Feb-Mar 1999 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

8/9/2019 Feb-Mar 1999 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

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Barging Trash: The Virginia Backlash

How were defined as hum ans, said University of Arizona archaeologistWilliam Rathje on Nat ional Public Radios Diane Rehm show, Is, we throwaway stuff. A longtim e student of w hat and how w e trash, Rathje thinks that eventhough all landfills do or eventually will leak, they represent a way of balancingout economics and consumption and has little apprehension about w hat modernand well-regulated ones contain. But to many w ho m ight agree with such senti-ments, including an indignant current crop of Virgin ians, getting the trash to thedum p by road or by w ater involves environm ental hazards and headaches.

In a spiri ted reaction to M ayor Rudolph Guilianis proposal that ship-ments from New York City to their landfill s should trip le, thus causing the OldDomin ion to surpass Pennsylvania as the nations leading state in garbage imports,Virginias legislators recently passed a series of bi lls to p reserve the status quo.Measures backed by an enthusiastic Republi can Governor James S. Gilm ore IIIto cap imports, tighten up on garbage truck traffic, and ban the use of garbagebarges on the James, Rappahannock, and York Rivers all sailed through both statehouses during the recently completed winter session.

Some opposing the barge ban were struck by the fact that one macro-bargeload of garbage can take 300 trucks off already congested highways. Not soattorney Sterling E. Rives III, who one day last summ er was swimm ing off a boaton the James. He raised his head and saw what looked like a giant wall m oving upthe river. The sighting was consistent with industry plans calling for barges the

size of an office bui lding300 feet long by 100 feet w ide, containing 300 containerssix or seven to the stack to haul New Yorks trash to landfi lls on the James andperhaps elsewhere along eastern Virginias extensive system of w aterways.

(Continued, p. 5)

M ega-Yachters to M onitor Seaw ater

In search of a way to engage yacht ow ners in activiti es that would benefitthe marine environm ent, southern Californ ia boater and real estate developerAlbert Gersten came upon an intrigu ing idea. It was to design a sophisticated butcompact monitor ing unit that could self-sufficiently gather a wide range of informa-tion abou t sea water, and install these in the engine rooms of large itinerantpleasure yachts. The data collected wou ld be transmitted by Inm arsat satellite to

shore stations, augmenting what scientists now receive from the existing butlimited global network of fixed and drifting buoys. The boaters would cover largeincrements of the new program s cost.

Thus was born the International SeaKeepers Society, a nonprofitorganization launched last summer at a cocktail party in M onaco aboard M icrosoftbillionaire Paul Allens yacht Meduse. W ith Gersten as chairm an and attorneyTom Houston as president, the Santa M onica-based society has already attracted30 found ing m embers contributing $50,000 or more apiece. Plans call for themembership to grow to 200 by mid-2000 and eventually to reach into the thou-sands. Owners of yachts 80 feet or more in length are especially welcome.

(Continued, p. 5)

FEBRUARY-MARCH 1999

News For Coastal Advocates

Barging Trash:The Virg inia Backlash

Mega-Yachters toMonitor Seawater

Sayings

Court NixesHomestead Jetpor t

Year of the Menhaden

Curbing Harmful Exotics

Publications

Maine Lobster Reprieve

Batik Art and theBarrier Islands

Recurring:

People; Species & Habitats;Grants; Report Cards;

Products; Job Openings;Upcoming Events

Atlantic CoastWatch

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Atlantic CoastWatchis a bimonthlynonprofit newsletter p resented by

the Sustainable Developm entInstitute, free of charge, to thoseinterested in bringing about theenvironmentally sound develop-

ment of the coastline from the Gulfof M aine to the Eastern Caribbean.

The newsletter is available on paperand at www.susdev.org

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2/8

Sayings

In the January 20 address marking the inauguration of his second term as

Marylands Governor, Parris N. Glendeningincluded these remarks:

We have been the keepers of the Chesapeake Bay, the defenders of therivers and streams against toxic Pfiesteria, the opponents of sprawl brought about

by overdevelopm ent and the protectors of open spaces and clean air. And I say toyou now: We have only just begun.

We reject the excuse that we have to abuse the environment in o rder togrow the economy. Lasting prosperity does not come from pollution. Rather, ourprosperity depends on the natural wonders that have been and wi ll be our greatestresource. Let every special interest know that this comm on interest of ours is notfor sale! We are not owners but the stewards of the worl d that God made, and weare determined to pass it on better than we found it.

