Patchogue Bay is a

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

on the south-central shores of Long Island in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

of New York. Part of the

Great South Bay The Great South Bay is a lagoon situated between Long Island and Fire Island, in the State of New York. It is about long and has an average depth of 4 feet 3 inches and is 20 feet at its deepest. It is protected from the Atlantic Ocean by Fire ...

, Patchogue Bay is a cove between the points of land known as Blue Point and Howells Point, and across which

ferries A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water tax ...

run south to Fire Island.

Ownership

Grant

The Patchogue Bay, bay bottom up to the barrier beach, is owned by Brookhaven town because of a grant from the King of Britain long before the existence of the US. It has been repeatedly adjudicated that the grant in the Dongan patent (Brookhaven Town, 1686) is valid.

Federal government claim

However, since 1968, the Federal Government has been attempting to take title of and claim, by

adverse possession Adverse possession, sometimes colloquially described as "squatter's rights", is a legal principle in the Anglo-American common law under which a person who does not have legal title to a piece of property—usually land ( real property)—ma ...

, of the bay bottom of both Islip and Brookhaven Towns, extending outward from the barrier beach. It (the Federal Government) has repeated published intentionally erroneous maps (as the one below) showing boundaries of the Fire Island Seashore extending out into the bay when the real boundary is the shoreline of the barrier beach.

Habitat

A number of habitats make up the bay bottom; the dominant

eelgrass Eelgrass is a common name for several plants and may refer to: * ''Zostera'', marine eelgrass * ''Vallisneria'', freshwater eelgrass {{Short pages monitor