Jul-Aug 2002 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

8/9/2019 Jul-Aug 2002 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/jul-aug-2002-atlantic-coast-watch-newsletter 1/8

Homeland Offenses

In the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedies, national pr iori ties have necessarilyshifted. However, many spinoffs of Homeland Defense poli cies and a new econom icoutlook bode poorly for the coastal environment. In part this may be a continuationor magnifi cation of pre-existing trends. Items:

z In response to the Coast Guard’s inabili ty to patrol closed fishing grounds,the New England Fisheries Management Council passed a moti on to apply themaxim um penalty, including losing one’s comm ercial fishing license, to thosetempted by unprotected seas. Compared to 2000, end of year 2001 boardings of

fishing vessels decreased by more than half to 625. Fishermen fretted that re-sponses to sea emergencies would be impaired. While Soundings reports an $11billi on contract for m aintenance and acquisition of new Coast Guard vessels,helicopters and planes, one suggestion is for fi shing boats to have vessel monitor ingsystems. Fishermen keen to protect trade secrets have long resisted these.

(Continued, p. 7)

New Brayton Fixes Ordered

For years fisherm en, environm entalists, and citizens have been complain-ing that water flowing into and out of the aging Pacific Gas & Electric power plantat Brayton Point in Somerset, MA has been a disaster for Narragansett Bay. Mi l-lions of gallons of 95 degree water flushing from the plant, it has been argued, killedwinter flounder larvae. Fish eggs and larvae also suffer massively when they alongwi th water are drawn into the plant. Overall, it has been widely claimed, the planthas virtually wiped out the w inter flounder fishery in Mount Hope Bay atNarragansett’s northeast corner. The flow of ho t water, moreover, was said to havehad a destructi ve warming effect on all of the narrow , shallow Narragansett Bay.

This summ er, after fi ve years of research, federal and M assachusetts stateauthori ties lowered the boom on Brayton. In one of the largest cleanup actions in its32-year history, the New England o ffice of the EPA ordered PG&E to lower its heatdischarge into the bay by 96% and reduce water intake into the plant f rom almost 1billion to 56 million gallons a day.

The M assachusetts Departm ent of Environmental Protection joined

EPA in issuing the order in t he form of a draft permit, wh ich is subject to a publ iccomm ent period before becoming final. It was made under the federal Clean WaterAct, which requires companies to get perm its to discharge wastewater. A previousfederal order had compelled the plant, wh ich suppl ies electric power for 6 percent ofNew England’s citizens, to spend $150 milli on to reduce air emissions by 50%.

The company m ay have to spend as much as $250 mill ion to achievecompliance, principally to bu ild huge cooling tow ers. It claims scientific “ uncer-tainty.” Rhode Island’s Save the Bay wants Brayton to reduce water intake andoutflow as ordered, and to take immediate measures “ to repair the damage througha comprehensive restoration plan.” Others in the community, calling Brayton as is acornerstone for the local econom y, urge EPA to back off. URL: ww w.savebay.org

News For Coastal Advocates

z

Homeland Offenses

Brayton Fixes Ordered

Sayings

Drought Hurts, Helps

Jet Ski Phobia on Cape

Publications

Courts & the Seashore

Maine Scallop Seeding

Pfiesteria Wars

Cell from Heaven

z

Recurring

People; Awards; Species &Habitats; Restorations; Report

Cards; Products; Funding

Atlantic CoastWatch is a bimonthlynonprofit newsletter fo r those interestedin the environm entally sound develop-ment of the coastline from the Gulf of

Maine to the Eastern Caribbean.

Coastal News Nuggets , our weekly newsheadline service, is available through the

Atlanti c CoastWatch w eb site:www.atlanticcoastwatch.org.

Atlantic CoastWatch

1

1

2

3

3

4

4

5

6

6

JULY-AUGUST 2002



Sayings

Since the outset of Atlantic CoastWatch , this space has been devoted to thewrit ings and observations of people other than ourselves. But your editor was sostruck by a recent experience that I cannot help but tell you something o f it. Theexperience was a visit to Bermuda’s tiny, rocky Castle Harbour islands, the sole

breeding habitat of the Bermuda petrel (Pterodroma cahow ). Our host was theremarkable man w ho just about single-handedly saved the bird from extinction:Bermuda’s recently retired Conservation Officer, David B. Wingate.

An aerodynamic m arvel superior even to the albatross in its flying skills,the nocturnal cahow w as abundant throughout Bermuda w hen European explorersarrived. It was easy to catch dur ing it s breeding season, and so popular a food, thatthe bird w as thought to have gone extinct by as early as 1621. The famed orni tholo-gist Robert Cushman M urphy found breeding pairs in 1951, usually stated as thedate of the bird’s rediscovery. In 1961, armed with a freshly minted Cornell Univer-sity degree, Wingate set about to manage the bird’s recovery. In order to do so hemoved onto the 6-hectare Nonsuch, largest of the windswept Castle Harbour islandgroup, and has lived there at least part tim e ever since.