Just as we must carefully plan for and invest in our capital infrastruc-tureour roads, our bridges and water lineswe must also invest in our environ-ment, our green infrastructureour forests, our wetlands, our streams and ourrivers. And just as we carefully plan for and invest in the human infrastructure

education, health services, care for the elderly and d isabledwe must also investin our green infrastructure. At the dawn of the 21st century, let us act with fo resightand wi thout favoritism , so that our grandchild rens grandchildren can breathe cleanair, sail and fi sh the wonderfully alive Chesapeake Bay and see the best of t his landpreserved from the mountains to the shore. Let this be the beginning of Marylandscentury o f the environm ent.

Appreciation

We extend warm thanks to these people who responded, too late to beincludi ng in the listing w e published in our December issue, to the request fordonations that we circulated last fall:

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Douglas BankerBill and Celia Crawford

Flossie and Frank Fow lkesDavid HuntEllen Harvey KellyJoan Koven

Nicholas M illhouseWilliam Newlin

Herbert S. Okun and Enid Curtis Bok OkunEric OstergaardHector and Erica Prudhom meDonald B. Straus

Court Nixes Homestead Jetport

The form er Homestead Air Base area was battered by Hurricane Andrewin 1992. In the aftermath o f the disaster, as reported in last Augusts AtlanticCoastWatch, Miami-Dade County and Florida state officials pushed hard to enableHomestead Air Base D evelopers, Inc . to build a m ajor commercial airport on thesite allow ing for 236,000 flights a year or sixfold the previous mil itary traffi c.

Local comm uniti es expressed serious concerns. Environm ental groupsopposed the proposal, citing the proximi ty of Everglades National Park (8.5 mi les)and Biscayne Bay National Park (2 miles), and the absence of a completed feder-ally-required Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS).

Show ing littl e interest in such argum ents, the county last year won ap-proval for the proposal from the states Governor and Cabinet. But the TropicalAudubon Society and the Sierra Club M iami Group, supported by otherorganizations, appealed this ruling. Last December Floridas Third Distri ct Court ofAppeals overturned it and awarded opponents a big w in.

(Continued, p. 3)

Atlantic CoastWatch

Vol. 3, No. 1

A project of the Sustainable Devel-opment Institute, wh ich seeks toheighten the environmental quality ofeconomic developm ent efforts, in the

Atlanti c coastal zone and in tr opicalforest regions, by comm unicatinginformation about better policies andpracti ces. SDI is classified as exemptfrom federal incom e tax under section501(a) of the Internal Revenue Codeas an organization described in section501(c)(3).

Board of D irectors

Robert J. Geniesse, Chairm anRoger D. Stone, PresidentHart Fessenden, TreasurerHassanali M ehran, Secretary

Edith A. CecilFreeborn G. Jewett, Jr.Gay P. Lord

Advisers

Willi am H. Draper IIIJoan Martin-Brown

Scientific A dvisory Council

Gary HartshornStephen P. Leatherm anJerry R. SchubelChristopher Uhl

StaffRoger D. Stone, Director & PresidentShaw Thacher, Proj ect ManagerRobert C. Nicholas III, Contributing

EditorLaura W. Roper, Correspondent

1999 Donors

Mary Flagler Cary Charitable TrustFair Play FoundationThe Henry Luce FoundationCurtis and Edith M unson Foundation

199 9 Environment al Film Festival

in the N ations Capital -- Theseventh annual Environmental FilmFestival wil l take place in numerousWashing ton venues from M arch 18-28.Documentary, animated, feature,experim ental, archival film s are allincluded; almost all are FREE. TheFestival is presented under theauspices of the Sustainable Develop-ment Insti tute. Tel. (202) 342-2564.The entire program is also available atURL: www.capaccess.org/eff


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Homestead, Continued from p. 2

In its decision, wr itten by Judge Robert Shevin, the court delivered asharp rebuke to Florida authorit ies. It found that the state and the county had erredin proceeding w ithout the inform ation to be provided by the SEIS. The judge added

that habitat, stormwater, and noi se management plans, needed to show that theproject would be appropriate for the region, had not been prepared. He citedFlorida law specifying that any expedited action must be consistent wi th the statesresponsibility to protect the environment, manage growth, and fulfill its proprietaryresponsib ilit ies.

While Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas was quoted as calling the courtsruling no m ore than a procedural delay, Barbara Lange of the Sierra Club M iamiGroupreckons it unlikely that the county w ill attempt another major move onHomestead until after the SEIS and the other stud ies have been completed. Thatprocess could last until the end of the year.

