Atlantic CoastWatch JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2002

High Grades for Marine Protection News For Coastal Advocates

In 2000 President Bill Clinton issued an executive order to strengthen
the network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). Interest in the program, coordinated
z
by NOAA’s National MPA Center, has been widely expressed. Examples:
High Grades for MPAs 1
A recent survey of nearly 9,000 reef users in southeast Florida, including
sport fishers, snorkelers, scuba divers, and visitors as well as residents, reveals Dam Removal Blocked 1
widespread support for “no-take zones.” The comprehensive study, funded by a
consortium of state and federal agencies and conducted by the consulting firm Sayings 2
Hazen and Sawyer, also highlights the magnitude of reef-related expenditures in
four counties along the coastline from Palm Beach to the Florida Keys.
Offshore Wind Power 3
“A majority of resident reef-users endorse the idea of ‘no-take’ zones in
their county and in the other southeast Florida counties,” report the study’s authors. Senior Volunteers 3
“A majority of residents would support ‘no-take’ zones on 20 to 25% of the existing
natural reefs. About 75% of respondents in all counties supported the existing ‘no- Publications 4
take zones in the Florida Keys.”
(Continued, p. 7) More Salmon Strife 4

Citizens Block Dam Removal Builders Join Greens 5

In recent years dam removals, mostly for the sake of anadromous fish, Chesapeake Oysters 5
have been apples in the eyes of environmentalists. In Maine last year, an effort to
unplug the 150-year-old West Winterport dam on the Marsh Stream, between the Jamaica Aids Watersheds 6
towns of Winterport and Frankfort, also seemed headed for success.
Canadian Air Pressure 6
Approvals were in hand from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the
state Department of Environmental Protection. The final thumbs-up from the
Courts and the Seashore 6
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, required to decommission a small
hydro power plant on the site, was also in sight. The dam’s owners, a group called
Facilitators Improving Salmonid Habitat (FISH), exulted in the prospect of Puerto Rico Goes High Tech 7
freeing up the stream and restoring populations of highly endangered Maine
Atlantic salmon and other fish species. Upcoming Events 8

Local opposition, however, mounted. Winterport fire chief Stan Bowden z

argued that the hydrant proposed by FISH was no match for the 50-acre impound-
ment of water available for firefighting that the dam created. Others worried about
property values, flood control, and recreational uses that would be lost with the Recurring
pond. It was noted that Clifton Townsend, president of FISH, lives in faraway
Skowhegan and that only one of the group’s members is a local resident. Winterport People; Awards; Species &
resident Bob Reynolds argued that Townsend represented the interests not of the Habitats; Restorations; Products;
community, but of “extremist” environmental groups such as American Rivers.
Report Cards; Funding
At recent meetings, citizens of both towns voted to enable local officials to
Atlantic CoastWatch is a bimonthly
use the power of eminent domain to acquire the dam from FISH and conduct an
nonprofit newsletter for those
engineering study to establish the cost to taxpayers of owning and maintaining it.
interested in the environmentally
In Frankfort the vote was unanimous. Townsend says he is not sure what his group
sound development of the coastline
will do next, but foresees that the issue “will all be in court fairly soon” with no idea
from the Gulf of Maine to the
of what the outcome will be. “It’s been a very interesting ride,” he says. “And I’m
Eastern Caribbean.
sure it will continue to be an interesting ride.”

Atlantic CoastWatch
Vol. 6, No. 1
A project of the Sustainable
Development Institute, which seeks
to heighten the environmental quality
of economic development efforts, in
coastal and in forest regions, by
communicating information about
better policies and practices. SDI is
classified as a 501(c)(3) organization,
exempt from federal income tax.
