may-jun 2005 atlantic coast watch newsletter

8/9/2019 May-Jun 2005 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

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Florida Wetlands Losses Bared

Since 1990, reported the St. Petersburg Times after conducting a carefulsurvey, Florida has lost at least 84,000 acres of wetlands statewide, despite oftenreiterated “no net loss” pledges from a succession of US presidents. The paper’stwo part series places the blame squarely on the US Army Corps of Engineers,which between 1999 and 2003 “approved more than 12,000 permits and rejectedone.”

Defying the federal Clean Water Act, which emphasizes wetlandsprotection, the Corps, the paper reported, “trains its Florida staff to presume thatevery proposal to destroy wetlands is ‘in the public interest’ and tells them to help

developers get permits.” Mitigation measures seldom work, costs to taxpayersare high. The idea that the Corps is protecting the environment, said authoritativesources quoted in the series, is a “huge scam” and “a make-believe program.”Politics also plays a big role in the game, the paper found: “When getting awetlands permit takes too long, call your congressman.”

As interesting as the series itself is how it happened, a story fully told inan interview with co-authors Craig Pittman and Matthew Waite in the MetcalfInstitute’s web publication Environment Writer . An environment-beat reporter atthe paper for five years, Pittman long ago read a National Academy of Sciencesreport slamming the Corps and the no net loss policy. He knew he was onto “agreat story.” Getting accurate information proved to be a technical challenge. Itprompted Waite, a general assignment reporter on the paper’s metro staff and aspecialist on computer-assisted reporting, to enroll in courses at the University of

South Florida to learn how to use satellite imagery analysis rather than depend onthe Corps’ “totally unreliable” GIS data to build an accurate picture of the losses.A full academic explanation of the methodology was posted on the paper’swebsite along with aerial shots of a Walmart and other structures built onwetlands. Also featured were audio clips from a key source, John Hall, who for 15years ran the Corps’ regulatory program in Florida.

Reaction to the series, and a subsequent editorial, has been positive.“Readers were very outraged and excited,” says Pittman. “Federal employeessaid they were glad to have the truth come out.” From the Corps, which denied afew permits after the series was published, adds Pittman, there has been “zero”reaction.

Red Tide Rips New EnglandThis year, the coastline of the Gulf of Maine from Maine’s Schoodic

Peninsula to Buzzards Bay has since May suffered a particularly bad red tideinfestation. As reported in the Boston Globe , scientists think the huge bloom, themost troublesome since 1972, was generated by what one observer described asa “perfect storm” of events. Easterly winds moved the annual red tide bloom inthe gulf close to shore. A surge of fresh water, followed by abundant sunshine,flowed from snowmelt and spring rains. And, as in many other places, everincreasing nutrient load from coastal development, inadequate sewage treatment,and runoff from farms and fields were also cited as worsening the problem.

(Continued, p. 7)

News For Coastal Advocates

Florida Wetland Losses

Red Tide Rips New England

Sayings

Saving Block Island

Growing Greener, Slowly

Publications

Courts & the Seashore

PCB Cleanup Delays

Bold Vision for MA Forests

McMansion Tensions

Leading the Way in SC

Recovery at the Bank

Recurring

People; Species & Habitats;

Restorations; Report Cards;Products; Funding

Atlantic CoastWatch is a bimonthlynewsletter for those interested in theenvironmentally sound development

of the coastline from the Gulf of Maine to the Eastern Caribbean.

Coastal News Nuggets is a daily newsclipping service, available atwww.atlanticcoastwatch.org.

Atlantic CoastWatch

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May - June, 2005



Sayings

(What follows is reprinted with permission from the Annapolis Capital,where it originally appeared as an editorial on June 17)

We get no pleasure from the idea of state officials killing mute swans—or,for that matter, “addling” their eggs to prevent hatching. But we are pleased thata federal judge, by shooting down a legal challenge to the state’s efforts to controlthe swan population, has upheld the right of state officials to manage wildlifepopulations under Maryland law—even if that sometimes means killing swans.

US District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan essentially found that the lawsuit bythe Fund for Animals and some Maryland residents doesn’t have a legal leg tostand on: Last year Congress passed a law specifically exempting non-nativespecies from the statute protecting migratory birds. And mute swans, whilehandsome, are a non-native species.