Review ing 1998 - Year of the M enhaden

In 1998 the plight of the pint -sized, filter-feeding Atlanti c menhaden, whosecondition says much about the broader health of the mid-Atlanti cs coastal ecosys-tem, took center stage. Initially at issue was recruitmentan 8 year trend of toofew menhaden surviv ing their fi rst yearas well as allocating the righ ts to catch adisproport ionately mature population. Early on, there was finger poin ting. Recre-ational fishermen, for whom m enhaden are important food-chain links, blamedcommercial fishermen for over-harvesting. Commercial fishermen attributed theshortfall to a record sized striped bass popu lation moving through the ecosystemand preying upon menhaden. Both arguments are probably correct: the geographicconcentration of m enhaden fishing is in the Chesapeake Bay, where blue crabpopu lations and other alternate forage for striped bass are dw indl ing. But therecruitment mystery stands unsolved and more significant than the longstandingdebate over who or w hich species gets to kill how many fish.

At several scientifi c meetings there was general agreement that environ-mental factors in the Chesapeake and North Carolina estuaries and associatedrivers, the heart of the menhaden recruitm ent zone, are key to recruitm ent attrition.Salinity condi tions in the Chesapeake, resulting more from rain fall and runoffpatterns than from the general decline of the bays marine ecology, have favoredthe comb jellyfish (sea-nettle). The comb p reys on small anim als calledmesozooplankton, which juvenile menhaden also require before they metamor-phose and begin feeding on algae as adults. Mesozooplankton popu lations havedeclined up to 90% at the mouth of the Bay. The production and distribution ofalgae, wh ich are lim ited by the lack of light as well as by the availabili ty of nu trients,may also play a part. Several years of heavy rainfall, resulting in m urkier waters,may have altered algae production , affecting zooplankton populations.

In North Carolina an EPA study found widespread toxic sedimentsthroughout estuaries that are vital for m enhaden recruitment. Much of the spawn-ing population gathers each fall off North Carolinas outer banks. During the winterlarvae are transported by the tides into estuaries where as juveni les they spendmuch of their first year. The EPA study found geographical connections betw eenlong-lasting tox ics that do not break down in the environment, and the absence ofbenthic invertebrates which form the base of food chains. Toxics were particularl yconcentrated in p rim ary nur sery areas for many fish species (see October 1998AtlanticCoastWatch). Scientists are beginn ing to study the degree to wh ich toxicsmay be affecting fish imm une systems and recruitment.

(Continued, p. 7)

People

After 31 years of service to theeastern Caribbean environment ,Edward G. Towle recently handedthe presidency of the Island Re-sources Foundation along to hisdeputy, Bruce Potter. With offices inSt. Thomas, Antigua , and Washington,DC, IRF is well positi oned to continuehelping sm all islands develop eco-nomically w hile also protecting theirenvironm ent. This was theorganizations pu rpose w hen Tow leand his wife Judith founded it 27 yearsago. Potter, a former official of thePeace Corps and of M obil Oil,intends to carry forward this broadagenda, and add new areas ofemphasis as well. Tow le becomeschairman of IRFs Board.

Laura Johnson, previously NortheastDivision Vice President for The NatureConservancy , has become presidentof the M assachusetts AudubonSociety. The fast-grow ing o rganiza-tion has programs in habitat andspecies protection, environm entaleducation for adul ts and children, andadvocacy. A century ago, two w omenfounded Mass. Audubon to protest thekilling of bi rds for womens fashions.Johnson is its first w oman president.

Carol Ash, previously director of TheNature Conservancy of New York

State, is the new executive director ofthe Palisades Interstate ParkCommission. Ash succeeds RobertO. Binnew eis, a former NationalPark Service ranger, who i n adecade-long tour of duty did m uch toadvance the cause of the Comm issionand it s 95,000 acres of parkland inNew York and New Jersey.

The Chesapeake Bay has lost two ofits most admired scholars. Thebiologist L. Eugene Cronin, profes-sor and director of many m arine-

related institutions in M aryland and akeen scholar o f the blue crab, died inDecember at age 81 wh ile still at workon a comprehensive crab book.Geologist Randall Kerhin of theM aryland Geological Survey andmany other Bay-related institutions,died in January after spending manyyears mapping coastal erosion, beachloss, and other coastal processes. Hewas 52.

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People, Continued

David B. Struhs, Commissioner ofthe Department of Environm entalProtection in Massachusetts since1995 and p reviously a White Houseofficial, has been named Secretary ofFloridas Departm ent of Environ-

mental Protection. Environmental-ists hailed the appointm ent as a majorstep forward from VirginiaWetherell, the previous secretary,who according to the Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation

was repeatedly criticized for failing toenforce the states environmentallaws. Floridas Governor Jeb Bushalso appointed another environm entalleader, J. Allison DeFoor II, asEverglades Policy Coordinat or torepresent the state as regards the $7.8billi on Central and South Florida

Restoration Project.

