fed at the western end by the

Peconic River The Peconic River is a river within Suffolk County on Long Island, New York.brackish water Brackish water, sometimes termed brack water, is water occurring in a natural environment that has more salinity than freshwater, but not as much as seawater. It may result from mixing seawater (salt water) and fresh water together, as in estuari ...

to the system are Meeting House Creek, Brushes Creek, James Creek, and Deep Hole Creek on the North Fork. These and others bring lesser salinity to the water compared to the Atlantic Ocean. For that reason, the clams, oysters and bay scallops were numerous for generations since they require brackish water and the bountiful phyto and

zooplankton Zooplankton are the animal component of the planktonic community ("zoo" comes from the Greek word for ''animal''). Plankton are aquatic organisms that are unable to swim effectively against currents, and consequently drift or are carried along by ...

which give the system its first tier of life. Reseeding of shellfish in 2005 and 2006 and leasing of the bottom to commercial farmers for clams and oysters have given rise to hope for the ecosystem. The winter flounder fishing usually caught in the spring has all but collapsed, but fluke (summer flounder),

bluefish The bluefish (''Pomatomus saltatrix'') is the only extant species of the family Pomatomidae. It is a marine pelagic fish found around the world in temperate and subtropical waters, except for the northern Pacific Ocean. Bluefish are known as ta ...

, porgy (scup) and some northern

weakfish The weakfish, ''Cynoscion regalis'', is a marine fish of the drum family Sciaenidae. A medium-large, slender, marine fish, it is found along the east coast of North America. The head and back of this fish are dark brown in color with a greenish ...

are to be found, using clams, squid and spearing for bait. Snappers (young spawned bluefish of the year) give youngsters a real thrill in late summer. August is a time of blue claw crabbing and recent catches 2006 and 2007 in the inlets and creeks have been bountiful. A boaters' paradise for its calm waters in summer and fresh sou'westers in late afternoon for sailing has become a popular vacation spot for New Yorkers and East coasters. Peconic Bay gives its name to the proposed Peconic County, New York, which would comprise the eastern portion of existing Suffolk County that surrounds Peconic Bay. While this movement to split Suffolk County along economic lines (the Western portion is more suburban in character, while the Eastern portion is more rural) has a long history, it has not been active since 1998.

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{{Commons category
Peconic Bay Anglers
A fishing club dedicated to anglers of the Peconic Bays and surrounding waters.

Nautical chart of Great Peconic Bay
Bays of New York (state) Riverhead (town), New York Shelter Island (town), New York Southampton (town), New York Southold, New York Bays of Suffolk County, New York

See also

References

External links