Board of Directors
Freeborn G. Jewett, Jr., Chairman
Robert Geniesse, Chairman Emeritus
Roger D. Stone, President
Hart Fessenden, Treasurer
Hassanali Mehran, Secretary
Edith A. Cecil
David P. Hunt
Gay P. Lord
Lee Petty
Simon Sidamon-Eristoff
Advisers
William H. Draper III
Joan Martin-Brown
Scientific Advisory Council
Gary Hartshorn
Stephen P. Leatherman
Jerry R. Schubel
Christopher Uhl
Staff
Roger D. Stone, Director & President
Shaw Thacher, Project Manager
Robert C. Nicholas III, Contr. Editor
Sarah Verhoff, Program Associate
Anita G. Herrick, Correspondent
Laura W. Roper, Correspondent
Major Donors
Avenir Foundation
The Fair Play Foundation
The Curtis and Edith Munson
Foundation
Sponsored Projects
Trees for DC
Environmental Film Festival in the
Nation’s Capital, March 14-24, 2002
2
Sayings
What follows was written by John Page Williams, senior naturalist at the
Chesapeake Bay Foundation. It is adapted from his “Chesapeake Notebook”
column, published February 14, 2002 inThe Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Why aren’t there any canvasbacks in front of my house? asked a caller
from the South River area several weeks ago. You’ll remember that the temperature
was in the 70s then. Winter didn’t seem to exist.
A couple of Alberta Clippers later, some canvasbacks began showing up in
the usual haunts. “They just came late,” said my friend Fairfax Settle, a wildlife
biologist. Besides common mergansers and ruddy ducks, there weren’t any
waterfowl around until January. On his survey last month, though, Mr. Settle found
about 2,400 canvasbacks on the Rappahannock River, 1,500 on the York, and 4,300
on the Potomac, along with about 5,000 tundra swans, which also arrived very late.
Indeed, canvasbacks are among the latest arrivals among the Chesapeake’s
migratory waterfowl. They come here each winter from nesting grounds in the
prairie potholes of Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada, and from North Dakota.
The swans come all the way from the Arctic coast of Canada and Alaska. Histori-
cally, the Chesapeake has been their most important wintering ground, offering
them relatively ice-free waters and abundant underwater grasses. The grasses, of
course, are reduced in acreage and so are the birds’ numbers, but the bay is still
critical habitat for them.
The canvasbacks got me to wondering what else was going on out there,
so I launched my whaler on Lake Ogleton, at the Severn’s mouth, on a foggy
afternoon. Up the Severn above the Naval Academy, the sounder marked a nice
school of white perch tucked into the 30-foot-deep hollow on the upriver side of the
remains of the old railroad bridge, with a few rockfish hovering nearby at mid-
depths. They were all in winter quarters, just where I’d expected to find them.
Even better, there were 40 tundra swans feeding on submerged redhead
grass on the Aisquith Creek Bar. That’s where they should have been since early
December, so I was reassured to see that they had finally arrived. So, according to
canvasbacks, swans, and some fish, winter is finally here. Spring, however, is only
a couple of weeks away. By March 1, at least some of our ospreys will be back from
their own summer in Central and South America. For a couple of weeks in March,
we’ll have both ospreys and tundra swans here. Between them, they connect the
Chesapeake to both South America and the Arctic Circle.
Appreciation
Our warm thanks to these people who, between December 21, 2001 and
Febuary 19, 2002, made most welcome and greatly appreciated contributions of $50
to $1,000 to our newsletter and the Coastal News Nuggets feature that also appears
on our web site, www.atlanticcoastwatch.org:
Richard W. Angle, Jr. Robert Leeson Jr.
BlairT. Bower The Lucy Foundation
Barry R. Bryan Frederic C. Rich
David J. Callard Frederick A.O. Schwarz Jr.
Armand B. Erpf Russell E. and Aileen B. Train
Harriet Sweeney and Eric Frauenfelter David Ward
Mary Price Taylor Harrison C. Lawson Willard
Lawrence S. Huntington The Wilmot-Wheeler Foundation
Freeborn G. Jewett Jr.
(Continued, p. 3)
 3
People

Appreciation, Continued from p. 2 Environmentalists in Virginia, a state

not known for its close attention to
Chesapeake Bay cleanup or pollution
Overall donations credited to our 2001 appeal totaled $36,242.82, from 141
issues, are cheered by Governor
individuals and small family foundations. Three larger grants from the Avenir, Fair
Mark Warner’s appointment of W.
