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Aquaculture Lease Board

The Aquaculture Lease Board (ALB) is the entity responsible for determining which proposed lease sites shall be available for leasing under a given application cycle. Lease Applicant eligibility shall be determined by Department staff and shall be based on the criteria outlined in Section 3.1 of the Revised Administrative Guidance document.

Pursuant to Local Law Number 9-2021 (Chapter 475-18, Article II of the Suffolk County Code), the ALB shall be comprise of nine board members. The Commissioner of the Department of Economic Development and Planning (or their designee) shall act as Chairperson, the Director of the Division of Planning and Environment in the Department of Economic Development and Planning, and the Commissioner of the Department of Health Services, or their designees, will also serve on the ALB. The County Executive shall designate a representative from the Towns of East Hampton, Riverhead, Shelter Island, Southampton, and Southold; of these representatives, at least one and no more than two shall be a member of the following user groups: the shellfishing industry, member of a recreational boating organization, and commercial harvester/baymen. The County Executive shall also designate one representative from a marine organization that works in the Peconic Estuary to be part of the ALB.

Current Aquaculture Lease Board Members:

Name Representing
Sarah Lansdale Commissioner of Economic Development and Planning, Chair
Matthew Kapell Director of Planning SC Division of Planning and Environment, Designee
Michael Jensen Commissoner of Dept Health Services, Designee
John Dunne Town of East Hampton - Shellfish Industry
David Lessard Town of Riverhead - Recreational Boating
Joseph Finora Town of Shelter Island - Shellfishing Industry
Edward J. Warner Jr. Town of Southampton - Commercial Harvestor/Baymen
Gregory Cukor Town of Southold - Recreational Boating
Stephen Schott Peconic Estuary Marine Organization - Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County

The ALB shall conduct meetings as necessary to provide an opportunity for oral and written testimony or evidence concerning each proposed lease site. All written comments received during a Lease Application Cycle’s 60-day public comment period shall be presented during the ALB meeting. The ALB shall make its decision, based on a regional environmental perspective and Division staff commentary. The ALB will act on by a majority vote to either approve or disapprove each of the lease sites that were proposed under a given Lease Application Cycle. The ALB shall keep minutes of its proceedings, and may establish its own meeting procedures.

Please be advised that determinations made by the ALB to disapprove a lease site(s) during a given lease application cycle does not eliminate the respective lease site(s) from the adopted Shellfish Cultivation Zone (Map 1) or Aquaculture Lease Sites (Map 2) maps. This determination is effective for that year.

Below is a record of all previous ALB determinations; please note that as a result of the Ten Year Review some of the lease sites previously approved or disapproved by the ALB may no longer appear on the Revised Lease Program Maps 1 and Map 2.


Previous Aquaculture Lease Board Decisions

2023 Lease Application Cycle

2022 Lease Application Cycle

2021 Lease Site Relocation

2018 Lease Application Cycle

2017 Lease Application Cycle

2016 Lease Application Cycle

2015 Lease Application Cycle

2013/2014 Lease Application Cycle

2012 Lease Application Cycle

Lease Application Cycle #3

Lease Application Cycle #2

Lease Application Cycle #1

Suffolk County Government

H. Lee Dennison Bldg

100 Veterans Memorial Hwy
P.O. Box 6100
Hauppauge, NY 11788

Riverhead County Center

County Road 51
Riverhead, NY 11901