United States
                      Environmental Protection
                      Agency
                                               Office of Research and
                                               Development
                                               Washington DC 20460
             EPA/620/R-00/005r
                 January, 2001
 &EFW    Coastal  Communications
                         NATIONAL COASTAL ASSESSMENT
                      COASTAL 2000 - LONG ISLAND SOUND
                      ORD/REGIONS 1 <& 2/OW/LISS/CT DEP/NY DEC
                                               NY
                                                         Long Island Sound
                                                           Coasial 2000 Design
                                                       Sampling
                                                       Sites
                                                                                    Rl
Background
The U.S. EPA's National Coastal Assessment (also
known as Coastal 2000) consists of a multi-year
partnership among EPA's Office of Research and
Development (ORD), EPA's Office of Water (OW),
EPA's Regional Offices, all the coastal states, and
selected territories.  As part of this effort, EPA
has developed a coastal monitoring program with
EPA Regions I and II, Long Island Sound Study
(LISS) Office, the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection (CT DEP), and New York
Department of Environmental Conservation (NY
DEC). This joint effort will determine the condition
of Long Island Sound, and it will compare this
condition with other U.S. coastal areas. This effort
is being coordinated by the National Health and
Environmental Effects Research Laboratory's
Atlantic Ecology Division in Narragansett, Rhode Island.

Coastal 2000 Strategy
Coastal 2000  is a strategic partnership between EPA and the coastal states and other federal agencies.
Each state uses a compatible probabilistic design and a common set of environmental indicators (see
Table below) to independently survey its coastal resources and assess their condition.  These estimates
can then be aggregated to assess conditions at the EPA Regional, biogeographical, and National levels.
All data will be made available for public access on the Internet. The map shows the coastal areas
included in the survey and the number of sampling sites intended for Long Island Sound.  Elements of
the existing CT DEP/LISS  Long Island Sound Ambient Water Quality Monitoring Program have been
integrated with the Coastal 2000 activities.
         Water Quality
                                    Sediment Quality
           Biota
 dissolved oxygen
 Salinity, temperature, depth
 pH
 Nutrients
 Chlorophyll
                              Grain size
                              Total organic carbon
                              Sediment chemistry
                              Benthic community structure
                              Sediment toxicity
Benthic community structure
Fish community structure
Fish external pathology
Fish tissue chemical analyses
Further Information
For further information, please contact Christine Olsen at the Connecticut Department of
Environmental Protection at (860) 424-3727 or Christine.olsen@po.state.ct.us   ; or Karen Chytalo, at
New York Department of Environmental Conservation (631) 444-0430 or kchytal@gw.dec.state.ny.us
; or Mark Tedesco at the Long Island Sound Office at (203) 977-1541 or tedesco.mark@epa.gov  ; or
John Paul at the National Health and Environmental Effects Laboratory's Atlantic Ecology Division at
(401) 782-3037 or paul.john@epa.gov .

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