Play, and Curtis and Edith Munson Foundations, totaling $20,000, plus a fund
Tayloe Murphy Jr. to the state’s top
balance of $4,610 at January 1, 2001, enabled us meet our Atlantic CoastWatch
environmental job, state secretary of
program budget of $60,000 for the year. With this support we could carry on with
natural resources. “He’s a great
the bimonthly Atlantic CoastWatch newsletter, now in its fifth year of publication,
environmentalist and a wonderful
and also with the newer weekly Coastal News Nuggets headline feature on the
legislator,” says Marie Ridder, former
website. Our deep thanks, once more, to all who participated.
commissioner for the environment in
Virginia. For 18 years as a state
lawmaker, Murphy, 69, fought long
“Not Far Enough” Offshore Wind Power and hard on environmental issues. He
pledges renewed efforts in his new
Since our November/December 2001 coverage, more opposition has position. A state budget crunch stands
surfaced to building a 170-tower wind farm on Horseshoe Shoal in Nantucket in the way of rapid progress.
Sound. The Barnstable town council voted 8-3 to oppose Cape Wind Associates’
plans. The vote has no binding regulatory power, but reflects concerns voiced by Another conservationist popping up in
local businesses, fishermen, boaters, and residents. The Cape Cod Times stressed a surprising place is Christopher J.
its worries about a lack of significant financial benefits to residents of the Cape and Zeman, New England field represen-
minimal government expertise on offshore windfarms in the US. tative of the American Oceans
Campaign (AOC), newly appointed to
Nevertheless, following its own extensive field studies, the company is a panel advising the New England
asking the Army Corps of Engineers for permits for a single collection tower to Fishery Management Council on
be placed on the shoal. The Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act office is the sea scallop fishery. This is a “rare
coordinating its review with the Corps. but positive move,” reports AOC, for
the “industry-dominated” Council.
Separately, Sea Energy Generation Corporation is proposing the use URL: www.americanoceans.org
of European wind and wave technology at a 20 windmill and wave action park some
8 to 20 miles southeast of Nantucket. URL: www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/ New attention and support may stem
aces140.html. the long-standing decline of tree cover
in the City of Trees, as Washington,
DC was known a century ago.
Mark Busciano, newly appointed
EASI Does It forester for the District of Columbia,
plans to increase a badly depleted
Older people interested in volunteer opportunities to help protect the staff, introduce hazard and disease-
coastal zone need look no further than the sprightly Environmental Alliance for resistant tree species, and field new
Senior Involvement (EASI). This fast-growing organization, which started in 1991 management techniques. But, he
with a budget of $10,000, now fields over 100,000 members of its Senior Environ- warned in a Washington Post inter-
ment Corps via a network of 12,000 partner organizations. The budget has grown to view, “Any tree endeavor is a long-
$2.7 million. term plan. You can’t have a short
patch on it.” URL:
Featured environmental activities include water quality monitoring, www.washingtonpost.com
watershed assessment, and stream corridor restoration as well as a variety of
teaching and other opportunities. The organization is active all along the US Awards
Atlantic shoreline—especially so in Massachusetts, Delaware, Georgia, and its
headquarters state of Virginia. The Pennsylvania program concentrates on the
Among Chesapeake Bay people and
Susquehanna River watershed.
institutions recently honored are
these:
EASI was born as a collaboration between EPA and the American
Association of Retired Persons. Funding comes principally from a variety of
The Renewable Natural Resources
government agencies including such unlikely ones as the Department of De-
Foundation, a coalition of 14 scien-
fense and, the management hopes, the newly founded Homeland Security
tific organizations interested in
office.
sustaining the world’s renewable
resources, gave its 2001 Excellence in
Funding is not a full measure of EASI’s success, says director Tom Ben-
Journalism award to Bay Journal. This
jamin. Much of the growth has come through replication of activities that does not
bimonthly newspaper, edited by Karl
require money. “Our program costs $200 per volunteer,” says Benjamin. “And it’s
Blankenship, provides a wealth of
going down.” EASI has few of its own local offices. URL: www.easi.org
information about Chesapeake Bay

issues. It is published by the Alliance
for the Chesapeake Bay.
This year’s Chesapeake Bay Foun-
dation honorees were Ann Pesiri
Swanson, executive director of the
Chesapeake Bay Commission
since 1988; former Maryland legislator
Gerald W. Winegrad; filmmaker and
Earth Conservation Corps founder
Robert H. Nixon; and Frances H.
Flanigan, who recently retired after
22 years directing the Alliance for
the Chesapeake Bay.
