Fish Ladder On Swan Lake In East Patchogue Finished

EAST PATCHOGUE, NY — New landscaping with native plants was the finishing touch on the fish ladder at Swan Lake in East Patchogue, signaling the completion of the project last Thursday.

The ladder, which is located on the north side of Montauk Highway across from Brookhaven Town’s Swan River Preserve, is a nature-based fish passage that connects the lake with the Swan River, officials said.

River herring used the fish passage during their spawning run this Spring, making it the first time in over 200 years that they could migrate north into all reaches of the river, according to officials.

The Swan River Preserve was constructed by the town in 2014 on 3.8-acres that was once the home of a car dealership. In 2020, the town demolished a vacant structure on a .28-acre Suffolk County-owned parcel directly to the east of the Swan River Preserve. The preserve is also next to four acres of undeveloped town-owned land to the south. Both properties are slated to be joined with the Swan River Preserve as part of the town’s plan to protect the environmentally sensitive wetlands along the East Main Street Corridor.