Wingate ridded the islands of the rat, a principal predator of the cahow. Hedevised a w ay to protect the cahows’ nesting burrow s by w alling off their entranceswith barriers just too tight to allow slightly larger white-tailed tropicbirds to invadethem. He built artificial burrows exactly m atching the birds’ requirements. Herestored the soils of the badly degraded group of islets to provide better naturalhabitat for the birds, and nursed frail chicks back to health before releasing them forthe pelagic wanderings that occupy them for m ost of the year.

All t his has resulted in w hat Wingate has called “one of the most successfulendangered species recovery programs on the planet at present.” From a nadir of18 breeding pairs at the time of rediscovery, the cahow population has risensteadily over the past half-century despite periodi c setbacks from hurr icanes whosewaves flood their burrow s. The latest count w as 59 breeding pair s which this yearproduced 36 fledgling chicks—” ample to sustain the species,” says Wingate.

The cahow recovery is just the beginning of w hat Wingate and his succes-sor, Jeremy Medeiros, seek to accompl ish on their 30-acre “ liv ing m useum.”Using w hat Wingate calls a “ holi stic approach,” they aim to restore the entire litt learchipelago to as close as possible a replica of what it once was, guarding the needsof preferred species. They have banished or cornered many destructive invasiveplants and anim als, includi ng the Jam aican anole, a non-native lizard that competesfor food w ith the endemic Bermuda rock lizard or skink; the great kiskadee, a birdthat eats skinks as well as anoles; and the proli fic cane toad, which swam acrossfrom m ainland Bermuda and also competes for food w ith the skinks. Nonsuch,almost denuded of forest cover when Wingate arrived, is now lush, green, and cladlargely in native cedars and other trees and plants that get favored treatment. Thisyear is one of heavy plantings for a grass called the Bermuda sedge (“our bo tanicalcahow,” Wingate calls it) that had also alm ost gone extinct.

Show ing off hi s treasures, the sturdy, white-bearded Wingate stridesaround his ow n habitat with the easy gait of a teenager. At one point on our tour, hecasually stepped off the edge of a 150-foot cliff onto a narrow ledge to look for atrop icbird bur row , then climbed no-hands back onto terra firm a. Hearing his clearand detailed explanations of w hat is happening on his islands, one comes to a quickunderstanding of w hy, for example, the Island Resources Foundat ion wouldflatly state that “ the world is forever in his debt for his singular and continuingachievements.” All the more remarkable: the transform ation of these islands hasbeen accomplished with virtually no support from the government. “ Our budget isless than what the dogcatcher gets,” W ingate notes wry ly. “ But that’s not really thepoin t. It’s not so m uch money that it takes to do th is, as it is dedication and resolve.”

-- Roger D. Stone

2

Atlantic CoastWatch

Vol. 6, No. 4

A project of the Sustainable

Development Institute, which seeksto heighten the environm ental qualityof economic development efforts, in

coastal and in forest regions, bycommunicating inform ation aboutbetter poli cies and practices. SDI isclassified as a 501(c)(3) organization,exempt from federal income tax.

Board of D irectors

Freeborn G. Jewett, Jr., ChairmanRobert Geniesse, Chairm an EmeritusRoger D. Stone, PresidentHart Fessenden, TreasurerHassanali Mehran, SecretaryEdith A. Cecil

David P. HuntGay P. LordLee PettySimon Sidamon-Eristoff

Advisers

Willi am H. Draper IIIJoan M artin-Brown

Scientif ic Advisory Council

Gary HartshornStephen P. Leatherman

Jerry R. SchubelChristopher Uhl

Staff

Roger D. Stone, Director & PresidentShaw Thacher, Proj ect ManagerRobert C. Nicholas III, Cont r. EditorMegan Ender, Program AssociateSarah Verhoff, Program AssociateAnita G. Herrick, CorrespondentLaura W. Roper, Correspondent

M ajor Donors

Avenir FoundationThe Fair Play FoundationThe Curtis and Edith M unson

Foundation

Sponsored Project s

Trees for DC

Environm ental Film Festival in theNation’s Capital , March 13-23, 2003



Dought Hurts A Lot, Helps a Litt le

“ Jellyfi sh Jam Delaware Beaches,” headlined a feature story in theDelaware State News . Reporter Hilary Corrigan quoted a marine educationspecialist as saying that the July combination of ho t and dry w eather brought m ore

jellyfish than no rmal to Delaware’s coast. Faster than usual growth rates made

many of the region’s half-dozen species of jellyfi sh highly visible to swimmers. Oneresult was local runs on baking soda, meat tenderizer, and other m eans of takingthe sting out of jellyfish encounters.