Species & Habitats

With money from the Red Lobsterrestaurant chain and the settlement ofthe 1989 World Prodigyoil spill inNarragansett Bay, Rhode Islandscientists are seeding 6 carefully sitedartificial reefs in the bay with tagged

juvenile lobsters. The goal of thispossibly replicable project, whichKathleen Castro of the RhodeIsland Sea Grant M arine Exten-

sion calls the most thorough of itskind ever attempted, is to see how thenew cobble and quarry stone reefsaffects lobster popu lations. Tel. (401)874-5063.

Rhode Islands Woonasquatucket,recently declared an AmericanHeritage River, has been the ob ject oftwo recent EPA citations of excessivepollu tion . In January the agencyreported that preliminary testsshowed dioxin levels in North Provi-dence sediments high enough to

cause the agency to warn people noteven to walk near the riverbank, letalone row or kayak on the river or eatits fish. That m onth the EPA also citedMicrofin, a metal-finishing com panyon the ri vers banks, for wholesaleviolations of hazardous waste andclean-air r egulations that further

jeopardize the ri ver. The company,said the Providence Journal, faced a$1.15 m illion fi ne.

Curbing Harmf ul Exotics

Along the Atlanti c coastline as elsewhere, native species and ecosystemsface serious threats from what have become known as marine bioinvasions.Examples include exoti c zooplankton in Prince William Sound, zebra mussels, greencrabs in Pacific coastal waters, and newly discovered veined rapa whelks (Rapanavenosa) wh ich prey on shellfi sh in the low er Chesapeake Bay. Several recentdevelopments suggest that this problem may finally be getting the attention itneeds.

President Clinton has signed an executive order to coordinate federalstrategy. Federal agencies are directed to review their existing authoriti es. Theorder also creates an Invasive Species Council, to develop a com prehensive plan tomin imize the economic, ecological, and hum an health impacts of invasive speciesand determine further steps to prevent their i ntroduction and spread. The FY2000budget proposes an increase of m ore than $28.8 mill ion to combat these species.

At the First National Conference on Marine Bioinvasions at the Massachu-setts Instit ute of TechnologySea Grant College in January, Secretary of theInterior Bruce Babbitt poin ted out that marine bioinvasions have large conse-quences for the nations health, food supply, economy, and fishing industry. Hewarned of their threat of degradation and hom ogenization of coastal w aterseverywhere.

Many exotic species arrive in U.S. waters from elsewhere in the w orld.But the Spartinachoking the state of Washingtons Willapa Bay, as well asAtlanticshad and other f ish threatening native species in San Francisco Bay, come from theU.S. East Coast. We also export harmful species. Leidys comb jelly, carried inballast water f rom the U.S. to the Black Sea and lacking any predator, created oneof the most intense marine invasions ever recorded. Babbitt said that the dischargeof ballast water is noth ing less than point pollu tion and m ust be treated as such.As ships become larger and faster the oppor tunit ies for alien species to gaintransport and survive the trip are multipl ied, up to a hundredfold on some routes.He characterized our response to date as piti ful, relying on volun tary guidelines,

a scattered approach and lim ited, unreinforced codes, and said, No l onger.

At the MIT conference, which had several co-sponsors, scientists, manag-ers and industry representatives illuminated the complexities of tryi ng to preventor control m arine bioinvaders. Marine species find many w ays to travel to a newenvironm ent. Am ong them: ballast water, bottom fouling , aquaculture, theaquarium t rade, and fishermans bait. Secretary Babbitt did poin t out the largeeconomic benefits that control can sometim es provi de, such the program to curblampreys in the Great Lakes. But he and others held that prevention w as a topprio rity and usually a more effective and econom ic tactic than control or eradica-tion.

Other speakers noted that introduced species have an evolu tionary as wellas an ecological impact and that the smallest organisms, such as viruses, bacteria

and phytoplankton can do as much harm as larger ones. Particularly dangerous aremarine pathogens, invasive algae, and organism s genetically altering nativespecies. In addition to init iatives to prevent invasions from the many serioustransfer vectors, speakers emphasized the importance of flexible fund ing to provideearly response to budding new problems before they are out of control. Whilescientists at the Virginia Instit ute of M arine Sciences and Nort h Carolina SeaGrant are already studying the veined rapa whelk, for examp le, new funds arerequired to enhance research and to control thi s predator.