Among 20 businesses commended by
the Chesapeake Bay Program for
innovative pollution reduction pro-
grams are Merck& Co., plants in
Danville, VA. and Elkton, VA for better
water management and reductions in
pollutant emissions, Lee’s Carpets,
in Danville, VA for using using a resin
based on renewable forest products
and reducing its dependence on
petrochemical products by 20 million
pounds in 2 years; and Target
Corporation for an increasingly
successful corrugated cardboard
recycling effort. The Marine Corps
base at Quantico, VA was honored for
decreasing hazardous waste genera-
tion by 71% since 1992.
Species & Habitats
The Baltimore Sun reports that
because of increased security con-
cerns many favorite fishing spots
have become unreachable. Access to
Fisherman’s Park on the Susquehanna
River, a favorite spot for shad fishing
and for bird watching, is now guarded
because of its proximity to the
Conowingo dam. Baltimore’s reser-
voirs were off limits as well as the
Chesapeake Bay near the Calvert Cliffs
nuclear plant.
New techniques analyzing fossilized
foraminifera on salt marsh sediments
have allowed Ronald Gehrels of the
University of Plymouth, England,
and colleagues to determine sea levels
1,200 years back at two locations in
Maine and 300 years back in Nova
Scotia. Results reported at the
Geological Survey of America’s
annual meeting indicate that in the
past 250 years the sea level has risen
12 to 20 inches at the Maine locations
and up to 2 feet in Nova Scotia.
Gehrels states that it is the biggest
4
Publications
z From Abundance to Scarcity by Michael L. Weber (Island Press 2002)
looks back at the history of US fisheries policy and its evolution since the late 19th
century. The author carefully tracks the shifts in policy toward increasing concern
for fish stocks and habitats. The major challenge, Weber concludes is reducing
today’s “overbuilt” fishing fleets “in a humane but resolute manner.”
z A succinct summary of the issues as they apply to the author’s state is
“Smart Growth in North Carolina: Pros and Cons” (North Carolina Political
Review, January-February 2002) by attorney and lobbyist M. Gray Styers, Jr. This
extensively annotated article summarizes the realities of rapid population increases
in the state and accompanying changes in traffic congestion and urban design.
Listing the arguments for and against smart-growth, the author concludes that
overall the trend seems “to be gaining traction.” URL: www.ncpoliticalreview.com
z Another slender but useful pamphlet was recently published jointly by the
Extension Forestry Program at the University of Connecticut’s Cooperative
Extension System and its Nonpoint Education for Municipal Officials (NEMO)
Project (Atlantic CoastWatch December 1997). Entitled Natural Resource-Based
Planning for Watersheds, this is a handsome, plain-spoken “practical starter kit
for watershed projects.” URL: http://nemo.uconn.edu/watersheds.htm
z Answering the question of “What would it be like to experience the autumn
run from its balmy start to its stormy finish,” flyfisherman and New York Times
columnist Peter Kaminsky went fishing daily for six weeks straight, at Montauk.
In The Moon Pulled Up an Acre of Bass (Hyperion, 2001) Kaminsky alternates
jealousy-invoking descriptions of his pursuit with local history, colorful folk and
culture, fishing know-how, and the ever-present jockeying between territorial
fishing guides, sport trollers and the ignorant meddlers who scare fish away.
More Salmon Strife
Both Maine’s salmon farms and the state’s remnant wild salmon popula-
tions received renewed attention early this year. The year-long spread of infectious
salmon anemia from Norway and New Brunswick to farms in Maine waters has
provoked diverse reactions. To rid Cobscook Bay of the virus, deadly to the fish
although harmless to people, authorities ordered farmers to slaughter over one
million salmon and disinfect the pens. Compliance will empty the bay of salmon for
the first time in 20 years; a modest restocking program is to begin in the spring.
One farming company, Heritage Salmon, pleaded not guilty to charges of having
failed to report, in time, that its fish had tested positive for the disease.
Accompanying the virus outbreak are calls from environmentalists for a
moratorium on new aquaculture sites, some suggesting that the ban be limited to
the coastline west of Schoodic Point near the Canadian border. The Bangor Daily
News, commending the state’s Department of Natural Resources for having
developed a good plan to manage the aquaculture leasing program, argued that
“the intended result of that moratorium, marine zoning, is simply a place a state
that earns a substantial part of its living from the sea does not want to go.”