Higher than usual salini ty levels have caused sea nettles and other jellyfi shspecies to m ove en masse much farther in to the Chesapeake Bay and its tr ibutariesthan in a normal year of freshwater rainfall into the Bay. Swimm ing along withtentacles streaming far behind them, the nettles affect the abundance of fish in theBay by competing with them for food.

The invasive combjelly, a nonstinging jellyfish, and the filter-feeding, 3-inchsea squirt are harassing native species in many p laces along the New Englandcoast, reports the Boston Globe . Both species have expanded their previ ousranges thanks to rising water temperatures in recent years, marine scientists

theorize. The rise allows both species to begin breeding earlier, com peting w ithnative organisms for living space and feeding on some of them. The combjelly isespecially fond of w inter flounder larvae.

Salini ty changes along the Georgia seacoast, reported Online Mariner , hadmany crabs congregating in small areas where competiti on among crabbers grewugly w ith guns drawn and crab pots cut away. Worsening the problem, m any crabsmigrated w est of Highway I-95 with salinity intrusions upriver, where comm ercialcrabbing is forbidden. Reports from the Jersey shore related drought conditions tobrow n tides, which this year started earlier, were more w idespread and denser, andhave lasted longer than usual, affecting clam s and other shellfish.

In the Chesapeake Bay region, naturali sts and others expressed enthusi-asm about the lack of nitrogen runoff and other forms o f pollution as well as a sharpfalloff in erosion from development. The result has been a downturn in algal bloomsas well as the o ther fo rces that usually cloud Chesapeake water, and a sharpincrease in the clarity of the water. Com mentator s were even using the expression“ gin-clear” to describe the Bay this summ er. Increased sunlight reaching thebottom of the bay has in turn has stimulated the grow th of subaquatic vegetation,wh ich while still only 10% of histor ic highs has increased substantially f rom recentlow levels. It will not last, of course. But “ This is a gift,” naturalist John PageWilliams told the Washing ton Post. “ It’s showing us what we could have if wereally restore this bay.”

With signi ficant rains the sudden flush of nutri ents and toxics into theChesapeake watershed will worsen matters. Still, as Baltimore experienced itsdriest year since 1871, parched trees shri velled, fire hazard grew , and water levelscontinued to drop, M arylanders were praying for a tropical storm.

Jet-Ski Phobia on Cape

In the wake of Nat ional Park Service limits on noisy personal watercraftin Cape Cod National Seashore, nearby tow ns have also imposed curbs. Chathamfollowed the federal ban. Provincetown l im its the jet-skis to one corridor. Truro ,reports the Boston Globe , “ no longer allows people to so m uch as park their jet skisin publ ic lots.” Such moves are spreading despite industry measures to make themachines safer, quieter and cleaner. But, the Globe continued, poli ce detectiveGeneva Cook guessed she was the only Truro resident who still ow ns one. Shewas considering planting flowers around it.

People

Francine Cousteau, widow of thefamous aquatic explorer, recentlyshowed up in Narragansett, RI to signa memorandum of understandingbetween the Cousteau Societ y andthe University of Rhode Island.Few details have yet been decidedabout how the partnership wi ll work.For starters, plans call for the society’s105-foot research vessel Alcyone touse the universit y’s shorefron t BayCampus as a base for future expedi-tions.

Zoologist Warren Wisby, a specialiston how m arine animals see, hear, andsmell, died of heart failure in Home-stead, FL. He was 79. Wisby wasdirector of the Nat ional FisheriesCenter and Aquarium in Washing-ton, DC before retiri ng to Florida and

becoming a faculty m ember at theUniversity of M iami’s Rosensteil

School of M arine and At mo-spheric Science.

Nearing the end of hi s two term s asMary land’s Governor, Parris N.Glendening has been speaking ou twith ever greater frequency onenvironmental subjects. He prom isesto continue his involvement withenvironmental issues after he leavesoffice. “ We need a sense of outrageabout w hat’s happening,” he said in an

interview with Baltimore Sun colum-nist Tom Horton . “ We need a RachelCarson II. We need the federalgovernment leading, not dragging .”

Awards

Winner of the 2002 InternationalStockholm Junior Water Prize from theWater Environment Federation isKatherine Holt of Williamsburg, VA.A high school student, Holt’s winningproject was an analysis of the effectsof introducing exotic Asian oysters

into the Chesapeake Bay. Holtreceived a crystral sculpture and$5,000. URL: ww w.wef.org

Abigail Bradley nailed Delaware’sYoung Environm entalist o f the Yearaward for her research on nestinghorseshoe crabs, volunteering fo rgrass and tree planting in the state’sparks, and successfully getting thelegislature to unanimously pass thehorseshoe as the state marine animal.