In May the U.S. Coast Guard expects to publish an interim rule toimplement the National Invasive Species Act of 1996 with voluntary guidelines

(Continued, p. 5)

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5/8

Species & Habitats, Continued

According to the MonctonTimes andTranscript, New Brunswick fisheriesscientist Wayne Fairchild hasproduced convincing evidence of linksbetween the regions declining Atlanticsalmon population and sprayscontaining the chemical compoundnonylphenol that were used exten-sively between 1975 and 1985 tocounter the spruce budworm. Thenonylphenols, Fairchild told the paper,disrupt the reproductive developmentof the fish. He is based at the Depart-ment of Fisheries and Oceans GulfFisheries Centre in M oncton.

Both the river otter and he were surprised and uncertain, reportedWilliam Schuster, manager of the4000-acre Black Rock Forest inCornwall, NY, when they recently

encountered each other on this groundonly 50 miles from New York City. Thecurrent otter population in the forest -two breeding pairs and one single - isthe largest in many years. ForSchuster it was a signal that the onceheavily logged, now protected forestis becoming a fuller, more completeecosystem . Tel. (914) 534-4517.

For 23 years comm ercial netting ofstriped bass and other fish in theHudson River has been bannedbecause of chemical contamination

stemming from then-legal dischargesof polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)from General Electric plants nearTroy. Now, reports the New YorkTimes, state officials have found PCBlevels in stripers caught in the low er,saltwater reaches of the ri ver to beonly 1.6 parts per milli on or only abouthalf the federal maximum. Eventualrestoration of the comm ercial fishery,for str iped bass at least, is in prospect.Fishermen rejoiced.

A record 66 manatees were killed by

boats in Florida in 1998. In onerespect, though condi tions haveimproved for the endangered seacows. Since m anatee-sensitive safetydevices were installed on steelfloodgates on the Miami River and inseveral other nearby locations, theyare no longer crushing the trappedanimals to death. The sensors reversethe gates vertical movement whenthe manatees touch them. Fatalitiesfrom the gates have dropped to zero.

Exotics, Continued from p. 4

asking vessels to conduct complete ballast change at sea outside of the ExclusiveEconom ic Zone. Water sampling and the submission of reports are required fornearly all vessels wi th ballast tanks entering U.S. waters. In accordance with theAct, if the rate of compliance of self policing i s found to be inadequate or if vesseloperators fail to submit m andatory ballast w ater reports, the voluntary guidelineswill become m andatory and carry civil and criminal penalties.

Contact [email protected] for inform ation on the conference. URL for m oreon the veined rapa whelk: ww w.vims.edu/fish/oyreef/biab.hmtl

Virginia Trash, Continued from p. 1

Odor is one strike against uncovered barges, whose cargo has sometimesbeen aboard fo r as long as two weeks before they reach the Jam es, Rives says,and rainfall can cause leachate to drain directly into the water. Industry representa-tives say that new tightl y sealed containers will elim inate both these prob lems. But

Rives has other gripes. A serious accident in a confined waterway involv ing a bargecontaining 6000 tons of garbage would, he continues, be an environmentalcatastrophe that could never be cleaned up. He is skeptical of industry claims thattugs can maintain full control of the giant barges while operating in crowdedwaters. And he fears that a continuation of w hat has been sporadic garbage bargetraffic in Virginia waters could lead in increments to barging in allNew York Citysannual output of 12 mil lion tons. Thats a lot, he says.

The states new determ ination to control trash im ports, he concludes, is arefreshing change from prior policies that discouraged recycling and sourcereduction by m aking it so cheap and easy to ship garbage to Virginia. Now at last,he concludes, we are starting to take pride in our natural resources, and takingsteps to protect them.

SeaKeepers, Continued from p. 1

The University of Miamis Rosenstiel School of M arine and Atm osphericScience, meanwhil e, is spearheading the effort to design and test the researchmodules that the m embers vessels w ill carry. These suitcase-sized units, theRosenstiel Schoo ls Rod Zika told the Miami Herald, will eventually do work thatrequired an entire ship and crew w hen he starting doing marine research 30 yearsago. Zika is currently testing five pro totype systems of varying complexity. Oncethe bugs are out, the units will operate autonomously w ith their sensors monitoringten or more kinds of information about water quality and content. The first modu leswill be loaded aboard m embers vessels this spring.

