DESCRIPTION: This navigation asset is located on the north shore of the south fork of the eastern end of Long Island in the Town of East Hampton, Suffolk County, NY, approximately 125 miles by water east of the Battery, New York City; and provides for a channel, 12 feet deep at mean low water (MLW), 150 feet wide, extending from the 12 feet contour in Block Island Sound to the same depth in the existing boat basin east of Star Island; a boat basin 10 feet deep, 400 feet wide and 900 feet long, located northwest of Star Island; repair and extension shoreward of the east and west jetties; and addition of sports fishing facilities on the top of both jetties. The total length of the channel is about 0.7 miles.
AUTHORIZATION: Rivers and Harbors Act of 1945 (P.L. 79-14).
COMMERCE: This asset serves as a Critical Harbor of Refuge during severe storms, and supports U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) Station Montauk, NY Search & Rescue (SAR) missions. The harbor is also homeport to approximately 45 commercial fishing vessels, and supports approximately 10 million pounds of commercial fish landings valued at an estimated $19.4 million, interstate ferry services, and numerous commercial marinas.
BACKGROUND: This asset was last maintenance dredged by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) in February 2025, when a USACE Government Dredge removed approximately 10,000 cubic yards (CY) of dredged sand from the inlet entrance to the harbor, with beneficial use of that sand at a NY State-approved nearshore placement location, just downdrift, and west of the west jetty, as an emergency response to shoaling conditions reported in January 2025 by USCG and the homeport commercial fishing fleet. Prior to that, the channel was maintenance dredged by USACE in Fiscal Year (FY) 2019, when approximately 37,000 CY of dredged sand was removed from the inlet and beneficially used along the adjacent shoreline, west of the west jetty. During FY1996, an east jetty rehabilitation project was completed.
STATUS: Dredging is next expected for late 2025 with construction-phase work to deepen this Federal Navigation Channel, as part of a separate Lake Montauk Harbor, NY Navigation Improvement Project (See also: https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Media/Fact-Sheets/Fact-Sheet-Article-View/Article/487490/fact-sheet-lake-montauk-harbor-navigation-improvement-project-ny/). Production of an annual hydrographic channel condition survey, and publication of a controlling depth report on the District’s website (https://www.nan.usace.army.mil/Missions/Navigation/Controlling-Depth-Reports/) is scheduled for FY2025.
CONTACT:
Alexander F. Gregory
Project Manager
P: (917) 790-8427
Email: alexander.f.gregory@usace.army.mil
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New York District
26 Federal Plaza
New York, NY 10278
http://www.nan.usace.army.mil
District Area: NY # 1