3



Publications

z Two years ago, Isle au Haut, Maine fisherwoman Linda Greenlaw

produced the best-selling book The Hungry Ocean . This wo rk gave the reader akeen sense of what it’s like to fish New England’s offshore waters, especially if youare a single wom an captain with an all-male crew. Now , in The Lobster

Chronicles (Hyperion 2002), Greenlaw has produced an equally vivid account ofreal life on her home island (year round pop. 70) and fishing fo r lobster in nearbywaters. Even without deadly storm s to describe, Greenlaw spins a bracing goodtale in this surprise bestseller.

z In Shark Trouble (Random House 2002). Author Peter Benchley offerschilling inside looks at what goes on when TV producers get him and other celebri-ties to perform underw ater tricks close to large sharks and other marine predator s.After one narrow escape from a great white, a terrif ied and bloody Benchley makesit back to the surface gurg ling expletives. “ No no no,” says the director. “ You can’tuse that language on network television. Go back down and sur face again and tellus what you saw.” Along the way, citing examples from three decades of experi-ence, the author also offers much valuable counsel about how to avoid trouble frommarine creatures, of which only a few have any interest at all in eating people.

z This Fine Piece of Wat er: An Environmental H istory of Long Island Sound (Yale University Press 2002) traces the trajectory of this crow ded estuaryfrom its original splendor to the disastrous fish-killing degradation o f recent years.Author Tom A ndersen, a form er journalist who now works at New York’sWestchest er Land Trust , supplies a wealth of detailed inform ation about thevarious factors bringing the Sound to “ the brink of disaster” and almost beyond.Many archival photographs enrich a solid text that brim s with illuminating detailabout a subject not before addressed so hol istically.

z A new book by Barry Costa-Pierce, director of the Rhode Island Sea

Grant Program , argues that radical reform s including greatly enhanced environ-mental pro tection is needed if the aquaculture industry is ever to hit full stride. Thevolume, entitled Ecological Aquaculture: Evolution of the Blue Revolution , is

available from Rhode Island Sea Grant for a cool 110 bucks plus shipping. URL:http://seagrant.gso.uri.edu

Courts and the Seashore

Virginia has been strugg ling w ith its definition and regulation of isolatedand non-tidal wetlands. Recently US D istrict Judge Henry Coker Morgan Jr.

ruled for RG M oore, a developer building a golfing comm unity, that the US Army

Corps of Engineers has no jurisdiction over isolated and non-adjacent wetlands.The argum ent is that these seasonally w et lands are only connected by man-madeditches and therefore not covered by the Clean Water Act despite the federalgovernm ent’s desire to protect such areas. They filter pollu tants, counter flooding

and provide sanctuary for wild life. Virg inia also announced a new state regulatorypermitting system for nontidal wetlands to take effect this fall. Approved by theArm y Corps, the system is simil ar to that in place in 13 other states.

The Commonwealth of Virginia has appealed a March decision by thesame judge ruling that neither the state, nor the federal government m ay stopNew bunn Associates from developing 38 acres of wetlands on a 43 acre site.Roy Hoagland, executive director of Virgi nia’s Chesapeake Bay Foundat ion

branch, applauded the state’s appeal. “ Unless reversed,” he said, “ this m istakenruling puts at risk more than 400,000 acres of isolated nontidal w etlands in Virginia,threatening the health o f the Chesapeake Bay and ri vers and streams.”

(Continued, p. 5)

4

Now a research assistant at Univer-

sity of Delaw are College of

M arine St udies, Bradley is examin-ing the impacts of dredge spoils onbeach ecosystems. The awardincludes $200 and a Delaware StatePark Pass.

Species & Habitats

This summ er wildl ife ecologist DavidBrinker, of the M aryland Depart-

ment of N atural Resources,

returned to the Chesapeake Bay’sremot e Spring Island to tag this year’spelican nestlings. They were growingup on the island before heading southfor the w inter. By putting bands on thepelicans, Brinker can measure theirpopulation and also determine wherethey end up after leaving the island.Over 7,500 pelicans now visit the

Chesapeake each year—up fromalmost none back when DDT deci-mated the bird’s population along theeastern seaboard. He wouldn ’t tradehis job for anything, Brinker said.

The endangered shortnose sturgeon,thought to have been extinct in thePotom ac River, was rediscoveredthere in the mid-1990s. Recentlyfederal lawm akers accused the USArmy Corps of Engineers, whichhas annually been dum ping 200,000tons of sludge into the river upstreamof the shortnose’s habitat, of failing toprotect the species as required by law.There is no proof that the sludge,consisting of sediment from a watertreatment facility, is harmful. But, saidReuters, officials concede that areaswhere dumping occurred would beprime breeding grounds for thesturgeon and that the sludge may be

harmful to the sturgeon’s eggs.