Currentl y, only tw o of the Societys mem bers are Atlantic Coast-based. Buteven the data these vessels transmit w ill greatly enrich the inform ation now beinggathered from the region. Drifting buoys are not permitted close to the biologicallyimportant coastline, where the yachts wil l often be operating. While fixed buoys arenot easy to moor and cannot sustain themselves for long because of their hungerfor pow er, the yacht-based modules are mob ile and wi ll not strain shipboardgenerating capacity. Most buoys mon itor no m ore than sea-water temperature andsalinity. But since the Seakeeper modu les will be able to test for the presence oftoxins and nutrients as well, they will form a far more precise early warning systemfor harmful algal bloom s and other forms of water pollution than is now available.The overall economic benefits to be derived from the SeaKeeper program, saysHouston, are huge. Tel. (310) 399-0850. URL: www.seakeepers.org

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Grants

The National Center for EnvironmentalResearch and Qual ity Assurance,Office of Research and Development,EPA is providing grants under theEnvironm ental Mon itoring for PublicAccess and comm unity Tracking

Grants Program, wi th a closing date ofApr il 8, 1999. URL: http ://es.epa.gov/ncerqa/rfa/empact99.html. EPA, withthe Nat ional Science Foundationand the US D epartment of Agricul-ture as partners, also requests Waterand Watershed research proposals forgrants in the $100,000 to $300,000 peryear range. Some $7 million w ill beawarded. URLs: ww w.nsf.gov/hom e/crssprgm/start.htm or ww w.eps.gov/ncerqa

In Fiscal Years 1999 and 2000 theNat ional Sea Grant CollegeProgram expects to make availableabout $2,300,000 per year to supportprojects to prevent and/or control non-indigenous species invasions in USwaters, as well as about $940,000 fordemonstration projects on ballastwater t reatment i n the ChesapeakeBay and Great Lakes. The deadline forprelim inary p roposals for FY 1999 wasFebruary 1. To get a start on FY 2000,addresses for Sea Grant CollegeProgram Directors visit URL:www.mdsg.umd.edu/NSGO/index.html

Report Cards

Missing the Boatis a report by theM arine Fish Conservation N et-work and the Center for MarineConservation. It reviews how theNational M arine Fisheries Serviceand the 8 management councilsresponsible for f isheries in the U.S.responded to requirements of theSustainable Fisheries Act of 1996.They reportedly do not m easure upwell , and too o ften have settled forincremental improvements wheresubstantial changes were requi red.They did the m inimum they could getaway with or m ade little or no effort tomeet requirements. URL: ww w.cmc-ocean.org/missingboat/

The EPA reports that Delaware is thefirst mid-Atlantic state to adopt acomprehensive watershed approachto pro tecting groundw ater. EPAsRegional Administrator W. M ichael

Publications

Ecotourism and Sustainable D evelopment(Island Press 1999) coversfar more ground than anyone wi th a specific interest in Atlantic coastal issues willwant to traverse. But in her comprehensive coverage of a broad and much misun-derstood topic, author M artha Honey includes many nuggets of useful inform ationto Caribbean-bound ecotourists includi ng caveats on what and what not to expectfrom cruise-ship operators, travel agents and guidebooks. The book also includes achapter-length case study on Cuba, an increasingly popu lar destination for theadventuresom e U.S. traveler despite U.S. government restri ctions.

The Connecticut River Watershed Council announces the publication oConnecticut River EnvironmentA Directory of Public Agencies andCitizen Groups Serving t he Watershed. To get a copy of this listing of 800names in 4 states, call (413) 529-9500 or e-mail [email protected]

Sailors in rem ote sections of the Bahamas and eastern Caribbean watershave long relied on eyeball navigation as a supplement to government charts basedon old information and cruising guides lacking in detail. Now, reports CruisingWorldmagazine, author Stephen J. Pavlidis has taken much of the stom ach-

tightening guesswork out of cruising the region. The liveaboard w riter used his owncompu ter-based hydrographic system to produce a series of four w ell-illustratedcruising guides for Seaworthy Publications that make it far harder to m iss thechannels. First was a guide to the ligh tly-populated Exumas. Then came On andOff t he Beaten Paththe Central and Southern Bahamas Guide(1997),wh ich includes inform ation on such seldom-visited places as San Salvador andInagua islands. Soon forthcom ing are the fir st-ever guide to crui sing the Turks &Caicos islands, and a new guide to the Abacos in the northern Bahamas. Tel: (800)777-3966. URL: www.seaworthy.com.