They also have a hearty appetite for the bay grasses the state is strenu-ously trying to foster, and they’re competing with native waterfowl—and doingwell, judging by their burgeoning numbers. It’s probably not possible for theDepartment of Natural Resources to eliminate mute swans, but it makes perfect

sense for the DNR to try to keep their population in check.

Of course, swans are far from the bay’s biggest problem. They’re not inthe same class as agricultural and residential runoff, and the algae-feeding excessnutrients put into the water by outdated sewage treatment plants.

But we missed the law that says state officials can’t tackle smaller butobvious problems until they’ve solved every major one—or the regulation sayingthat the DNR’s priorities must be dictated by the good looks of the species in-volved. No one is shedding any tears for nutria or snakehead fish.

This issue is one on which the hard-core animal rights activists andserious environmentalists part company. Most environmental organizations in thestate back the DNR’s policy on mute swans, and so do we. We hope it can

continue without taking more legal flak -- but we wouldn’t bet on it.

Saving Block Island

Back in the 1970s, Rhode Island ‘s Block Island seemed ripe for the kind of haphazard development that has afflicted parts of Cape Cod and nearby resortislands such as Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. Traditional farming haddwindled, and many properties on the beautiful, 6,208 acre island seemed up forgrabs. But, reports Peter Lord of the Providence Journal in an innovative seven-part series, a spirited coalition of native islanders and summer vacationers hasdone a remarkable job of keeping developers at bay and preserving the island’snatural beauty and priceless assets.

Thirty-five years ago, when Lord’s tale begins, no portion of the islandwas protected in any manner. Then a native islander, a retired sea captain namedRob Lewis, founded the Block Island Conservancy. There later arrived the BlockIsland Land Trust, funded via an energetic local effort resulting in legislation tolevy a land transfer tax. And in 1991 The Nature Conservancy, naming the islandone of its Last Great Places, rolled up its sleeves and went to work to help the localgroups. Result: 40% of the island is now under protection of some sort. Via anetwork of hiking trails, moreover, the public has access to much of the privatelyheld land. Though Lord sees all this as a “shared accomplishment,” he doessingle out Lewis, without whom “there would have been nothing left to save.”

(Continued, p. 3

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Atlantic CoastWatch

Vol. 9, No. 3

A project of the SustainableDevelopment Institute, whichseeks to heighten the environmentalquality of economic development

efforts, in coastal and in forestregions, by communicating informa-tion about better policies and prac-tices. SDI is classified as a 501(c)(3)not-for-profit organization, exempt

from federal income tax.

Board of Directors

Freeborn G. Jewett, Jr., ChairRobert J. Geniesse, Chair EmeritusRoger D. Stone, PresidentHassanali Mehran, TreasurerGay P. Lord, Secretary

Hart FessendenDavid P. HuntSimon Sidamon-Eristoff

Scientific Advisory Council

Gary HartshornStephen P. LeathermanJerry R. SchubelChristopher Uhl

Staff

Roger D. Stone, Director & President

Shaw Thacher, Project ManagerRobert C. Nicholas III, Contr. EditorSarah Dixon, Program Associate

Foundation Donors

Avenir FoundationThe Fair Play FoundationThe Madriver FoundationThe Moore Charitable FoundationThe Curtis and Edith Munson

FoundationSummit Fund of Washington

Sponsored Projects

Environmental Film Festival in theNation’s Capital

March 16-26, 2006

Featuring screenings of documentary,feature, archival, children’s andanimated films.

www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org



Growing Greener, Slowly

In May, Pennsylvania voters strongly approved a measure authorizingGovernor Ed Rendell to borrow up to $625 million for programs to protect openspace, clean up abandoned coal mines and polluted rivers, and improve recre-ational facilities. The measure, entitled Growing Greener II, is an extension of a

program initially launched in 1999 by then Governor Tom Ridge.

With ample voter support in hand, many voices urged quick state legisla-ture action to move the program along. Said the Scranton Times : “Pennsylva-nians have stated clearly that they want the environmental progress to continue.Lawmakers should move quickly to borrow the full amount and to allocate it to alist of worth projects that are waiting for help.” “Listen to the people,” exhorted aPhiladelphia Inquirer editorial.

But implementation is proving to be no easy matter. In order to getneeded political support for the ballot measure, Rendell had to leave many looseends untied until after it had been approved. Its language authorized funding for“other environmental initiatives,” which triggered lobbying from developers forwhat the Inquirer called “back-door subsidies for road, water, and sewer exten-sions, which would promote sprawl.” Republican legislators opposed using taxeson polluters to pay for part of the program, and advocated block grants to coun-ties—a move that many feared would delay urgently needed action.

