Coast Guard cuts spark safety, security concerns for Long Island waters
"When we respond now to May Days or any medical emergencies, we assume that Coast Guard will not be responding," said Fred Uvena, senior harbor master for the Town of Huntington. Credit: Rick Kopstein
A Coast Guard shortfall of 3,000 service members nationwide, fueled by a lack of new recruits, has led to fewer guardsmen at three Long Island stations and concerns about boater safety.
Since the U.S. Coast Guard announced staff reductions in October, the number of guardsmen at the Eatons Neck station has shrunk from 30 to 11.
Eatons Neck now has guardsmen on duty about 40 hours a week, said Lt. Junior Grade Hunter Medley, a public affairs officer for the Coast Guard’s New Haven sector, which oversees most of Long Island. Before the cutbacks, Coast Guard personnel staffed the station 24 hours a day.
There have been similar reductions at stations at Jones Beach and Kings Point. The shortage has not affected stations at Fire Island, Montauk and Shinnecock, which remain on a 24/7 basis.
The Coast Guard says it is doing what it can to address the recruiting shortage, but that it is a problem affecting all branches of the military. In fiscal year 2023, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force all fell short of their recruiting goals, said Sydney Phoenix, a public affairs specialist for the Coast Guard in New York.
"Today, we are competing for talent in an increasingly competitive job market where fewer young people are familiar with the intricacies and benefits of military service," Phoenix said.
But recruiting numbers are still trending the right direction for the first time in years, the Coast Guard said.
There's a chance the Guard will meet its annual recruiting goal of 4,200 in fiscal 2024 — marking the first time it has done so since 2017, she said.
In the Town of Huntington, where an estimated 6,000 recreational boaters on Long Island Sound and beyond use the harbor as a base of operations, harbor officials and other Long Island boating advocates said effects of the shortages have been noticeable this summer.
Off the Jones Inlet in late July, the staffing cuts pressed pleasure boaters and local marine officials into action. Together, they rescued 12 people from a partially submerged boat before the Coast Guard could arrive.
"We can’t rely on them anymore. And come fall it could even get worse," said Fred Uvena, the Town of Huntington's senior harbormaster. "We are feeling the impact [that] there isn’t Coast Guard out there."
The shortage comes amid a pandemic bounce for recreational boating in the waters off Huntington and elsewhere on the Island. As a result, people with more time to kill than relevant experience have taken to the water not just in powerboats. Kayaks and paddleboards, less expensive than powerboats and seemingly easier to operate, also have grown in popularity.
"What people don’t understand," Uvena said, "is the wind and the tide and how ferocious these waters can be."
When an inexperienced kayaker or paddleboarder gets in a jam on the water, the harbormaster said, "They can be sucked out into the Sound."
Nationwide, recreational boating increased annual economic activity by 35% between 2018 and 2023, a jump from $170 billion to $230 billion, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
Locally, the number of boat moorings in the Town of Huntington have jumped from about 1,100 before the COVID pandemic to about 1,600 now, Uvena said. The number of registered kayaks at public beaches in Huntington has increased from about 700 to 1,100, he said.
In recent months, Uvena's harbormasters have responded to calls of kayakers overboard as well as a sinking powerboat. In the past, the guardsmen at Eatons Neck would have been involved in the rescues, but now they often are not.
"When we respond now to maydays or any medical emergencies," Uvena added, "we assume that [the] Coast Guard will not be responding."
The problem was underscored July 27 when a recreational power boat partially filled with water in Jones Inlet. Twelve people were rescued by local marine officials, including from the Town of Hempstead and the Nassau County Police Department. By the time the Coast Guard arrived, the rescue operation was over, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, announced the reductions last October as part of a pilot program aimed at maintaining adequate levels of service while wrestling with a 3,000-person shortage.
"The Coast Guard cannot maintain the same level of operations with our current shortfall — we cannot do the same with less," Fagan said at the time in a statement. "Conducting our missions is often inherently dangerous, and doing so without enough crew puts our members and the American public at increased risk."
Reasons for the drop-off also include low wages, according to some boating advocates. An E-1 Seaman, for instance, a low-level position, living on Long Island could earn $64,433.40 a year, including a housing allowance, according to Coast Guard documents. Other more senior positions pay beyond $100,000.
Currently, the Coast Guard has 57,000 active duty, reserve and civilian personnel, but approximately 3,000 vacancies in "critical enlisted ranks," Medley, of the New Haven sector, said. That translates into an overall 10% shortfall in personnel.