A 13-member panel convened by the high prestige National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) gave Maine’s wild salmon a break. Countering Governor Angus
King’s contention that wild salmon entering eight Maine rivers are “mongrels” who
got there by happenstance, the scientists found these fish to be genetically distinct
from Canadian populations. The finding, which King said he would not challenge,
supports efforts by other federal agencies to protect the Maine fish under the terms
of the Endangered Species Act. NAS recommendations are expected by yearend.
 5
rise in the past millennium and global
warming is to blame.

Home Builders, Greens Join Forces Nutria, large rodents from South
America, have reportedly fragmented
An innovative experiment to build consensus between home builders and marshland in the wildlife-rich Black-
environmental groups was launched last December in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and water National Wildlife Refuge,
Virginia. Entitled “Builders for the Bay,” the program has as its aim to reduce the MD. Their elimination from the area is
environmental effects of development in the Chesapeake Bay area. Co-sponsors being planned, according to Mike
are the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, the Center for Watershed Protec- Slattery of the US Fish and Wild-
tion in Maryland, and the National Association of Home Builders. life Service, as reported by the
Baltimore Sun. Nutria eat the roots of
The program is built around 22 site design principles, many of them marsh grasses and create deep
offering economic as well as environmental benefits, developed by the Center for swimming channels, eventually
Watershed Protection. Builders and environmentalists have gathered in several of turning marsh to mud flats. The
the region’s counties to review them and, as in the instance of Maryland’s Frederick Blackwater has lost 8,000 of its 23,000
County, jointly encourage their adoption by local jurisdictions. Ultimately, the acres of marsh in 50 years since the
sponsors hope developers will start applying the principles in practice. nutria appeared. L. Morris Gosling
of the Zoological Society of
“The idea,” says David Bancroft of the Alliance for the Chesapeake London, who led a successful
Bay, “Is that if developers and environmentalists work together from the outset, it eradication campaign in England,
might be easier to achieve unity. We find that many developers are eager to learn cautions that a successful trapping
more, find ways to get on the right side of the curve. They are interested in learning program will take years.
more about how reductions in infrastructure get you a more cost efficient home.”
The goal, Bancroft continues, is to get the Builders for the Bay process established More and more harbor seals are
in twelve counties—four in each of the three target states—by the end of 2003. wintering in western Long Island
Sound as well as along the New
The rationale for the sponsors’ 22 core principles, and their environmental Jersey and Delaware coasts, reports
and economic benefits, are fully explained in the Center for Watershed Protection’s the Associated Press. Experts say that
publication Site Design: A Handbook for Changing Development Rules in Your the federal Marine Mammal Protec-
Community. URL: http://www.cwp.org/bulders_for_bay.htm tion Act boosted the population in
the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
Reduced pollution in the Sound has
allowed an increased population of
Oysters: Mixed News for the Chesapeake menhaden, herring and other fish on
which the seals feed.
As if the Chesapeake’s badly depleted oyster harvest did not already face
enough problems from disease and degraded habitats, along this year came a new The lionfish, a Pacific Ocean species,
threat. It is the potentially toxic dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata, an algae has been spotted off Beaufort, NC;
species newly found in the lower Potomac. Savannah, GA; Palm Beach and Boca
Raton, FL; Long Island, NY; Bermuda;
This cell, harmless to oysters but able to cause gastrointestinal illness in and possibly Charleston, SC. Lurking
people, had never before been discovered within the Chesapeake watershed. The between the lionfish’s luxurious fins
finding prompted a temporary ban on oystering in the area afflicted by the bloom, are long poisonous spines that can
which scientists said may have been triggered by high salinity resulting from the cause humans a painful wound.
prolonged drought in the region. Speculation as to how the fish got into
these waters concentrates on ballast
The new problem came on the heels of a report of failure with a long-term water and the aquarium trade, with
effort to raise native Chesapeake oysters on artificial reefs. Starting nine years ago, Jon Hare of NOAA favoring the
reports the Associated Press, the Virginia Marine Resources Commission latter.
launched an effort to construct large piles of oyster shells and seed disease-
resistant oysters on them. These oysters, however, failed to affect the overall gene Restorations
pool as it was hoped they would. And to boot, the reefs themselves are collapsing.