What seems to be shaping up, warned the Lancaster Times Leader , is “aslow, highly political dogfight” within the legislature. Indications of its mood wereexpected in July, the deadline for decisions on some of the details.

Block Island, Continued from p. 2

Block Islanders have worked on many other fronts as well. One groupsucceeded, after 7 years of trying, to get a threatened lighthouse moved 300 feetback from an eroding cliff. Others organized beach cleanups, encouraged nature

education in the island’s schools, strove with 100% success to save placesidentified by the state’s Department of Environmental Management as beingespecially important, and waged a war that is still being fought to preventChamplin’s Marina to expand into four acres of the treasured Great Salt Pond.

Lord describes all this, and far more, not only in print for the newspaperbut also in the form of voice-overs to slide-shows assembled on the projo.comwebsite with musical accompaniment. Part 7 of the series consists of lyricalphotos and narration by Providence Journal photographer John Freidah. Asked if the paper had received complaints about an environmental bias in the series, Lordreplied firmly: “I don’t think my stories were anything but news—a 35 year storyof people saving Block Island. I just wrote about their actions. They are anunusual community.”

Not all is well on Block Island. The Champlin’s battle grinds on.McMansions have cropped up on the hillsides, and megayachts crowd the pond.“Visitors,” wrote Lord, “Still jam the island’s narrow roads on summer days” withferry traffic from the mainland increasing. Affordable housing for many amongthe 1,000 year-round residents is a growing problem.

“The battle never ends to preserve open space from outsiders trying tomake a buck from Block Island’s natural beauty,” Lord concluded. Still, enoughhas been done to protect this sole economic asset to justify his declaration of victory. His series stands as a model for similar journalistic initiatives having to dowith the many threatened places elsewhere along the Atlantic coastline.

People

Capping an already distinguishedcareer as a marine scientist, EdithWidder announced her departurefrom the Harbor Branch Oceano-graphic Institution, after more than15 years there. Witter is founding anew organization, the Ocean Re-search & Conservation Association(ReCon) as, she stated, a “new typeof scientific organization that directlyfocuses its endeavors on behalf of marine conservation.” ReCon, to bebased in Florida, will specialize in thesector for which Widder is alreadywell known and much admired:developing high tech methods of datacollection and analysis.

Two years ago, when she was 14,Jenna Shue of Hampden, Maine took an interest in smoke rising from the

Penobscot Energy Recovery Com-pany (PERC) in nearby Orrington, andbegan doing research on means of identifying health hazards from toxicemissions. One result of her work was the discovery that, though thestate requires its 4 waste-incineratingfacilities to conduct periodic emis-sions tests, it lacked a mechanism toshare the results. Shue consequentlyinitiated a bill requiring the stateDepartment of EnvironmentalProtection to provide that informationto the public, and creating a subcom-

mittee of the state’s Air ToxicsAdvisory Committee to monitor thedata. This spring Governor JohnBaldacci signed the bill into law andnamed Shue both to the advisorycommittee and to the subcommittee.Shue’s next project, reported theBangor Daily News : the health effectsof global warming.

The Surfrider Foundation has namedJim Moriarty of Solana Beach, CA asits new executive director. A surfer,entrepreneur, and innovator, he takes

the helm of a 40,000 member organi-zation devoted to “the protection andpreservation of our world’s oceans,waves, and beaches.” It has chaptersacross the US and in Puerto Rico, aswell as international affiliates inseveral countries.

Bob Hunter, co-founder of Greenpeace in 1971 and its firstpresident, died at age 63. A newspa-per and television journalist, Hunter

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Publications

The Jacques Cousteau National Estuarine Research Reserve in NewJersey, a partnership between NOAA and Rutgers University’s Institute ofMarine and Coastal Sciences, offers science-based education and training forcoastal decision makers in the state. Along the way the reserve detected a“disconnect” between what these managers said they needed and resourcesalready available. The result is a snappy website called the Coastal Resources Toolkit offering visitors ample and easily accessible information, specific to NewJersey, on topics ranging from sprawl to wastewater management, severestorms, and conservation easements. www.jcnerr.org/coastal_training

Due out from Island Press is the new, 234-page Ocean and Coastal Conservation Guide (David Helvarg, ed.), a reference book that, says the pub-lisher, “details more than 2,000 organizations and institutions that are working tounderstand, protect, and restore our ocean and coastal areas.” Plans call for theguide to be published biennially.