At a time w hen the major m edia are devoting ever more attention to theprob lems of coral reef bleaching , death, and disappearance, it is useful to have asolid book on the subject that is bot h acceptable to professionals and accessible tothe general publi c. Such a work is The Enchanted Braid: Com ing t o Terms With

Nat ure on the Coral Reef(John Wiley & Sons, 1998) by Osha Gray Davidson.Not a scientist but a w riter and diver, the author travels far and wide from hisFlori da base to chron icle both the beauty and the plight of the world s remaini ngreefs.

M aine Lobster Reprieve

In Maines Portland Harbor, reported the Port land Press-Herald, enlight -ened action by the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company will w in a reprievefor some 32,000 threatened lobsters.

Last year, as repor ted in the June 1998 issue of Atlantic CoastWatch, local

lobstermen removed juvenile lobsters from their burrow s in the harbor before amajor d redging project began, and relocated them outside the harbor.

The idea was that the dredging w ould be com pleted before the lobsterswould begin their spring m igration back toward the shore. But with one third of the

job still undone, the Army Corps of Engineers diverted the companys dredge toanother task in Virginia.

Now, how ever, Great Lakes has been persuaded to change its scheduleagain so that the Portland dredging w ould be complete before lobsters startcrawling back into the harbor. Lobstermen and Maine officials applauded.

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Report Cards, Continued

McCabe applauded GovernorThomas Carper for Delawares highlevel of commi tment. Delaware isleading the w ay by organizing itsactivity around indiv idual w atersheds.

The Baltimore Sunreports thatM ichael Naylor, a biologist w ith theM aryland Department of N atural

Resources, poring over old aerialphotographs, has found that theChesapeake Bays aquatic g rasseshave declined extensively in the past50 years. Grasses surrounding onesmall island in Tangier Sound havefallen from 6,000 acres in 1952 to 83acres in 1997. Sim ilar aerial photosare available elsewhere from stateand local archives.

Products

The Nat ional Weather Servicerecently inaugu rated a Dial-A-Buoyservice whereby anyone can getcurrent wind direction and velocity, airand water temperature, and wavemeasurements from a network ofstations in U.S. coastal waters. To usethe system phone (228) 688-1948 andpunch in the station identifiernumber if you happen to know this. Ifyou do not, select m enu option 2 andfollow instructions to dial in the

approximate latitude and longitude(degrees, then m inutes) of the areayoud like inform ation from. You w illthen be automatically contacted to theinform ation and forecast from thestation nearest the waypoint youchose. The Dial-A-BuoyURL:ww w.ndbc.noaa.gov, has maps andother details in addition to the above.

For fishermen and others who w ant torun their por table electronic deviceswhi le separated from a reliable powersource, SunWize Technologies

offers a useful remedy: its 2-poundPortable Energy System. The solarsystems voltage control ler can doubleor tripl e the life of a portablecomputers battery wh ile the machineis running, or charge the battery whenthe unit is switched off. The systemcan also operate or recharge cellphones and other small devices. RealGoods, a mail order house, distrib-utes the product . Tel. (800) 919-2400.

Batik Art and Barrier Islands

North Carolina-born artist M ary Edna Fraser has often flow n the south-east U.S. coast aboard her grandfathers antique single-engined Ercoupe airplane,now p iloted by her father and brother. A t college she fell in love with batik, aresist-dye process for printing on w oven cloth for which some parts of Java islandare famous. During the 1990s Fraser became famil iar w ith the w ork of the coastalgeologist Orrin Pilk ey Jr., of Duke University, and came to share his distaste for

jetties, groins, sea wall s and other structures that interfere with the natural move-ment of sand along the shore.

In recent years Fraser has tied these disparate strands together to create ahigh ly orig inal art form. From the plane she photographs the coasts natural beauty,often searching long and hard for fram es that conceal its disfigurement. Sometim essupplementing these images wi th watercolo r sketches made on the ground, shethen transform s them into batiks, using both classical and modern m ethods.

In 1994-95 Fraser first teamed w ith Pilkey to produce an exhibi tion of herwork that appeared at the Nat ional Air and Space M useum in Washington, D.C.Currently on exhibit at the Duke U niversity M useum of Art is another set ofFraser batiks, along w ith Pilkeys wall text panels and wri tings about barrier islandsand damaged shorelines by South Carolina poet M arjory Wentworth. A Celebra-tion of Barrier Islands: Restless Ribbons of Sandwil l remain on view at Dukeuntil M arch 21. On March 21 the exhibit ion reopens at the Nat ional ScienceFoundation in Arlington, Virginia, and will remain there through m id-June.

Id like for my w ork to speak on behalf of the land, says Fraser. If itincreases ecolog ical awareness, thats fine by me.

