About The Henry L. Ferguson Museum

Since its inception in 1960, the Ferguson Museum has worked to protect habitat for the flora and fauna of Fishers Island, New York. Today, the Museum serves as an anchor institution in the island’s community. Building upon the foundation of these two roles, the Ferguson Museum is working to bring the Fishers Island community together to protect and manage its unique seagrass ecosystem, a threatened but enduring and ecologically significant common-trust natural resource essential to sustaining marine biodiversity, and the livelihood and well-being of all islanders. The Museum has protected habitat through its growing Land Trust, its natural history exhibits, and its environmental education programs. Now, the Museum is furthering its conservation mission by promoting and facilitating community education and engagement in eelgrass habitats around Fishers Island.

Why Work here

Fishers Island Seagrass Management (FISM) Coalition

The FISM Coalition is comprised of community representatives from Fishers Island institutions, including the H.L. Ferguson Museum, Fishers Island Conservancy, Town of Southold, Island Community Board, Fishers Island Development Corporation, Fishers Island Club, Hay Harbor Club, Fishers Island Yacht Club, Harbor Committee, Fishers Island School, Pirates Cove Marina, and Fishers Island Ferry District, as well as from the following groups: commercial and recreational fishing, aquaculture, contracted ferries, landscapers, and divers.

Eelgrass preservation and education are part of a larger strategy to conserve Long Island Sound, as outlined in the Long Island Sound Study’s Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan. The FISM Coalition passed a Plan for Outreach and Engagement in August of 2022. This year, we are launching a Save Our Seagrass (S.O.S) educational movement to empower residents of Fishers Island Sound to protect eelgrass for their own benefit and for the benefit of their families. For this phase of the project, there are two initiatives the Coalition is focusing on: educate and promote the reduction of fertilizer to prevent eutrophication around Fishers Island and educate and engage boaters of Fishers Island about the damage caused by boats and the ramifications of those damages.