A recent work of the well-known sailing writer John Rousmaniere isSailing at Fishers: A History of the Fishers Island Yacht Club (Mystic Seaport and

the Fishers Island Yacht Club, 2004). This lavishly illustrated volume, reportsSoundings , reaches beyond its title in recounting the island’s rich maritime historyfrom 400 years back—as well as that of an active center of competitive sailing.

During the 1980’s striped bass recovery, Dick Russell’s journalisticaccounts were renowned for their blunt and forthright honesty. In Russell’sStriper Wars (Island Press, 2005), he describes how myriad observations andindividuals became synthesized into a conservation ethic and policy. He alsohighlights why their successes are now imperiled not by harvest, but diminishingforage. Reads fellow author Carl Safina’s blurb: “Read it, and every time your linecomes tight you’ll know who to thank. More importantly, you’ll know what elseneeds to be done.”

Courts & the Seashore

To the relief of many if not all environmentalists in central Florida’sVolusia County, US District Judge Gregory Presnell rejected a citizen lawsuitclaiming that by allowing beach driving the county was harming five federallyendangered turtle species as well as the piping plover. The plaintiffs—home-owner and sea turtle advocate Shirley Reynolds and developer and propertyrights advocate Robert Godwin—also claimed that the US Fish and WildlifeService had violated its own rules by allowing motor vehicles on the beach. In his35-page opinion, Judge Presnell noted a “considerable history of conservationand Endangered Species Act enforcement issues in this dispute” since an originalcomplaint from Reynolds in 1995, including turtle monitoring, the construction of aturtle rehabilitation center, lighting laws, and other measures. “The Conservation

ists,” Presnell continued, “seem to believe that what is ‘necessary’ for the protec-tion of a listed species is procedural quagmires, uncompromising administrativeoversight, and scorched-earth litigation. Congress has not mandated such anutter waste of resources.” Many turtle-loving observers applauded the decision,agreeing with the judge that the County has done a pretty good job of protectingnesting turtles, and finding that on Volusia’s wide, hard Atlantic beaches there isplenty of room for them and sensitively regulated motor vehicle traffic as well.

In North Carolina’s Washington and Beaufort counties, grassrootsactivists scored another round when a federal appeals court upheld a prior rulingagainst the US Navy from US District Judge Terrence Boyle. The Navy wants to

(Continued, p. 5)

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launched the organization’s wellknown protests against US nucleartesting and many other campaignsagainst whaling and other environ-mental issues. “Perhaps more thananyone else,” said the organization,“Bob Hunter invented Greenpeace.”

Species & HabitatsMighty bluefin tuna, the much-admired species that can weigh half aton and zip around Atlantic waters atexplosive speeds, are in worsetrouble than previously thought,according to a new study by StanfordUniversity marine biologist BarbaraBlock. Using sophisticated newtracking equipment, Block found thatthe portion of the population thatbreeds in the Gulf of Mexico and thenmigrates out into the Atlantic is “themost vulnerable by far,” according tothe New York Times . Without majornew controls, continued the paper,the “intensifying trade in bluefin,”principally for the Japanese market,“may soon empty the waters of thismaster of the sea.”

Since 2000, says biologist LlewellynEhrhart of the University of CentralFlorida, the number of loggerheadturtles nesting in the 20-mile ArchieCarr National Wildlife Refuge onFlorida’s east coast has dropped fromalmost 20,000 to 8,000. The rapid

decline has been under way for 6straight years, long enough torepresent a real trend, reportsVelador , the newsletter of theCaribbean Conservation Corporation.Ehrhart told the 25th Annual Interna-tional Sea Turtle Symposium that theCarr refuge data “are generallymirrored statewide.” At the confer-ence coastal development, shorelinearmoring, and several years of coldwater in the Atlantic were advancedas possible reasons for the precipi-tous drop.

