This November, I am asking for your support as a candidate for Fishers Island Justice. For me, this race is about service, fairness and responsibility to the place we call home. My professional and community life has always been shaped by those values, and I believe they are the very qualities that belong on the bench.
Many of you know me through my work as co-chair of the Fishers Island Seagrass Management Coalition (FISM), which I lead with Elizabeth McCance and our coordinator, Hannah Vagts. Since its founding in 2017, the coalition has united 20 local stakeholder organizations around a shared mission: protecting Fishers Island’s seagrass meadows—the last healthy meadows left in Long Island Sound. These undersea meadows are more than plants. They are nurseries for fish and shellfish, natural storm buffers for our shoreline and vital filters that help keep our waters clean.
Our work has been both scientific and community-based. We have created educational brochures to guide boaters on seagrass-safe practices and a checklist to help prevent anchor damage. We have offered resources for homeowners to reduce nitrogen runoff from lawn fertilizers. Each summer, our interns paddleboard across island waters, cameras in hand, to confirm the presence of seagrass identified through satellite imagery. We also study flower maturation and seed density to ensure restoration projects do not compromise what Fishers Island needs to sustain its own meadows. Through Save the Sound’s water-quality testing program, we track conditions that affect these fragile ecosystems and plan for the future.
This work has taught me lessons that go beyond conservation. It has reinforced the importance of being a careful listener, weighing evidence and balancing different perspectives. It has shown me how long-term thinking and steady leadership can make a real difference for future generations. Those lessons are directly relevant to the role of Justice: impartial but also empathetic, firm but fair and mindful of how decisions affect the community as a whole.
I am running because I want to bring the same spirit of stewardship, collaboration and fairness that has guided my work with FISM to the Fishers Island Justice Court. I promise to serve with independence, respect and a deep commitment to our shared values. Fishers Island deserves leadership that reflects who we are and what we care about. I hope to earn your trust and your vote this November.
Stephanie Hall is running as a Republican candidate for Fishers Island Justice.