Boating, Fishing, and Travel Information for Moriches Inlet, NY

Moriches Inlet connects Moriches Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. It forms the eastern border of Fire Island, New York and the western border of the barrier island on which West Hampton Dunes, New York is the closest community.

The inlet which split West Hampton from Fire Island was formed by a Nor’easter in 1931. The 1931 storm created a geographic quirk for the western tip of the West Hampton island which is in the town of Brookhaven but in order to access it via land from Brookhaven a person must go through several miles of Southampton, New York.

Between 1933 and 1938 Moriches Inlet widened to 4,000 feet wide and deepened with sand being deposited on both the bay and ocean. The widening subsided in 1938 when the Great Hurricane of 1938 opened up the Shinnecock Inlet further east between Shinnecock Bay and the ocean.

In an attempt to stabilize the deterioration of the barrier island, local authorities built groines on the inlet in 1952–1953. Local authorities have consistently urged that the inlet be kept open to allow boats from the mainland of Long Island to have access to the ocean. The United States Army Corps of Engineers took over the maintenance of the inlets and jetties in the 1980s. The Corps in turn ran into controversy with claims that the groines and jetties were blocking the natural east to west longshore drift that replenished sand. The inlet and groynes were to be blamed for a loss of 8–10 million cubic yards of sand on Fire Island—representing a loss of 100 feet of beach and a depth of 12–16 feet along the entire 32-mile Fire Island beach zone.

The inlet was the primary water access route for recovery ships following the July 17, 1996, crash of TWA Flight 800. News reports noted that it crashed in the ocean about 10 miles due south of the inlet.

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Moriches Inlet, 44 miles westward of Montauk Point, is a shallow entrance from seaward to the deeper water in Moriches Bay. Weather continuously changes the jettied entrance, which is subject to extreme shoaling. Both east and west jetties are marked by a light, and the approach to the inlet is marked by a lighted whistle buoy.

Due to rapidly changing shoaling conditions and existing dangers in Moriches Inlet, it is considered unsafe for mariners to navigate this inlet at any time. Buoys are not maintained in this inlet.

A fish haven, marked by a buoy, is about 2.5 miles south-southwestward of Moriches Inlet East Breakwater Light.