Rhode Island’s Blackstone Valley

Tourism Council, reports theProvidence Journal, has been offering

schoolchildren and parents a “ Bugs ofthe Blackstone” tour of the river sothat children m ay learn about theecology in the water system. Insectssuch as the common stonefly or thebrushlegged m ayfly are intolerant ofpollut ion. Finding them is evidence ofhealth. Along the badly stressedBlackstone, a birthplace of the indus-trial revolution, they remain scarcebecause of persistent po llutants andwater quality.



Courts and the Seashore, Continued from p. 4

In settling a Clean Water Act lawsuit that m ay help shape salmon aquacul-ture regulations being developed in M aine, US Public Interest Research Group

and Heritage Salmon Inc. defined terms for environm entally sound farmingpractices. Included are: bans against European or genetically modi fied salmon;

stringent practices against netpen escapes; requiring heritage site to li e fallowwi thout use; and not using state regulated substances toxic to aquatic organisms,prophylactic antibiotics, or experimental drugs. More intensive monitori ng of sitesand public reporting w ill be required. Heritage will not expand operations inPenobscot Bay, and wi ll contr ibute $375,000 for wi ld Atlantic salmon restoration.Lawsuits are pending against Stolt Sea Farm and Atlantic Salmon of M aine.

In July a federal appeals court struck down an extension of the clean aircompliance deadline for the DC area that has been granted by the EPA. The ruli ngcame in response to a suit filed by the nonprofit environmental law firmEarthJustice, which argued that the delay requested by governments in the regionthreatened hum an health and was “ simply unacceptable for the capital of ourcountry.” Despite the new rul ing, complained EarthJustice lawyer David Baron,

EPA was still gi ving regional off icials until 2004 or even longer to comply.

Scallop Seeding in M aine

Sea scallop harvesting, traditionally a v ital w inter activity for Mainegroundfi shermen and lobstermen, hit the skids in the 1980s. Only the introductionof new technologies, larger boats and very heavy drags among them , kept thefishery sputtering along through the 1990s. In 1999, a delegation of M aine fisher-men, scientists, publi c officials and NGO representatives traveled to Japan’sHokkaido island to observe seeding techniques that have been notably successful.

What’s involved is as simple as it has often been effective. After scallopeggs are fertilized, the larvae drift in open water, then sink to the ocean floor.

During this tim e they are highly vulnerable to predation, especially from starfishand crabs. In order to protect the young scallops during this period , fisherm en setout fine-mesh “ spat bags” for the larvae to enter and attach themselves to an innermaterial called netron. Then they grow too large to swim out through the mesh.Later the scallops, coin size, are released into nursery areas.

Returning to Maine the delegation formed w hat is known as the WildScallop Enhancement Proj ect. Workshops have been held. Research has beenconducted w ith the assistance of Maine’s Depart ment of M arine Resources

(DMR), the pri vate North At lantic M arine Alliance (NAMA), and several univer-sities. Most im portantly fishermen, often lobstermen w ho turn to scalloping duringthe December-April season, have undertaken to set the spat bags.

This summer, the third for the program, local fishermen seeded some 2

mi llion young scallops in the midcoast Penobscot Bay area, where collecting wastraditionally good. Simi lar efforts have been mounted in Saco Bay near Portland,where help has been provided even by lobstermen not interested in scallopingthemselves, and in Cobscook Bay near the Canadian bo rder.

Educators on Deer Isle have developed a scallop curri culum for h igh schoolstudents involving spat bags, monitor ing results, and studying scallop physiology.“ It’s been a wonderfu l way to encourage stewardship among prospective fisher-men,” says Stonington fi sherman and scientist Ted Am es. “A w hole variety of goodstuff has come out o f it.” As well as one crushing disappointment thi s summer w henvandals cut most of the Penobscot Bay area spat bags away from their m oorings.

(Continued, p. 7)

5

Restorations

Last Apri l Nat ional Audubon

Society workers deployed terndecoys on Outer Green Island inMaine’s Casco Bay, broadcast ternvocalizations and set off fir eworks toscare away large gul ls that have

driven terns off m any Maine nestinggrounds. This year the effort wasrewarded when a common tern pairnamed Adam and Eve successfull yraised the first chick known to havebeen born on Outer Green in 88 yearsOuter Green is one of ten Audubonseabird restoration pro jects in the Gulfof Maine. The most famous of these isthe long-running Atlantic puffin efforton Eastern Egg Rock in M uscongusBay, wh ich this year has produced arecord number of more than 40 chicks.URL: www.audubon.org

Last December the federal govern-ment i ssued a draft of the rules togovern the m assive $7.8 billionEverglades restoration program.Environm entalists complained loudly.The draft was perceived, as reporterM ichael Grunwald put it in theWashing ton Post , “ as evidence of alocal water supply and flood controlboondoggle masquerading as anational rescue mission for alligators,panthers, otters, and wading birds.” Anew draft issued in July calls forenvironm ental goals to be set, and forthe Interior Department to playmore of a role in the effort than it hadpreviously been allocated—a keydemand from green groups. Environ-mentalists remain far from satisfiedwith the new draft, wrote Grunwald.“ But even the most skeptical amongthem called it an improvement.” Apublic comment period is currentlyunder way. URL:www.evergladesplan.org

Report Cards

No Atlantic or Gulf Coast state rakes inmore dollars for beach replenishmentthan New Jersey, reports the SouthJersey Courier-Post . The data itreports comes from a Duke U niver-

sity study show ing that since 1923,public spending for that purposetotaled about $3.6 billi on adjusted to2002 dollars on both coasts. Of thatsum the 125-mile Jersey Shorebagged in $1.08 billion or, said the



Pfiesteria Wars

In 1997, a late summer ou tbreak of Pfiesteria pi scicida in Maryland’sPocomoke River killed 30,000 fish and affected fishermen. This event had beenpreceded by much larger fishkills in North Carolina of over a mill ion fi sh in 1993 and

an estim ated billion fish in 1991. But when Pfiesteria moved closer to Washing ton,DC, apprehensions about the “ cell from hell” overcame skepticism on the part ofsome scientists and officials, triggeri ng a wave of policies and federal funds. Muchof the concern stemm ed from pioneering studies by aquatic botanist JoAnnBurkholder at North Carolina State University (NCSU), whose own lab workerssuffered illnesses as a result o f w orking w ith the organism.

New po licies called on the agricultural and livestock sectors to reduce theflow of sediments that provoke Pfiesteria , a benign organism in 23 of its 24 lifestages, into the single one that is toxic to fish and hum ans. Most impacted wasNorth Carolina’s swine industry, long accustomed to letting waste run into ri vers.The threat of Pfiesteria also supported arguments for building stream buffers. Nowafter four years w ithout Pfiesteria events (Hurricane Floyd in 1999 cleansed NorthCarolina’s estuaries while regulations reduced runoff), new studies question if t hedino flagellate is toxic to fish, or humans, and whether it has a 24 stage life cycle.

At the Virginia Institute of M arine Sciences (VIMS), Wolfgang

Vogelbein examined a handful of Pfiesteria strains, studying in detail one calledPfiesteria shumw ayae . In Nature, Vogelbein asserts that shumwayae gnaws at theskin of fish, enabling o ther species of amoeba to set in and do the real damage.Burkholder ’s reply: Vogelbein studied a non-tox ic strain and his work only confirm sexisting stud ies. NCSU has identified over 400 strains and is studying 300 of them .

Wayne Litaker, of the Center f or Coastal Fisheries and HabitatResearch at NOAA, could not identify m ultiple amoeboid stages in Pfiesteria

through the use of probes to identify specific genes. He claims that Pfiesteria issimil ar to other single celled algae. Again, Burkholder points out, Litaker used anon-tox ic strain. In a 2001 study conducted by NCSU and Old Dominion Univer-sity, scientists confirm ed an unusual amoeba stage using the same genetic probe.

With research funds for Pfiesteria now dwindling, some laboratories claimBurkholder fails to share research and Pfiesteria cultures -- an allegation shedenies, since she has cooperated w ith 21 laboratories. In October Burkholder wi llpubli sh the NCSU lab’s first find ings about the toxin and its effects on m emory loss.

In response to suggestions of Pfiesteria ’s non-toxicity, WaterkeeperAlliance sued to examine contradictory and repetitive research, and find out w hy$12 of $16 mi llion in research grants went to labs ill-equipped to handle Pfiesteria.

Said Rick Dove, Waterkeeper’s southeast representative w ho h imself suffers fromexposure to Pfiesteria : “ There’s a lot at stake here—the environm ent, human healthand research dollars. When they do wrong, scientists and government agenciesmust be held accountable, just like the corporate executives of Enron andWorldCom.” URLs: ww w.pfiesteria.org; www .vims.edu; ww w.waterkeeper.org

The Cell from Heaven

Twenty m iles off Florida’s Fort Pierce Inlet, reported the Associated Press,four fi shermen ended up in the water after their boat capsized and sank. Attractedby the chum they had been using as bait, sharks were soon surrounding them . Theyhad not had time to put on their life jackets. What saved them was modern technol-ogy. One of the men had a cell phone in a plastic bag. Whi le treading water, hemanaged to get it go ing and dialed 911. A Coast Guard helicopter was soon over-head and hoisted the foursome from the sharks to safety.

6

paper, “more than $8.7 milli on spentper mile of shoreline for replenish-ment proj ects.” The Garden State,cracked the Courier-Post , might berenamed the Golden State. Runner upwi th $6.6 milli on per m ile of beach:New York. URLs:www.courierpostonline.com;

www.env.duke.psds.edu

Improvements in land use practices,according to a new study based on 15years of satellite data, could save550,000 acres in the g reater Washing-ton, DC area from developm ent overthe next 28 years. The report, entitl ed“ Future Growth in the Washington, DCRegion,” was jointl y issued by theChesapeake Bay Foundation, theUniversity of Maryland, and the USGeological Survey. URL:www.savethebay.org

According to the Natural Resources

Defense Council, Washington, DC’sWater and Sewer Authorit y is still“ using a 19th century approach tostormwater” that results in “ bacterialaced rivers, dead fish, and sickswim mers.” The NRDC report, entitl ed“ Out of the Gutter: Reducing PollutedRunoff in the District of Columbia,”urges steps that wi ll encourage rain toseep into the g round rather than drainoff into such ailing rivers as theAnacostia. URL: ww w.nrdc.org.

45% of the ri ver sections it m onitorsare pol luted, says Virginia’s Depart-

ment of Environmental Quality inthe first dirty-water report it hasissued since 1998. 4,403 stream milesare listed as impaired because ofhuman activity—up from 1,568 milesin 1998 because the analysis hasbroadened and standards are stricter.Among the rivers cited are not onlysuch well-known hotspots of pollutionas the Jam es and Elizabeth Riversnear Norfo lk, but also the Pamunkeyeast of Richmond. On the list for the

first tim e, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch , the Pamunkey is“ tainted by fecal bacteria fromunknown sources.” URL:

www.deq.state.va.us/water

Products

Eastern hemlock forests are amongthe region’s most biolog ically diverse.Since 1924, how ever, hemlocks from



the Smokies to the mid-Hudson valleyhave been seriously beset by a pestcalled the wooll y adelgid that suckssap from the trees’ leaves andeventually kill s them. Scientists havediscovered that the ladybird beetle, arelative of the familiar ladybug,“ voraciously feeds on all stages of theadelgid” and has been successfull y

field tested. The Reading , PA companyEco-Scientific Solutions has beenbreeding and m arketing the ladybirds.Problem is that rearing the beetles is alaborious task, and the company hasyet to find a way to make them pay.URL: ww w.ecoscientificsolutions.com

Cooking low-grade wood in an oxygenfree environment, University ofNew Hampshire researchers report ,breaks down the material into variouscomponents including a liquid that canbe condensed into “ bio-oil” for home

heating. The raw material consists ofwood scrap from paper mills, andbrush and sm all trees that create afire hazard in forests. The fuel thatresults is environmentall y friendly. TheNew Hampshire Business Enter-prise Development Council is inwhat board member Jerry Stew art

describes as “ the very early factfinding stages” of finding investors tobuild and operate bio-oil productionplants.

Meantim e, researchers at Penn State

have developed a new technology totoss “ fuel nuggets” of mixed farmplastics into coal burners. The mixedplastics “ burn just fine,” Penn Stateagricultural engineer James Garthe

told EarthVision News .

Funding

Maryland’s Rural Legacy programawarded $3 million in grants toBaltimore County so it m ay protectland in the nor thwest and northeastsections o f the county. This initiati ve

enhances the effor ts of pri vate landtrusts to create large blocks ofprotected land. There are five RuralLegacy areas covering 55,000 acres.Today over 6,800 acres are beingpreserved or are in the process ofbeing preserved through the program.Counti es that fail to adopt goodenough land protection programs oftheir ow n get frozen out of the RuralLegacy kitty. URL: ww w.dnr.state.md.

Homeland Offenses, Continued from p. 1

z While the Coast Guard’s environmental p rotection duties have fallen 53%,state environm ental protection departm ents have been recruited to assist home-land defense, given their fami liarity w ith local waters. In South Carolina the Hilton

Head Island Packet reports that 5,200 hour s of 9,000 spent on the water by theNat ural Resources Department (SC DNR) were for Coast Guard requestedduties for vessel escort, bridge inspection and guardi ng exclusion zones, amongothers. This operates against a 22% budget cut at SC DNR that reduced the num berof law enforcement of ficers by 52 to 236, leaving the Coastal Division w ith just 34officers. Said Captain Jon McClellan: “ We’re about as th in as w e can get.”

z The Environmental Council of Stat es (ECOS) reports that nationw idethere have been $500 mi llion in state-level environm ental budget cuts over the lasttwo years, leaving $13 bill ion. NOAA ’s Ocean Service magazine warns that coastalmanagers face an extended period of austerity. Given Flori da’s $1.6 billion budgetdeficit due to plummeting touri sm, the Florida Keys Sea Grant office was closed.