And with summer's end less than two months away, boating officials and advocates said, the effects of that shortfall would only grow as the number of patrol or rescue boats, operated mostly by municipalities, police, or fire departments, drop as expected.
Uvena said he may ask the Town of Huntington for more personnel starting in the fall to help compensate for the Coast Guard shortage. The Suffolk County Police Department declined to say if it would increase personnel. Nassau County police did not respond to a request for comment.
The Town of Hempstead said "the U.S. Coast Guard cutbacks have undoubtedly had an effect," and that the town's 12 bay constables "continue to work around the clock to keep boaters in our waters safe." The town did not say if it would increase marine personnel in the fall.
The Town of Islip said it will continue to have boats in the water this fall, but did not say if it will increase the numbers.
"I think it’s awful, horrendous," Pamela Setchell, president of the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society and a longtime boater, said of the Coast Guard reductions.
"It’s scary. It’s very scary . . . This is an island, it’s 150 miles long. We’re surrounded by water last I checked," Setchell said. "Someone is making decisions here that is not familiar with the geography and the needs."
Medley, in response, said the Coast Guard will continue to meet its obligations despite the shortages.
Under the new pilot program, if a station, such as Eatons Neck, cannot conduct a mission because personnel are off, Medley said, another station that is staffed 24/7 will fill in. Still, Uvena said, that can often mean a boat must be called in from New Haven, about an hour across the Sound.
"You get that Golden Hour — time is of the essence when it comes to emergencies," he said. "You need to have people on the scene."
The Long Island sector encompasses 23,600 square miles with 450 miles of coastline, Medley said. The staff includes 500 active duty; 200 reserve; 16 civilians; and more than 1,300 auxiliary members. The Coast Guard did not immediately provide previous numbers for comparison.
Major functions of the Coast Guard include search and rescue missions, along with maritime law enforcement.
In 2023, the Coast Guard carried out 345 search and rescue missions on Long Island, or about one every day, Medley said. Numbers for 2024 were not available.
Of concerns raised by Setchell, Uvena and others over the reductions?
"We’re aware," Medley said in an interview. "We’ve addressed their concerns" as best as possible.
In a statement, he said: "The public may see a lessened Coast Guard presence on the water from time to time, but we continue to stand ready to respond, and the public will see no changes to our search and rescue, and law enforcement action . . . We will meet our statutory mission requirements."
Phoenix said the Coast Guard will do so in part by bringing in personnel from stations also including Sandy Hook and New York. The 140-foot icebreaking tug Sturgeon Bay based in Bayonne, New Jersey, is also available, along with other vessels.
Medley added that the Coast Guard "expects a larger workforce shortage next summer, and it is critical we take steps to maximize operational readiness and minimize unpredictability."
Efforts are underway to improve recruitment and retainment, but it’s unclear when or if they will prove successful.
The Coast Guard opened seven new recruiting offices in fiscal year 2023 and plans to open another six in fiscal year 2024, Phoenix said. It also will add 14 locations where recruiters work remotely online, over the phone or attending events.
"This expansion enables the Coast Guard to reach new and untapped markets," Phoenix said.
The Coast Guard in 2022 raised the maximum age limit for enlistment from 35 to 42. It also raised the maximum debt-to-income ratio from 30% to 80% for enlisted personnel, meaning that applicants with relatively high debt can now join. It also dropped a rule prohibiting single parents from enlisting.
Setchell said decreasing the Coast Guard presence on Long Island makes even less sense when considering New York City "as the bull's-eye" for terrorists.
It is "not the place to be cutting back," she said. "If anything," the Coast Guard's Long Island presence "should be enhanced."
Uvena said the situation this summer was less severe, since so many local governments, fire departments, police departments and other entities have patrol and rescue boats on the water or are standing by. But when the weather turns cool and then cold, with far fewer safety vessels available, "It gets dicey for us," he said.
From May 31 to Oct. 15, his team includes five full-time harbormasters and 14 part-timers. Personnel are on duty 20 hours a day.
But by mid-October, the part-timers will leave, and harbormasters will be on duty only from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
"We’re all in this together," Uvena said, stressing that he greatly respects the Coast Guard. But "where’s the future taking us? Are they going to close the station? Are they going to cut down to only maybe somebody there just as a watchman?"
A Coast Guard shortfall of 3,000 service members nationwide, fueled by a lack of new recruits, has led to fewer guardsmen at three Long Island stations and concerns about boater safety.
Since the U.S. Coast Guard announced staff reductions in October, the number of guardsmen at the Eatons Neck station has shrunk from 30 to 11.