On South Carolina’s Lowcountyshores, however, reported The Beaufort Gazette , loggerhead nestingis up. Hunting, Fripp, Hilton Head,and Harbor Islands were all scoringsolid gains over 2004, with theAugust end of the nesting season stillfar off. One reason cited for thecomeback is the drop in the numberof shrimp trawlers, which even whenequipped with escape holes continue



PCB Cleanup Delays

For decades until the 1970s, General Electric dumped toxic chemicalscalled polycarbonated byphenyls (PCBs) into the Hudson River, with seriousconsequences up and down the food chain. Before the possible carcinogen wasbanned in 1977, the company had disposed of some 1.2 million pounds of PCBs in

the river, of which a contaminated portion was declared a Superfund site in 1984.

After a decade of careful research, EPA concluded in 2001 that dredgingwas the best solution vs. other possible solutions that the company had proposed.After years of opposing the dredging, the company at last agreed to it, signing anagreement with the agency in February 2002, and began to shell out cash towardthe total $500 million that designing and implementing the cleanup was expectedto cost the legally responsible company.

Yet as recently as this year, when actual dredging was scheduled tobegin, the Poughkeepsie Journal reported that the company was still stalling.Language “written largely” by the company, calling for the National Academy ofSciences to conduct yet another dredging study, crept into a bill being shaped inthe Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies subcommittee of the House

Appropriations Committee.

Observers expressed fears that passage of this measure would delay thedredging at least until 2007 if not forever. The episode served to illustrate thelimits to GE’s newly stated and much-ballyhooed commitment to“ecomagination.”

Environmentalists and the media reacted hotly. “Dredging delays areintolerable,” headlined the Journal . Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and CharlesSchumer took steps to remove the proposal from the bill’s Senate version anddeclare further study to be unnecessary. With its fate still pending resolution inHouse-Senate conference to reconcile differences between the two versions,environmental groups issued a demand that EPA either order the company to dothe cleanup now, or conduct it itself.

Courts & the Seashore, Continued from p. 4

use 33,000 acres in the region as an airfield for pilots from nearby air stations topractice aircraft carrier landings (Atlantic CoastWatch, January-February 2005).Respecting opponents’ claims that this activity would harm large flocks of migra-tory swans, geese and ducks that frequent a nearby wildlife refuge, as well as thetax base, Boyle ordered a permanent injunction barring the Navy from construc-tion on the site. While the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, VA did notoverturn Boyle, it also heartened the Navy by agreeing to hear the case.

In a major Florida victory for sprawl, a three-judge panel at the Fourth

District Court of Appeals in Palm Beach disregarded environmentalists’ protesta-tions and approved an environmental permit for developing a remote, 1,920 acreorange grove called Mecca Farms in northern Palm Beach County. With enthusi-astic support from the state government, The Scripps Research Institute has longplanned to build a biotechnology campus on the county-owned site, includingresidential units, offices, labs, stores and so on. Fearful that the project wouldmove elsewhere if further delays were encountered, the county commissionerssoon after the court ruling voted unanimously in favor of beginning constructionthis summer even though the project still faces at least three more legal chal-lenges. At risk is $137 million to be spent on construction that in the future a judgemight order demolished.

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to snare turtles. A state Departmentof Natural Resources official countedonly 137 shrimp boats on this year’sopening day—down from more than400 five years ago.

Each spring a 5-ounce shorebirdcalled the red knot undertakes adramatic 10,000 mile flight fromTierra del Fuego, Argentina to Arcticbreeding grounds. In past years, asmany as 100,000 of these birdspaused at Delaware Bay, exhausted,to fatten up on horseshoe crab eggsbefore continuing northward. 32,000arrived in the bay in 2002, but onlyabout 13,600 in 2004 and 15,300 thisyear. While the uptick is mildlyencouraging, the bird’s overallsituation remains “dire,” saysendangered species biologist LarryNiles at New Jersey’s Department ofEnvironmental Protection. Onereason is a shortage of horseshoecrabs, badly overharvested prior to2003 when curbs were installed inseveral states. Competition fromlaughing gulls and bad weather inSouth America are cited as otherreasons for the decline, whichauthorities say could lead to extinc-tion in another 5 years unless drasticmeasures (an outright ban onhorseshoe crab harvesting, federalendangered species listing) are taken.

The near-total disappearance of cod

from Canada’s East Coast waters,says a new study, has led to a“cascade effect” bringing dramaticchange to the food chain. With thedecline of cod and other largepredators, the herring and otherspecies they preyed on have thrivedand, reports Canadian Press , “arenow dominating the marine world.”The cod may never recover its formerdomination, said Ken Frank of theBedford Institute of Oceanographyand co-author of the study publishedin Science .