Efforts to bring back the highly
Many oystermen, meantime, have high hopes that an Asian oyster species, contaminated Elizabeth River in
Crassostrea ariakensis, will bolster populations and sales. Studies have shown Norfolk, VA are benefiting from a
rapid growth rates in the Chesapeake for this species, and high degrees of resis- promotion campaign featuring an
tance to MSX and dermo, the two principal diseases affecting the native oysters. unlikely canary-in-the-tunnel: the
The Pacific oysters are said to taste good as well. But since they are not native to lowly, minnow-size mummichog. The
the region and the introduction of exotic plant and animal species often triggers health of this species, which the
unexpected negative side effects, authorities caution against large-scale plantings nonprofit Elizabeth River Project is
without sufficient prior research. Oystermen, whose catch is down to 1% of currently highlighting on posters, t-
historic highs, would prefer to get on with it. URLs: www.vims.edu, www.cbf.org shirts, and invitations to a benefit ball,

is closely related to toxic conditions
along the river’s muddy bottom where
the fish lives. Reads the t-shirt: “The
Goo must Go.” The little fish got
another recent boost when Donald S.
Welsh, newly appointed mid-Atlantic
administrator for the EPA, visited the
region and touted the Elizabeth River
Project as a national model. While
touring the region Welsh was pleased
to be presented with a clay mummi-
chog statue.
In an initiative to restore and enhance
15,000 acres of critical waterfowl
habitat in Delaware Bay, Ducks
Unlimited and the states of New
Jersey and Delaware are embarking
on a 10 year, $15 million program.
Work on habitat just offshore as well
as on shoreline and adjacent upland
areas is planned for the target region.
It is home to some 2,700 plant and
animal species, including large
numbers of red knots, ruddy turn-
stones and other shorebird species
whose migratory arrival there coin-
cides with the availability on the
beaches of an important food for
them: horseshoe crab eggs. URL:
http://www.ducks.org
Products
A report in Biological Conservation
suggests that an anti-corrosion
technique developed by Japanese
scientists for ballast tanks may kill
certain invasive species transmitted in
ballast water. Bubbling nitrogen gas
to reduce oxygen levels in the water
not only saves shipping companies
expensive painting to prevent corro-
sion, but when tested in a Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research Institute
lab, also killed larvae of three invasive
species common to US waters. While
anaerobic bacteria or organisms with
cysts would not necessarily be
affected, the nitrogen treatment offers
a benign and economically attractive
way to reduce the number of potential
invaders.
The Department of Energy’s Idaho
National Engineering and Environ-
mental Laboratory has developed a
process called Bioavailability En-
hancementTechnologyTM to treat
groundwater for trichloroethene (TCE),
a compound used for degreasing, and
one of the most common contami-
nants at hazardous waste sites.
6
Jamaica Protects Watersheds
The United State Agency for International Development is provid-
ing $6 million of the total $8 million cost of Jamaica’s “Ridge to Reef” watershed
project according to the Jamaica Observer Reporter. The five year project has
three main aims:
z Work with local organizations on sustainable environmental manage-
ment practices;
z Identify and support activities that encourage better enforcement of
existing environmental regulations and policies;
z Enhance government, private sector and civil society organizations to
implement effective watershed management programs in Jamaica.
Experts view this work as timely against the backdrop of deforestation and
soil erosion that contributed to recent large scale flooding.
Canadian Air Pressure
The Canadian Press reports that the use of pressurized blasts of air
bubbles to explore for oil and gas off Cape Breton may cause damage to sensitive
marine life around the island. The area is a nursery for cod and other species.
Hunt Oil Co., which holds the leases to hundreds of square kilometers, says that
blasts will not be conducted during spawning times and that plans are to ratchet up
their intensity so that marine life will swim away.
Opponents of the blasting suggest that whales and other large mammals
could be harmed, and point to collapse of fish bladders and injuries to the inner
ears of many types of marine life from seismic waves. A ruling by the Canada-
Nova Scotia Petroleum Board is expected shortly.
