Father-son startup tries novel approach to slow beach erosion at Sands Point Preserve Conservancy

A father-son duo from Manhasset is combining their expertise to tackle coastal resilience and restoration issues across the country, including at the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, where they seek to mitigate cliff erosion using their nature-based technology.

Nicholas and George Thatos last year cofounded Coastal Technologies Corp., an environmental startup whose mission is to address vulnerable shore communities and habitats with modern technology. George Thatos majored in environmental studies and science at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he spent time studying the Mississippi River Delta, whose disappearing shoreline has led to coastal restoration plans that are underway.

Taking his knowledge and passion for the environment, Thatos, 23, and his father decided to take on an erosion problem closer to home.

“I can tell that when I look at the cliffs now, compared to when I was a kid, it looks entirely different because it’s been eroding this whole time,” Thatos said of the bluffs at the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy. “As sea level rises, as more intense hurricanes batter Long Island, they’re just chipping away at these sand cliffs and they’re just eroding at a constant pace.”

Coastal resilience projects have become a necessary step to protect shorelines and waterfront infrastructure as erosion continues to deplete Long Island’s coastline, environmentalists and officials have said. Abatement measures across the Island have included burying sandbags, rehabilitating dunes and building shoreline bulkheads. The Thatoses have created a cliff stabilizer product, using a marine-grade plastic and a stainless steel coil, to plant and hold American beach grass plugs in place as they grow.

“We have been working with Sands Point Preserve to install a [proof of concept] project that seeks to stabilize a section of cliff face by drilling our product into the side of the wall,” Thatos said. “What that does is create stable cubbies on the cliff that are conducive for American beach grass to establish in.”

American beach grass helps retain sediments, which are essential for healthy dunes and sand cliffs, said Kathleen Fallon, the coastal processes and hazards specialist for New York Sea Grant, a program that promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal and state university-based programs.

“If a bluff is unvegetated, you have the forces of rainwater, wind, animals even, who walk across the bluff and destabilize the sediment," she said.

Nicholas Thatos, who owned a construction business for about 25 years before joining Coastal Technologies full time, has experience engineering, manufacturing and managing large teams. 

He said Coastal Technologies, which has eight staffers, has been self-funded but that the company is in talks with investors to expand. He said patents for their products are pending.

“We intend to make this a large company that will provide solutions to a very disparate need,” the elder Thatos said.

Jeremiah Bosgang, executive director of the Sands Point Preserve Conservancy, said the erosion has been a consistent problem and hopes the new concept is a solution.

“It’s a natural and far less expensive way to combat coastal erosion,” Bosgang said. “Whether it’ll be as effective, we don’t know yet, but the science is there to back up efficacy, so we hope it proves out.”