Restorations

Massachusetts’ once badly pollutedCharles River continues to show signsof recovery, with the EPA reportingthat in 2004 it was safe for swimming54% of the time and 96% safe forboating. The equivalent figures in1995 were 19% and 39%. The rivergot a high B+ rating from the agencyvs. B- in 2003. The elimination of one



Bold Vision for MA Forests

In 1830, states the Harvard Forest’s new Wildlands and Woodlands report, Massachusetts was almost fully denuded of forest cover. But by the mid-1800s, as agriculture declined, the forests began to return. Currently the state is60% forested, ranking eighth in the nation. Without getting bogged in detail, theHarvard Forest report broadly advocates bold measures to keep the state half forested even as it faces new threats and “relentless development pressure.”

Of the state’s 5 million acres, 250,000 would consist of unmanagedwildland reserves, mostly on land already in public hands. And an additional 2.25million acres, in private as well as public hands, would be managed so as tosupport biodiversity, enable “sustainable resource production such as timber,wildlife, and clean water,” provide ecosystem services as well as “extensiverecreational, educational, aesthetic and spiritual experience” in a “permanentlyforested landscape.” Ample land would remain available for residential andcommercial development and forest harvesting.

The Harvard researchers go on to advocate a three-decade effort byMassachusetts citizens and public officials “to achieve this Wildlands and Wood-lands vision.” Much of the implementation would be coordinated via regionalWoodland Councils “to promote the protection and sustainable management of working woodlands.” Reactions already in hand include a favorable Boston Globeeditorial and much additional media coverage; many invitations for the research-ers to present their findings to interested groups; proposals for pilot protectionprojects that would fit into the matrix; and expressions of interest in findinginnovative ways to finance the vision’s implementation.www.harvardforest.fas.harvard.edu

McMansion Tensions

No one has yet come up with a firm definition of these oversize houses

that are bursting forth everywhere, especially close to the shore where manypeople want to live. But the New York Times recently hit the nail close to the headby describing them as “houses from 3,000 to 10,000 square feet with entranceslike Tara, windows like European cathedrals and garages like small municipallots.”

While many Americans until recently remained satisfied with the smallersize ranch houses and colonials that are typical of US suburbs, says the NationalAssociation of Home Builders, the average house size has jumped upward of late—from 1,905 square feet in 1987 to 2,320 square feet in 2002. With concur-rent reductions in the average size of lots, more and more owners have replacedthe older, smaller home with a bulkier one reaching out to the edges of the lot.The number of teardowns is rapidly rising in many New York area communities.

The new McMansions, continued the Times , “present neighbors with asudden expanse of towering wall to look at, blocking sunlight, altering thestreetscape and even changing the character of the neighborhood.” Suchapprehensions are leading to tighter zoning in several Queens communities topreserve residential communities and even, said Newsday , “require that newhomes match the front lawn space of adjacent houses.”

But not everybody is happy. The new rules may force new homes to looklike those built at Levittown during the post-World War II years, some feared.Others, a New Jersey Builders Association representative told the Times ,worried that the new ordinances could have an economic impact, driving homebuyers, builders, and businesses from communities trying to limit house size.

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million gallons of illegal sewagedischarges is stated as a principalreason for the improvement, withcreative public-private partnershipsgetting much of the credit. In whatwas said to be something of amiracle, the lower Charles, its mostheavily used stretch, remained safefor swimming throughout last

summer.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary thisyear is the Hackensack River Eco-Cruise program run by HackensackRiverkeeper captains Bill Sheehanand Hugh Carola. Some 30,000people have now taken the program’s2+ hour nature cruises through theonce-fetid New Jersey Meadowlands,where a stirring restoration effort hastaken place. “I knew in 1995 that if we were ever going to save theMeadowlands we had to get people

out into it so they could see it forthemselves. If I hadn’t been able todo that, no way we could have beenas successful as we have.”

Reports

A sea kayak at sea is “hard to see,”regardless of wave height or weatherconditions, reports Maine Sea Grant.After extensive testing, researchersfound that kayaks more than a mileaway are “rarely visible on radar,whether or not they have radar

reflectors.” The better news: within amile reflectors do make a difference,which could mean a lot consideringthat a motorboat cruising at 15 knotscovers a quarter of a nautical mile in60 seconds. The best kind of reflec-tor, the study found, is not a commer-cial product but “a homemade foilhat.”