Courts and the Seashore
The Online Mariner reports that US Coast Guard Administrative Law
Judge Edwin M. Bladen ordered a $250,000 fine, revocation of the New Bedford-
based Independence’s federal fishing permit and the vessel operator permit of its
captain, Lawrence M. Yacubian, for repeatedly entering an area closed to fishing.
According to Charles R. Juliand, lead NOAA prosecutor on the case, “This case
sets an important precedent by holding that the VMS (Vessel Monitoring System) in
use on scallop vessels is an accurate, reliable technology capable of producing
evidence of vessel activity admissible in a court of law.”
According to NOAA’s Coastal Services magazine, the recent landmark US
Supreme Court “takings” decision, Palazzolo vs. Rhode Island (Atlantic
CoastWatch, July-August 2001) has important significance. In the previous Lucas v.
South Carolina Coastal Commission case the higher court had ruled that when a
regulation eliminates all viable uses of a property the state must pay. In Palazzolo
the Court did not find a taking, ruling unanimously that there was the potential for a
sufficient return on the property owner’s investment from the sale of upland lots
not involving extensive filling of the wetlands central to the case. The decision did
not alter existing law on whether an owner can claim a taking if regulations prohibit
development of a portion of the land. Still, Brian A. Goldman, legal counsel to the
Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, maintains that the
ruling amounts to a net gain for environmental regulators. Continuing his 40-year
quest, Anthony Palazzolo, 81, has submitted a new appeal to the Rhode Island
Supreme Court.
 7
Success of a large scale test on the
laboratory’s TCE groundwater plume
has won the approval of the state and
Puerto Rico Planning Goes High Tech EPA.

Following Hurricane George’s devastation in 1998, Puerto Rico and FEMA A promising bioremediation technique
developed a mitigation strategy that makes disaster and sustainable development is being tested by the Washington
information related to landuse planning available online for the island’s municipali- Suburban Sanitary Commission.
ties and local communities. In-Pipe Technology’s process
continually introduces a large supply
Produced in little over a year, the Integrated Hazard Assessment and of a patented blend of sewage eating
Sustainability for the Island of Puerto Rico website used geographic information bacteria into collection pipes before
systems to weigh the risk of future damage recurrence in four categories: flooding they reach the treatment center. These
(coastal and river), susceptibility to landslides, high winds, and earthquakes. For bacteria consume food and nutrients
online speed, these datasets were then clipped according to each municipality, so leaving little for more harmful bacte-
that roads are easily visible, which permits any proposed development to be ria. Benefits include improvement of
weighed against its hazard potential. Accompanying the disaster and sustainability the plant’s overall performance, less
information are planning guides and explanations of the analysis. total sludge produced, and better
quality of water discharged.
Developed by International Land Systems, in partnership with URS
Corp. and the Universidad Metropolitana, this project provides an excellent New Jersey State officials and the US
example of comprehensively delivering locally relevant planning information. Army have signed an agreement
Given the broadly recognized overlap between disaster mitigation and environmen- under which technologies developed
tal protection, a standard has been set for other coastal states and counties to by small companies and colleges will
emulate. URL: gis-srv.suagm.edu/en.html (note: site uses browser cookies) be tested at Picatinny Arsenal, NJ,
according to the Newark Star Ledger.
Two promising approaches are
planting ferns to suck arsenic out of
the soil, and the use of microorgan-
Marine Protected Areas, Continued from p. 1 isms to eat tetryl, a chemical
byproduct of munitions production.