Menhaden, Continued from p. 3

1998 also high ligh ted menhadens unique capacity to remove excess

nutrients from the water column. Much has been done, with federal funds availablefor stream buffering and other such efforts, to prevent nutr ient rich runoff. But it isfar more diffi cult to rebuild the ability of m arine ecosystems to absorb nu trients.Menhaden serve as rovi ng filt ers, converting algae into energy and thus reducingnutri ent loads. Able to process up to four gallons of water per minute, they gatherwhere nutrients in the form of algae are concentrated. Marine biologist SaraGottlieb, while completing her M.S. degree at the University of Maryland ,estimated that fo r Chesapeake Bay, this ecological function is worth up to $90million per annum counting only nitrogen and not the other nutrient, phosphorous,that the algae also contain. The comm ercial value of the fishery ranges between$20-128 m illi on.

In 1998 the stock assessment and policy p rocesses governi ng the menha-den fishery also came under review. An external review panel mandated by the

Atlanti c States Marine Fisheries Commission recomm ended sweeping changesincluding dismantling the Atlantic Menhaden Advisory Comm ittee and increasingparticipation through smaller more specific scientific comm ittees, including one onecological functions. Other recomm endations included linking yields to recruitment,and requiring the fishery to take into account the menhadens life cycle and distribu-tion. Should the concern and find ings of 1998 become poli cy in 1999, it may well bethat this largely under-recognized and heavily u tilized little fish, Brevoortia tyrranus,will begin its recovery.

Gottli ebs paper at URL: cbl.um ces.edu/~gottli eb/thesis/, or visitww w.chesbay.org, ww w.cbf.org or www.nfi.org/media/menI0299.htm

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Upcoming Events

M arch 18-28. Environm ental Film Festival in the Nations Capital, see page 2.

April 4-10. II Caribbean Workshop on Energy and Environm ent, Cienfuegos, Cuba.Contact Mi lagroa Perez Fax: (53) (432) 22762. E-mail mm [email protected]

Apri l 5-7. Coastal GeoTools 99 Explor ing Spatial Techno log ies for the CoastalResource Managem ent Comm uni ty, Charleston, Sout h Carol ina. Tel: (843) 740-1334. E-mail: [email protected]

April 10. The 9th Annual Long Island Sound Watershed Alli ance Citizens Summi t -Open Space, Smart Grow th and Water Quality - w ill be held at University ofConnecticut s Stamford campus. Contact Lisa Carey Tel:(203) 327-9786. [email protected].

April 16-17 . The History, Status and Future of the New England Offshore Fishery,

Evans Hall, Cum mings Art Center, Connecticut College, New London, Connecti-cut. URL: ccbes.conncol l.edu

April 22-24 . 3rd Bay of Fundy Science Workshop, M ount Allison University,Sackvil le, New Brunswick, Canada. Contact Dr. Jeff Ollerhead, Tel: (506) 364-2428.E-mail [email protected]

April 26-30. 9th International Zebra Mussel and Aquatic Nuisance species (ANS)Conference, Duluth, Minnesota. Tel: (218) 726-8715, URL: www.d.umn.edu/seagr/

July 24-30. Coastal Zone 99, biennial international symposium on coastal zonemanagement, San Diego. URL: om ega.cc.um b.edu/~cz99

Non Profit Org.

US Postage Paid

Washington, DC

Permit 1291

Atlantic CoastWatch

Sustainable Development Institute

3121 South St., NW

Washington, D.C. 20007

Tel: (202) 338-1017

E-mail: [email protected]

URL: www.susdev.org

Job Openings

The Caribbean ConservationCorporation has 8 research positions,June 12-November 29 for marineturtl e work in Costa Rica. E-mail:resprog@cccturtl e.org. URL:www.cccturtle.org

The Potom ac Conservancy seeks aLand Protection Director. ContactMatt hew Logan, Tel: (202) 338-4700. E-mail [email protected]

The M arine Conservation BiologyInstitute (MCBI) announces aProgram and Legislative Associateposition in Washington, DC.URL:www.mcbi.org

The Center for M arine Conserva-tion (CMC) seeks a Marine Wildl ifeLawyer. Tel: (202) 857-5551. E-mai l:[email protected]

The University of Connecticutseeks a Program Coordinator for itsNonpoint Education for MunicipalOfficials Project. Contact ChesterArnold. Tel: (860) 345-4511. E-mail:[email protected]

WE HAVE MOVED!

PLEASE NOTE OUR NEW ADDRESS

Documents

Feb-Mar 1999 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter