By Howard Goldstein
The South Shore Estuary Reserve Council, created from the Long Island South Shore Estuary Reserve Act in 1993, prepared a $98 million Comprehensive Management Program, which was adopted by Gov. George Pataki in 2001.
Already, more than 70 projects have been completed or started because of the initiative. With a new office in Freeport, Director Jeff Fullmer said the council will make even greater strides to implement the plan.
"It [the managemet plan] is a living document, and the estuary is a moving target," Fullmer said.
"The beauty of the management program is that it is always evolving to match the needs and changes that occur in the estuary. As our knowledge broadens, so too does the program."
The management plan calls for 11 outcomes:
¥Reduced non-point source pollution
¥Reduced point source pollution
¥Increased harvest levels of hard clams and other shellfish
¥Protection of coastal habitats to support shellfish, finfish and birds
¥Open space preservation to sustain community character and protect water quality and habitat
¥Improved knowledge of ecosystem management
¥Increased public use of the estuary and expanded tourism
¥Sustainment of water-based businesses
¥Promotion of maritime centers
¥Heightened public awareness
¥And for the above actions to be advanced through council partnerships.
Some of the directives seem contrary to one another -- expanded use of the estuary alongside open space and habitat preservation, for example. According to the council, however, this is precisely why a comprehensive program among so many stakeholders is needed.
Balancing act
Additionally, the estuary is a multiple-use system. It is a part of Long Island history, a source business, a piece of sea-faring tradition, a fly way for waterfowl, a nature reserve and a commercial fishery. And the living world of the estuary and human activity are too intertwined to ignore either side.
A purely preservationist approach would destroy the last of the commercial seamen and end centuries-old traditions and businesses from fishing, tourism and boating.
A business-heavy approach would render the estuary a sewer and likewise destroy the fishermen and clammers who depend on the reserve's resources.
"The bay is what made Long Island history. There are hundreds of years of tradition and maritime history on the reserve," said Nancy Solomon of the Port Washington-based Long Island Traditions, a group dedicated to preserving Long Island's maritime history and culture. "Fishermen are vanishing," Solomon said, "and there has been a far less energetic policy on actions to restore human culture to the bay than other projects."
Bill Powell, 56, of Wantagh, remembers the days when duck hunting, fishing and clamming defined the South Shore. As a teenager, he clammed the bays for summer money. Now that he's retired from the appliance industry, he supplements his income by clamming.
"When I was younger," he said, "you could practically pull up flounder, fluke and eels with your hands. Today, you're lucky to just see an eel. You can't make a living on the water anymore, which is why so few people do."
There may be as few as 50 full-time commercial seamen left in the entire reserve, which stretches from the Atlantic Beach Bridge to Town of Southampton in Suffolk County, according to Long Island Traditions.
The single greatest problem
Nearly all stakeholders in the estuary agree that the single greatest problem, afflicting everyone concerned, is water quality -- or rather, the lack thereof.
On a recent, torrentially raining morning, Rob Weltner, director of the Freeport-based chapter of SPLASH (Stop Polluting Littering and Save Harbors), pointed to a greasy slick that swept down a storm drain with the rainwater in Massapequa.
"Guess where that's going?" he asked. "Yeah...right into the bay. "
Oil, gasoline, pesticides, fertilizers, animal feces and other chemicals flow directly into the bay via storm drains. Until this problem is addressed, said Weltner, cleaning up floatable garbage -- of which SPLASH removed 500 barrels worth in nine months -- will not solve the underlying cause of the estuary's decline -- storm-water runoff.
"The federal money, $500,000, is nice, but it's a drop in the bucket. Before we all get too excited, we need to realize that this federal appropriation is putting a band-aid on a dam that is about to burst."
As it stands now, every time it rains, the estuary is poisoned by all the toxins that flow off hard surfaces such as driveways and roads.
Striped bass have dangerous PCB levels. Almost 31,000 acres of shellfish beds are too contaminated with coliform bacteria for human consumption. Toxic water has decimated populations of pollution-sensitive creatures (including some economically valuable species of shell and finfish). Oil slicks destroy fish/mollusk eggs and larvae. And nitrates from fertilizers and other sources encourage algal blooms, depriving fishlife of oxygen, often killing them.
According to the council, non-point source pollution is the major cause of damage in 48 out of 51 degraded areas across the estuary.
"The storm drains in the South Shore need filters," said Weltner. "New York City and Connecticut already did this to protect Long Island Sound. The technology is there, but of course, it costs money. But if this is not done, the estuary is going to turn into a toilet."
Weltner also cited the need to close or upgrade sewage plants (point source pollution). "I know that one of the hot spots for fluke fishing is right where Cedar Creek sewage plant discharges its waste into the bay," he said.
Weltner advocates getting women heavily involved in saving the estuary. "Women get things done. Look at MADD [Mothers Against Drunk Driving]. If we can get mothers to realize the dangers of a toxic bay and get involved, we'll have the most tenacious and unyielding force on our side," he said.
Weltner is also trying to get construction workers to push their interests in Albany, as filtering and waterflow redirection projects for the estuary would recruit a tremendous amount of local labor.
"I am, of course, pleased with all that is being done, and Fullmer is the best man for the job [as council director]," Weltner added.
The estuary can never again be what it was when the Shinnecock Indians came to clam and fish these waters. The days of thousands of residents paying their bills on wages earned from clam boats, flocks of ducks so dense they blot out the sun, and fish runs that practically choked the canals are over.
Fullmer, however, said, "We can one day make the days of polluted waters, no clams and scant fishing part of a history we will never go back to.
"This isn't about going back in time; that's impossible. It's about moving forward and deciding what the estuary can be tomorrow. We are going to fight to make boaters, shore birds, recreational fishermen, commercial clammers, sea kayakers and seal rookeries all a part of it."
