When the Chesapeake Bay was named a Mission Blue Hope Spot in June, Ellen Pikitch, a professor at Stony Brook University’s School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences and executive director of the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science, said it was evidence that “hope begets hope.”
Pikitch was instrumental in extending the Hope Spot concept from Long Island’s Shinnecock Bay, which received its designation in 2022, to the Chesapeake Bay. “The Shinnecock Bay Hope Spot showed that restoration and collaboration can make a measurable difference,” she said. “The success there inspired others to try to replicate that hope somewhere new.”
Hope Spots are areas recognized by Mission Blue, an organization founded by marine biologist Sylvia Earle, as critical for ocean health. Each location is championed by individuals or organizations leading conservation efforts. The Chesapeake Bay Hope Spot is now led by The Explorers Club and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
“The Chesapeake Bay and Shinnecock Bay share many similarities,” Pikitch explained. “They’re both estuarine systems that open to the Atlantic, they’ve both suffered from pollution and habitat loss, and they both rely on oysters and clams that once thrived but have declined over time.”
Pikitch’s work on Shinnecock Bay restoration, including her partnership with the Shinnecock Nation, served as a model for efforts in the Chesapeake region. She described initial conditions: “When we started with Shinnecock Bay, the water quality was poor, harmful algal blooms were frequent, and the ecosystem was in decline,” she said. “Through science, restoration efforts, collaboration, and community involvement, we turned things around. We showed that it’s possible to make change, and not just hope for change.”
She noted the scale of challenges facing the Chesapeake Bay: “It’s enormous, involving several states and many different tribes, communities, and stakeholders,” Pikitch said. “But that also means it has incredible potential to unite people around a shared goal.”
As part of a committee convened by The Explorers Club over two years, Pikitch helped build support for the Chesapeake Bay proposal. She described their process: “We had weekly Zoom calls with scientists, policy makers, tribal representatives, and local organizations,” she said. “By the end, we had about 25 letters of support from a wide range of groups, including the National Aquarium, the Maritime Museum, and Indigenous leaders. It was a huge effort.”
Indigenous engagement was central to gaining Mission Blue designation. “Mission Blue made it clear from the beginning that having support from the Indigenous communities of the region was critical,” Pikitch said. She worked closely with both the Rappahannock Tribe and the Indigenous Conservation Council of the Chesapeake Bay.
The earlier partnership between Pikitch’s team and New York’s Shinnecock Nation influenced other tribes’ involvement in this project as well. “They wanted to understand why the Shinnecock decided to work with us,” she said. “Once they saw how the partnership had evolved and the respect we had for Indigenous knowledge, they agreed to be part of it too.”
Much of Pikitch’s research now focuses on environmental DNA (eDNA), which uses genetic traces left in water samples to identify species without disturbing them—an approach consistent with Indigenous principles such as ‘least harm.’ She explained its impact: “It’s an incredibly powerful and noninvasive tool,” she said. “By collecting water samples, we can identify species that are present without ever disturbing them. It’s also aligned with the Indigenous principle of ‘least harm,’ which is one of the reasons this work resonates so strongly with our tribal partners.”
Her team’s use of eDNA in Shinnecock Bay changed how marine biodiversity is monitored: “In more than a decade of traditional sampling, we identified four species of sharks, skates, and rays,” Pikitch said. “With just one year of eDNA sampling, we found twelve. That shows how much life we were missing using older methods.”
Research supporting Chesapeake Bay's Hope Spot application used these same techniques under Stony Brook alumnus Stephen Tomasetti—now at University of Maryland Eastern Shore—combining underwater surveys with eDNA sampling.
“The Chesapeake Bay Hope Spot really captures what my lab is all about: connecting science and community to make coastal systems more resilient,” Tomasetti stated. “Whether it’s oyster reefs or seagrass meadows, every restoration success reminds us that hope is something we build together.”
One doctoral student in Pikitch's group participated in fieldwork alongside Tomasetti; Pikitch reflected on continuity across generations: “It’s really come full circle,” she said. “Stephen learned restoration techniques here at Stony Brook and is now leading them at Chesapeake Bay. That’s the kind of ripple effect we hope to create.”
The official announcement took place during World Oceans Week at The Explorers Club in New York City where Rappahannock Chief Anne Richardson offered a blessing—a moment Pikitch described as unifying: “It was a wonderful moment of unity,” she said. “People from all these different communities came together to celebrate what this designation means.”
For Pikitch and her colleagues at Stony Brook University Research & Innovation (https://research.stonybrook.edu/), expansion into Chesapeake represents an extension of their earlier work: “What we’ve done in Shinnecock Bay serves as a blueprint,” she said. “Now we’re sharing that knowledge, our technology, our partnerships, and our experience with a region that affects millions of people and thousands of species.”
“This also shows that our work at Stony Brook has reached far beyond Long Island,” according to Pikitch (https://www.stonybrook.edu/). "What started here has sparked hope in one of the most important estuaries in the world. That’s something we can all be proud of."
She concluded by emphasizing optimism within conservation frameworks: "The Hope Spot framework creates space for optimism," she said. "It recognizes that while our oceans are under stress, they are also resilient if we act in time. The Chesapeake Bay is a living example of that potential."