Over 12 months beginning in June 2000, reef-related sales in the four
counties reached almost $4.4 billion, and the reefs were supporting 71,300 jobs. A Report Cards
high degree of user willingness to pay more to protect the reefs was also revealed
in the report, entitled “Socioeconomic Study of Reefs in Southeast Florida.” A two-year study by the US Forest
Service, the EPA, the Tennessee
Though the opinions of commercial fishers were not sought, marine Valley Authority, the Fish and
conservationists view the findings as a green light for additional no-take designa- Wildlife Service and several univer-
tions in the region. Nancy Klinenger of The Ocean Conservancy is especially sities concludes that urban sprawl is
heartened by the strong support of sport fishers. Even though sport fishing the biggest threat to forests in the US
manufacturers are less enthusiastic, Klinenger is encouraged by the reactions of South. The report predicts that 31
“the ones who have the most actual experience with the zones.” million acres of forest would be lost to
sprawl by 2040. In South Carolina
The New England Aquarium recently convened a series of public where in 1989 Hurricane Hugo
forums to discuss a draft of its report to NOAA on how to make the system work wreaked havoc on the forests, sprawl
well. Enthusiasts attending a summary workshop in Portland urged NOAA to: again shows up as the biggest
contributor to forest loss over time. To
z Present a consistent message to all stakeholders; slow sprawl Coastal Conservation
z Coordinate efforts of federal, state, and local agencies; League Director Dana Beach
z Enhance participation by stakeholders; suggested that local governments
z Ensure that MPAs address specific problems; should think more like regions. He
z Support coordination of scientific knowledge and local knowledge; noted that South Carolina does less
z Expand on methods of outreach. than any other state to protect land
through purchases and property
In an editorial applauding a recent court decision mandating tighter easements.
implementation of national fishery laws, the Portland Press-Herald argued that
marine protected areas “may present an important opportunity to change the way Funding
this country manages its ocean resources.” MPA designations, said the paper,
represent a shift from single-species management toward forms of protection that For $6.5 million, New Hancock County,
benefit entire marine environments and the biodiversity within them—and also NC is currently filling in Mason Inlet,
“provide grounds for fishing stocks to be replenished.” Scientists at a recent adjacent to heavily developed
American Association for the Advancement of Science strongly agreed. Wrightsville beach, and slicing a new
URLs: www.broward.org/bri01700.htm, www.neaq.org, www.atlantisforce.org channel through an undeveloped

Tax-deductible contributions to the Sustainable Development Institute,
earmarked for Atlantic CoastWatch, are urgently needed.
portion of Figure Eight Island
3000 feet to the north. This
highly unusual relocation
protects Wrightsville beach
resorts. Opponents feel it is a
waste of money since the old
inlet was shutting itself down
anyway.
North Carolina’s Clean
Water Management Trust
has awarded $6.1 million to
buy out swine operations in the
state’s 100 year flood plain. The
land can still be used for low
intensity agriculture such as
field crops and pasture for beef
cattle.
The Trust for Public Land
and the Land Trust Alliance
announced that in 2001 voters
passed 137 ballot measures for
land conservation, bringing the
total since 1998 to $19 billion.
Among the largest passed on
November 6 were those in
Morris and Middlesex
counties in NJ and DeKalb
County, GA. URLs:
www.tpl.org, www.lta.org.
Atlantic CoastWatch
Sustainable Development Institute
3121 South St., NW
Washington, D.C. 20007
Tel: (202) 338-1017
Fax: (202) 337-9639
E-mail: susdev@igc.org
URL: www.susdev.org
www.atlanticcoastwatch.org
Upcoming Events
March 7-8. Sustaining Seascapes: The Science and Policy of Marine Resource
Management, New York, NY. URL: research.amnh.org/biodiversity/symposia/seascapes/
March 14-24. 10th Annual Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital.
URL: www.dcenvironmentalfilmfest.org
March 23. 2002 Annual Meeting of Association of Massachusetts Wetland
Scientists: “Effects of Climate Change on New England Wetlands”. URL:
www.amws.org
March 18-22. 6th Marine and Estuarine Shallow Water Science and Management
Conference, Atlantic City, NJ. E-mail spagnolo.ralph@epa.gov
March 30. 7th International Wildlife Law Conference, Washington, DC. URL: http://
eelink.net/%7Easilwildlife/programs2.shtml
April 6. 12th Annual Long Island Sound Summit, New York Botanical Garden,
Bronx, NY. Tel. 1-888-728-3547.
May 9-10. 29th Annual Conference on Ecosystems Restoration and Creation,
Tampa FL. E-mail: fwebb@hcc.cc.fl.us
May 19-22. 18th International Conference of the Coastal Society: Converging
Currents - Science, Culture and Policy at the Coast, Galveston, TX. URL: www.the
coastalsociety.org/tcs.18
May 20-22. 7th International Conference on Remote Sensing for Marine and
Coastal Environments, Miami, FL. URL: www.erim-int.com/CONF/7th_marine/
7thmarine.html