Eatons Neck now has guardsmen on duty about 40 hours a week, said Lt. Junior Grade Hunter Medley, a public affairs officer for the Coast Guard’s New Haven sector, which oversees most of Long Island. Before the cutbacks, Coast Guard personnel staffed the station 24 hours a day.
WHAT TO KNOW
- A U.S. Coast Guard shortfall of 3,000 service members nationwide has led to fewer guardsmen at three Long Island stations and concerns about boater safety.
- The number of guardsmen at the Eatons Neck station has shrunk from 30 to 11 since the Coast Guard announced staff reductions in October.
- There have been similar reductions at stations at Jones Beach and Kings Point. The shortage has not affected stations at Fire Island, Montauk and Shinnecock.
There have been similar reductions at stations at Jones Beach and Kings Point. The shortage has not affected stations at Fire Island, Montauk and Shinnecock, which remain on a 24/7 basis.
The Coast Guard says it is doing what it can to address the recruiting shortage, but that it is a problem affecting all branches of the military. In fiscal year 2023, the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force all fell short of their recruiting goals, said Sydney Phoenix, a public affairs specialist for the Coast Guard in New York.
"Today, we are competing for talent in an increasingly competitive job market where fewer young people are familiar with the intricacies and benefits of military service," Phoenix said.
But recruiting numbers are still trending the right direction for the first time in years, the Coast Guard said.
There's a chance the Guard will meet its annual recruiting goal of 4,200 in fiscal 2024 — marking the first time it has done so since 2017, she said.
In the Town of Huntington, where an estimated 6,000 recreational boaters on Long Island Sound and beyond use the harbor as a base of operations, harbor officials and other Long Island boating advocates said effects of the shortages have been noticeable this summer.
'Can’t rely on them anymore'
Off the Jones Inlet in late July, the staffing cuts pressed pleasure boaters and local marine officials into action. Together, they rescued 12 people from a partially submerged boat before the Coast Guard could arrive.
"We can’t rely on them anymore. And come fall it could even get worse," said Fred Uvena, the Town of Huntington's senior harbormaster. "We are feeling the impact [that] there isn’t Coast Guard out there."
The shortage comes amid a pandemic bounce for recreational boating in the waters off Huntington and elsewhere on the Island. As a result, people with more time to kill than relevant experience have taken to the water not just in powerboats. Kayaks and paddleboards, less expensive than powerboats and seemingly easier to operate, also have grown in popularity.
"What people don’t understand," Uvena said, "is the wind and the tide and how ferocious these waters can be."
When an inexperienced kayaker or paddleboarder gets in a jam on the water, the harbormaster said, "They can be sucked out into the Sound."
Nationwide, recreational boating increased annual economic activity by 35% between 2018 and 2023, a jump from $170 billion to $230 billion, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association.
Locally, the number of boat moorings in the Town of Huntington have jumped from about 1,100 before the COVID pandemic to about 1,600 now, Uvena said. The number of registered kayaks at public beaches in Huntington has increased from about 700 to 1,100, he said.
In recent months, Uvena's harbormasters have responded to calls of kayakers overboard as well as a sinking powerboat. In the past, the guardsmen at Eatons Neck would have been involved in the rescues, but now they often are not.
"When we respond now to maydays or any medical emergencies," Uvena added, "we assume that [the] Coast Guard will not be responding."
By the time the Coast Guard arrived to assist after a power boat with 12 people onboard began taking on water July 27, pleasure boaters and local marine officials already had ferried them to the West Marina at Point Lookout. Credit: Jim Staubitser
The problem was underscored July 27 when a recreational power boat partially filled with water in Jones Inlet. Twelve people were rescued by local marine officials, including from the Town of Hempstead and the Nassau County Police Department. By the time the Coast Guard arrived, the rescue operation was over, according to the Coast Guard.
Recruiting challenge
The Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Linda Fagan, announced the reductions last October as part of a pilot program aimed at maintaining adequate levels of service while wrestling with a 3,000-person shortage.
"The Coast Guard cannot maintain the same level of operations with our current shortfall — we cannot do the same with less," Fagan said at the time in a statement. "Conducting our missions is often inherently dangerous, and doing so without enough crew puts our members and the American public at increased risk."
Reasons for the drop-off also include low wages, according to some boating advocates. An E-1 Seaman, for instance, a low-level position, living on Long Island could earn $64,433.40 a year, including a housing allowance, according to Coast Guard documents. Other more senior positions pay beyond $100,000.
Currently, the Coast Guard has 57,000 active duty, reserve and civilian personnel, but approximately 3,000 vacancies in "critical enlisted ranks," Medley, of the New Haven sector, said. That translates into an overall 10% shortfall in personnel.