In October 2002, says The Washing- ton Post , Maine’s Department ofNatural Resources asked EPA toanalyze water samples for evidence

of what is widely seen as a growingproblem: seepage into waterways of such prescription drugs as antide-pressants and birth control pills. Twoand a half years later Ann Pistell,environmental specialist in thedepartment, received a partial reportwithout a detailed explanation.“We’re sort of baffled and frustratedby the lack of a sample analysis,” shetold the Post . “We see this is anemerging issue. The more we find



out, the more concerned we are.”With little evidence of federal con-cern, the paper continued, stateofficials are beginning to organize aninformation-sharing network.

In Frederiksted, St. Croix, reportscientists from New York’s LongIsland University and the University

of Puerto Rico, untreated sewage isregularly released and nearly 30% of coral was infected with disease. In anearby area where no sewage isreleased, they found only 3 or 4%infected with the same ailments.Biologist Longin Kaczmarsky, co-author of the study published in theCaribbean Journal of Science , saidthat raw sewage is “a major factorcontributing to coral disease.”

Products

For decades visionaries had beendreaming of “harnessing the Bay of Fundy tides” for energy, and in 1984such a plant was actually built inCanada. Now at last plans are inprogress to bring the technology tothe US: Verdant Power of Arlington,VA has received permission from onefederal agency to install 6 turbines onthe bottom of New York’s fast-flowingEast River, near the shore, to bringpower to a supermarket and parkinggarage on Roosevelt Island. Assum-ing success with this test phase,

which still requires approvals fromthe US Army Corps of Engineers andNew York State’s Department ofEnvironmental Conservation, Verdantplans to place up to 300 turbines inthe river to power some 8,000 homes,and is helping to plan tide-harnessingprojects in other cities such as SanFrancisco with swift-flowing currents.Since the technology does not requiretidal barrages but instead involves“free flow turbine” modules that caneasily be hauled out in case of trouble, opposition is almost nil.

Maine’s first sardine cannery openedin 1875, and at the industry’s peak in1900 no fewer than 75 canneriesemploying 6,000 people werearrayed along the rocky shoreline.Now, reports The Associated Press ,there is only one left: the StinsonSeafood plant in Gouldsboro oper-ated by Bumble Bee. Global competi-tion is one reason for the decline,changing technology another.

Red Tide, Continued from p. 1

Alexandrium fundyensis , the algae that causes the New England variantof red tide, does not at present levels harm swimmers or fish. It is not quite astroublesome as one Florida species which in high concentrations can pollute theair as well as the water. But in New England, though eating the flesh of lobsters,fish and scallops is safe, the local version can still kill a human being by suffocationas a result of eating a single shellfish which has concentrated the neurotoxin in itsdigestive system. Even seabirds are affected by eating shellfish. Areas withproblematic levels of red tide in the water or toxins in the animals are closed toharvesting, and the origins of shellfish closely tracked to prevent poisoning.

The large expanse of high red tide concentrations causes problems untilshellfish can purge themselves of the toxin. Also, because the life of these vastlymultiplied algae ends with the deposit of cysts on the ocean floor, the widegeographical spread of this year’s red tide could mean problems in the future. In1978 the spreading bloom “seeded” Nauset marsh in Massachusetts, which sincethen has had its own annual red tide. Surveying the ocean floor last year,scientists found a significant increase in cysts from 1977.

The closure of the shellfishing beds has put a severe economic crimp inthe lives of those who depend on the harvest. On their behalf, efforts are beingmade to expedite small business loans and unemployment insurance. But theclosures have recently been extended to federal waters, up to 100 miles offshore,and a federal ban now in place applies to all shellfishers. Accordingly, GovernorsMitt Romney of Massachusetts and John Baldacci of Maine have declared statesof emergency but were denied federal disaster assistance. And said a NantucketSound oyster grower at the end of June, “It’s still coming.”

Leading the Way in SC

Too often, scientists and environmentalists are sidelined while develop-

ment and resulting environmental degradation take place, and only later have achance to go in and measure the damage. Not so at the 3,500 acre Arcadia Eastproject north of Georgetown, SC, where concerned landowners are making surethat environmental impacts are recorded from the get-go.

Completion of all plans for the site, which will include the usual mix of golf course, residences, a hotel and business facilities, is expected to take 15 years.Phase I ground will not break for a year or more while permits are granted anddetailed plans made. Meanwhile, with the enthusiastic support of members of theVanderbilt family, owners of the land, scientists of the Baruch Institute of CoastalEcology and Forest Science are already compiling baseline data on the site.