At the New Jersey Office of Coastal Planning, Larry Schmid t points out whatmany coastal m anagers will face: “ no new equipment, no travel, no hiring, and thepossibility of layoffs.”

z The Pentagon is seeking environm ental exemptions from the Clean Air Act,Clean Water Act, Marine Mamm al Protection Act, M igratory Bird Threat Act and theEndangered Species Act. The 2003 defense authorization bil l, said Dan M eyer ofPublic Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), “ is the product ofthe Pentagon talking to i tself and ignores the fact that most of these environm entallaws already contain carefully drawn exceptions for military activities. Our militarydoes not have to despoil our shores to defend them.”

The problem is not just homeland security and the economy. As PEER alsopoin ts out, federal prosecutions referred by the EPA to the Justice Departm entdropped 20% prio r to 9/11. Referrals dropped 80% for the Toxic Substance ControlAct, 54% for the Clean Ai r Act, and 53% for the Clean Water Act. Said PEER analystJessica Revere, who com piled the Department of Justice numbers with the

University of Syracuse: “ The spigot for environm ental cases entering theprosecution p ipeline is being cranked way down during President Bush’s first year inoffice. We can expect even greater declines in 2002 wi th the removal of nearly halfof the crim inal investigator s and the new agency leadership ’s pledge to de-empha-

size environm ental enforcement.”

Scallop Seeding in M aine, Continued from p. 5

Some participants hope that the seeding w ill im prove the w ild catch.Others think it might lead to ranching ventures. Still others, says NAM A’s Carla

Morin, whose boyfr iend is a fisherman, participate simp ly “ because they believe insustainability. There’s a real sense of comm unity that’s form ing around th is project.”

Participants hesitate to predict dramatic results despite a strong trackrecord in Japan and elsewhere. “ Every place is different,” says Scott Feindel ofMaine’s DMR. “ The Canadians have been doing thi s for 10-12 years, and I don’tthink they quite have it down yet.” Even if tests succeed, Mor in worries, beneficia-ries may be not local inshore fishermen, but larger vessels from other places.

But if it is too early to tell w hat wi ll happen to M aine’s sea scallop fi shery asa result of all this activity, it is not too early to label this an exciting innovation . It is abottom up effort, led by industry and not regulators or bureaucrats, run by w hatFeindel calls “ a few pockets of really dedicated people,” that constitu tes a worthymodel. URLs: www.state.me.us/dmr/research_scallops.htm; ww w.namanet.org

7



With A ppreciation

We would especially like to recogn ize the major grant of $10,000 recentlyreceived from the Curtis and Edith M unson Foundation, and express thedeepest thanks to its board and staff for the support it has faithful ly extended toour Atlantic CoastWatch program.

We also extend very special thanks to two o ther recent major donors:Catherine Cahill and William Bernhard, and World Wildlife Fund. In addi-tion, we would like to recognize the important assistance prov ided by these otherdonors w hose contributions were received between June 24 and August 25,2002:

Wil liam C. BakerLawrence CoolidgeLeslie D. CroninElinor K. FarquharThe Folger FundBetsy and George HessElizabeth Hodder

Edward L. HoytSally Barlow IttmannPeter and Beverly JostJoan F. KovenBucky M aceJohn D. MacomberMartha E. McMillanLeigh MillerGail S. MoloneyJames E. Mol tzNatural Resources Defense Council

At lantic CoastWatchSustainable Development Instit ute312 1 South St., NWWashington, D.C. 20 0 07

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

www.atlanticcoastwatch.org

Tax-deductible contributions for A tlant ic CoastWatch are urgently needed.

The Open Space Instit ute inNew York gave $4.2 mill ion ingrants or loans to protect 245,500acres of forestland from develop-ment in Maine, New Hampshire,and New York. Much of the landbeing protected falls wi thin

watersheds whose health affectsthe coastal zone. Maine received agrant of $400,000 to buy the 4,242-acre Big Spencer Mountain and sixacres of shorefront on M ooseheadLake. The Nature Conservancy’s

New Hampshi re chapter and theSociety for the Protect ion of

New Hampshire Forests re-ceived $3 million to help them buy171,500 acres from InternationalPaper. URL: www.osi .org

Just now getting underway is the

initial step in the much ballyhooedHudson River PCB cleanup: thecollection o f some 30,000 samplesof river sediment. Engineers wil luse these samples to help themdecide where and how much todredge the river. General Elec-tric will foot the $15 million bill forwhat is said to be the largestsediment sampling program everundertaken in the US.

Cecilia V. NobelHector Prud’hommeHamilton Robinson Jr.Willi am D. RogersEdith N. SchaferJohn ShoberAnne and Constantine Sidamon-

EristoffDonald B. StrausEllen I. SykesKenneth B. TateSandra I. van HeerdenSarah T. WardwellGertrude deG. Wilm ersRobert G. Wilm ersNancy WilsonWorth FundAlex Zagoreos

Documents

Jul-Aug 2002 Atlantic Coast Watch Newsletter