And with summer's end less than two months away, boating officials and advocates said, the effects of that shortfall would only grow as the number of patrol or rescue boats, operated mostly by municipalities, police, or fire departments, drop as expected.
Uvena said he may ask the Town of Huntington for more personnel starting in the fall to help compensate for the Coast Guard shortage. The Suffolk County Police Department declined to say if it would increase personnel. Nassau County police did not respond to a request for comment.
The Town of Hempstead said "the U.S. Coast Guard cutbacks have undoubtedly had an effect," and that the town's 12 bay constables "continue to work around the clock to keep boaters in our waters safe." The town did not say if it would increase marine personnel in the fall.
The Town of Islip said it will continue to have boats in the water this fall, but did not say if it will increase the numbers.
"I think it’s awful, horrendous," Pamela Setchell, president of the Huntington Lighthouse Preservation Society and a longtime boater, said of the Coast Guard reductions.
"It’s scary. It’s very scary . . . This is an island, it’s 150 miles long. We’re surrounded by water last I checked," Setchell said. "Someone is making decisions here that is not familiar with the geography and the needs."
Medley, in response, said the Coast Guard will continue to meet its obligations despite the shortages.
Under the new pilot program, if a station, such as Eatons Neck, cannot conduct a mission because personnel are off, Medley said, another station that is staffed 24/7 will fill in. Still, Uvena said, that can often mean a boat must be called in from New Haven, about an hour across the Sound.
"You get that Golden Hour — time is of the essence when it comes to emergencies," he said. "You need to have people on the scene."
The Long Island sector encompasses 23,600 square miles with 450 miles of coastline, Medley said. The staff includes 500 active duty; 200 reserve; 16 civilians; and more than 1,300 auxiliary members. The Coast Guard did not immediately provide previous numbers for comparison.
Major functions of the Coast Guard include search and rescue missions, along with maritime law enforcement.
In 2023, the Coast Guard carried out 345 search and rescue missions on Long Island, or about one every day, Medley said. Numbers for 2024 were not available.
'Ready to respond'
Of concerns raised by Setchell, Uvena and others over the reductions?
"We’re aware," Medley said in an interview. "We’ve addressed their concerns" as best as possible.
In a statement, he said: "The public may see a lessened Coast Guard presence on the water from time to time, but we continue to stand ready to respond, and the public will see no changes to our search and rescue, and law enforcement action . . . We will meet our statutory mission requirements."
Phoenix said the Coast Guard will do so in part by bringing in personnel from stations also including Sandy Hook and New York. The 140-foot icebreaking tug Sturgeon Bay based in Bayonne, New Jersey, is also available, along with other vessels.
Medley added that the Coast Guard "expects a larger workforce shortage next summer, and it is critical we take steps to maximize operational readiness and minimize unpredictability."
Efforts are underway to improve recruitment and retainment, but it’s unclear when or if they will prove successful.
The Coast Guard opened seven new recruiting offices in fiscal year 2023 and plans to open another six in fiscal year 2024, Phoenix said. It also will add 14 locations where recruiters work remotely online, over the phone or attending events.
"This expansion enables the Coast Guard to reach new and untapped markets," Phoenix said.
The Coast Guard in 2022 raised the maximum age limit for enlistment from 35 to 42. It also raised the maximum debt-to-income ratio from 30% to 80% for enlisted personnel, meaning that applicants with relatively high debt can now join. It also dropped a rule prohibiting single parents from enlisting.
Terrorism target
Setchell said decreasing the Coast Guard presence on Long Island makes even less sense when considering New York City "as the bull's-eye" for terrorists.
It is "not the place to be cutting back," she said. "If anything," the Coast Guard's Long Island presence "should be enhanced."
Uvena said the situation this summer was less severe, since so many local governments, fire departments, police departments and other entities have patrol and rescue boats on the water or are standing by. But when the weather turns cool and then cold, with far fewer safety vessels available, "It gets dicey for us," he said.
From May 31 to Oct. 15, his team includes five full-time harbormasters and 14 part-timers. Personnel are on duty 20 hours a day.
But by mid-October, the part-timers will leave, and harbormasters will be on duty only from 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
"We’re all in this together," Uvena said, stressing that he greatly respects the Coast Guard. But "where’s the future taking us? Are they going to close the station? Are they going to cut down to only maybe somebody there just as a watchman?"
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
'I'm going to try to avoid it' A trip to the emergency room in a Long Island hospital now averages nearly 4 hours, data shows. NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie reports.