“We’re tickled to death,” says wetlands specialist William Conner. “We’llhave maybe a couple of years to gather information on everything from water to

wildlife—birds, plants and everything else. It’s a great opportunity. The develop-ers and our Institute have a long history together, and they’re just really con-cerned about doing it right. Already we’re out there on a small scale, and we hopethat we’ll soon have enough funding to be out there big scale.”

Discipline is also being imposed on the developers themselves. “Thefamily is very diligent,” says James Haden, principal at the Charlotte, NC planningand landscape architecture firm HadenStanziale. “We’re putting in far greaterbuffers than we have to, wildlife corridors, all kinds of extras.” It is expected thatas time goes on the scientists will come forward with recommendations formodifications in the design. Overall, what emerges is a Cordon Bleu recipe forenvironmentally sensitive development.

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Atlantic CoastWatchSustainable Development Institute3121 South St., NWWashington, D.C. 20007

Tel: (202) 338-1017Fax: (202) 337-9639E-mail: [email protected]

URL: www.susdev.orgwww.atlanticcoastwatch.org

Tax-deductible contributions for Atlantic CoastWatch are urgently needed for continued free services

Appreciation

We extend special thanks, for their most generous donations, to NinaRodale Houghton, Lawrence S. Huntington, Decatur and Sally Miller andHamilton Robinson Jr., and warm appreciation to these others who in May andJune also extended most welcome and badly needed support to the AtlanticCoastWatch program:

Lawrence CoolidgeHelen EvartsFlorence B. FowlkesAnita Herrick Edward L. HoytWilliam A. KernAnthony D. KnerrCaroline Macomber

Recovery at the Bank

Georges Bank, reports the University of Rhode Island (URI) “is amongone of the most biologically productive marine areas on the eastern seaboard,supporting a large, lucrative fishery. Despite its high productivity, by the early1990s several of the area’s commercially important fish stocks were showingsigns of decline. Overfishing and the degradation of essential fish habitat (EFH)are among some of the proposed explanations for the reduced stock size of Georges Bank fish populations. Much of the damage affecting EFH has beenlinked to bottom fishing using otter trawls and scallop dredges. In order to fosterthe recovery of fish stocks, approximately 25% of the bank was closed to bottomfishing in 1994.”

“To better understand how bottom fishing impacts benthic organisms,researchers from URI’s Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO) and the USGeological Survey (USGS) set out in 1994 to survey the benthic megafaunalcommunity of Georges Bank. Initial results of studies examining closed areashave revealed several promising signs of recovery, including increased spawn-ing stock biomass of cod, haddock, and yellowtail flounder. Even more dramati-cally, sea scallop biomass has increased 14-fold in unfished areas. The designa-tion of the Georges Bank closed areas has also positively impacted benthicmegafaunal species, which provide food and habitat for commercially importantfishes.” http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu/research/georges_bank

A further major factor: youngerpeople simply are not into canned

sardines, which reach no more thanabout 15% of US households. Butwith an aging population and claimsof health benefits, Stinson expectsproduction and sales to increase.

Soy biodiesel, nontoxic and biode-gradable, made its first nauticalappearance in the mid-Atlantic, whenDelaware’s Indian River Marinabegan offering it to boat owners.State and private agencies ap-plauded, saying it would help localsoybean growers as well as the

environment.

Funding

After a four-year legal battle Ever-green International, the large Tai-wanese container shipping firm,pleaded guilty to having illegallydischarged oil near US ports andagreed to a record-breaking $25million fine. Of the five afflictedareas, one is the Port of New York and New Jersey and another isCharleston, SC. Each judicial district

receives a flat $3 million. In NewJersey the Sandy Hook Division of the Gateway National RecreationArea was also awarded $1 million forimprovements. The Edwin B.Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge inOcean City and the Cape MayNational Wildlife Refuge get $500,000each. In South Carolina, the NationalFish and Wildlife Foundation’sSouthern region got $2 million,mostly for coastal conservation.

Mrs. Curt Muser and George MuserMrs. A. Wright PalmerHector Prud’hommeJohn A.H. ShoberAnne and Constantine Sidamon-Eristoff Sally WardwellRobert G. WilmersAlexander Zagoreos

may-jun 2005 atlantic coast watch newsletter

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